I suggest you do approach the managing agents again as they may well be amenable to reversing the debt collection fees based on the prior discussions and potentially with signing an acknowledgement of debt. I suggest you escalate to the landlord only if the managing agent is not reasonably responsive. Renegotiating the rent will depend on the expiry of your lease agreement or, if you are on a month-to-month lease with a good payment history, it would be worth raising this topic for discussion with the managing agent as well. Typically, the landlord would have agreed a standard policy for assisting tenants with rental arrears due to the Covid-19 lockdown disruptions and good tenants with favourable payment histories would generally be favourably considered for a fair concession.
– Andrew Schaefer, managing director of Trafalgar
Absolutely. There has never been a better time to purchase a home than right now. Interest rates are the lowest they have ever been, along with the prime lending rate at 7.25%. If you are in a position to purchase a home, it is strongly advised that you reach out to a bond originator and find out what you can afford.
– Tim Greeff, sales director at Greeff Christie’s International Real Estate.
The opening of the property sector is particularly good news for buyers and investors, as the prevailing market conditions are geared to favour residential property buyers. With interest rates at 50-year lows, and the threshold on transfer duty raised to R1 million earlier this year, upfront expenses when purchasing a property are lower, making it a buyer’s market for sure.
– Carl Coetzee, chief executive of BetterBond
Virtual open homes are a way to show homes online at a predetermined time to a broad audience of your choosing. For the first couple of months postlockdown, buyers and sellers are not necessarily going to want to be at events with loads of other people around. Virtual open homes allow buyers to see multiple homes and then physically view only a handful of properties before they make their decision.
– Adrian Goslett, chief executive of Re/Max of Southern Africa
When it comes to long-term letting, the properties that are trending at the moment are lower-end one and two-bedroom apartments, freestanding pet-friendly homes in secure estates featuring three or four bedrooms and freestanding three and fourbedroom homes not in estates that offer pet-friendly options. Here on the North Coast we are seeing freestanding properties and two-bedroom apartments that aren’t on the beach yielding the highest returns. For short term letting, Airbnb is a wellknown platform that is becoming more popular here on the North Coast, with more people considering holiday rentals for their investment properties. One, two, three and four-bedroom units closer to the beach are especially popular for this option. The lack of hotels on the North Coast, combined with it being a popular destination for young families and its proximity to the airport, is adding to the success of properties listed on Airbnb. –
Kim Peacock, broker-owner of Re/Max Dolphin Realtors
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