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Costs associated with buying property


Spreadsheet Ranger

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I am concidering buying a vacant lot, well a few vacant lots, it's in a "bad" area, but at R25k to R35k for 511m² - 611m² piece of land I think I want to take the risk.

 

What are the costs involved basically I want to be prepared for any hidden costs that can crop up also are there any running costs/monthly costs associated with owning a empty piece of land?

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  • 1 month later...

I am concidering buying a vacant lot, well a few vacant lots, it's in a "bad" area, but at R25k to R35k for 511m² - 611m² piece of land I think I want to take the risk.

 

What are the costs involved basically I want to be prepared for any hidden costs that can crop up also are there any running costs/monthly costs associated with owning a empty piece of land?

 

care to share the area, R35K for 500 odd m² seems like a nice sit and hold

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I am concidering buying a vacant lot, well a few vacant lots, it's in a "bad" area, but at R25k to R35k for 511m² - 611m² piece of land I think I want to take the risk.

 

What are the costs involved basically I want to be prepared for any hidden costs that can crop up also are there any running costs/monthly costs associated with owning a empty piece of land?

 

care to share the area, R35K for 500 odd m² seems like a nice sit and hold

 

Me and @padjakkels bought it together pretty impulsive if you ask me (:

 

Its in Touwsrivier, so probably not a "good" area, but for the price by the heck not.

 

==

Welcome btw, hope you enjoy the stay here.

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I am concidering buying a vacant lot, well a few vacant lots, it's in a "bad" area, but at R25k to R35k for 511m² - 611m² piece of land I think I want to take the risk.

 

What are the costs involved basically I want to be prepared for any hidden costs that can crop up also are there any running costs/monthly costs associated with owning a empty piece of land?

 

care to share the area, R35K for 500 odd m² seems like a nice sit and hold

 

Me and @padjakkels bought it together pretty impulsive if you ask me (:

 

Its in Touwsrivier, so probably not a "good" area, but for the price by the heck not.

 

==

Welcome btw, hope you enjoy the stay here.

 

Any suggestions what we should do with the property? Should we sell it again? Develop it?

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My SO has a property in the Greyton area. Every other week she gets inquiries about renting it out or outright selling it. The demand for property is definitely there: I've seen a few Cape based property developers going inland, buying cheap plots and putting up mini complexes. Would love to do something similar if I had the capital.

 

Unfortunately we live in Pretoria and remote maintenance is proving very difficult at the moment. Also, substance abuse is on the increase in the whole Overberg area with the crime that follows. Put in a couple of insurance claims in 2016 for stolen burglar bars, doors, stoves, electrical wiring and plumping stolen right out the walls.

 

Alas, going to sell that particular headache this year.

 

R25K isn't such a big risk so I would personally buy and hold for a while. Property generally appreciates over time, just that Touwsrivier is a bit meh with not much happening there. Its only real positive seems to be N1 running through it. Maybe a BnB isnt such a bad idea :)

 

FYI paid just over R1K over a year in rates for our 650m2 piece of land, that includes actual water and lights usage when we had tenants in. An empty plot with no municipal connections what so ever shouldn't attract any rates but squatters and similar will pose a risk.

 

Looking at a similar venture once we sell off the other property, let us know how your adventure goes.

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I lived in Ceres 15 years ago (2002) and back then cheap Touws River plots were available and the price seems to have gone nowhere in all this time and if what OP is saying is true that he can get plots there for R25 to R35k then prices have in fact depreciated over the years. It's one of those places, lots of land, nothing going on, nothing to see. Chatsworth close to Malmesbury is another place where cheap plots could have been purchased a few years ago. People from the Cape bought in, some can't sell their plots, the others that moved over say the place resembles the Cape Flats once it started to populate. In Chatsworth you can get a 500m2 plot for under R100k around 60km from Cape Towm.

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I lived in Ceres 15 years ago (2002) and back then cheap Touws River plots were available and the price seems to have gone nowhere in all this time and if what OP is saying is true that he can get plots there for R25 to R35k then prices have in fact depreciated over the years. It's one of those places, lots of land, nothing going on, nothing to see. Chatsworth close to Malmesbury is another place where cheap plots could have been purchased a few years ago. People from the Cape bought in, some can't sell their plots, the others that moved over say the place resembles the Cape Flats once it started to populate. In Chatsworth you can get a 500m2 plot for under R100k around 60km from Cape Towm.

Yea me and padjakkels bought the 530m2 corner plot for R35000 there was another buyer so we bid and got it for R37000

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I am concidering buying a vacant lot, well a few vacant lots, it's in a "bad" area, but at R25k to R35k for 511m² - 611m² piece of land I think I want to take the risk.

 

What are the costs involved basically I want to be prepared for any hidden costs that can crop up also are there any running costs/monthly costs associated with owning a empty piece of land?

 

care to share the area, R35K for 500 odd m² seems like a nice sit and hold

 

Me and @padjakkels bought it together pretty impulsive if you ask me (:

 

Its in Touwsrivier, so probably not a "good" area, but for the price by the heck not.

 

==

Welcome btw, hope you enjoy the stay here.

 

Any suggestions what we should do with the property? Should we sell it again? Develop it?

 

Building is quite expensive and you may not get the returns in rental to make it worth it if you building a residential unit. You could build a cheaper square building such as a hall or church (which would require a caretaker), I assume its a residential area though. R37k is not a lot so you will probably be able to make a profit by selling it later on without putting more money in and stressing. 

 

If your plan in such an area is rentals (which don't fetch a lot) then you may be better off buying a fixer upper like this not spending more than R80k on renovating and renting it out. Hopefully you can get a grand a room a month and the place pays for itself in 8.5 years (I have no idea if you will get that much as I'm not familiar with the area). But you will not be able to build a house that size at current rates of around R5k m2 (maybe its cheaper to build in the country side?) and expect to make a profit soon. That is at least my take.

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