http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/31/simons-town-2009-may-you-get-the-joy-and-happiness-you-deserve/ http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/31/simons-town-2009-may-you-get-the-joy-and-happiness-you-deserve/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:37:53 +0000 Johan http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/31/simons-town-2009-may-you-get-the-joy-and-happiness-you-deserve/ I hope that you enjoy these new year quotations. (If you are interested in more New Year Quotes you’ll find more here.)

Aisha Elderwyn
Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. A majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself

Edith Lovejoy Pierce
We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called "Opportunity" and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.

Sydney Smith
Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment.

F. M. Knowles, A Cheerful Year Book
He who breaks a resolution is a weakling; He who makes one is a fool.

G. K. Chesterton
The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.

P. J. O’Rourke
It is better to spend money like there’s no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there’s no money.

Ellen Goodman
We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives, not looking for flaws, but for potential.

Bill Vaughan
Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.

Bill Vaughan
An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

We are looking forward to a great year and will everyday try and see only the good, the smile, the view, the beauty, the fun and the abundance surrounding us.

Enjoy

Johan and Elmarie Horak

P.S. Join other Simon’s Towners here for the latest Simon’s Town news.

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SimonsTownRealty: Sell, Buy A Simon’s Town Property? Phone Today 021-7864028 or 082 870 2004

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Let’s consider the perfect world with an informed local community and a pro-active local municipality or local government. The following is then possible:
The municipal officer involved with the community learns about a road works issue. She is a member of the Simon’s Town online room at http://friendfeed.com/rooms/simonstown and she shares the information at the room. Now the community is informed. Or they have the info available to them if they require it.

When the road works issue gets out of hand and a frustrated community member has something to say she goes to the Simon’s Town Room and adds a comment to the entry or creates a new entry. Then the local government employee can follow up and give feedback at the room for all to see.

It gets better; now the informed community can answer frustrated community members questions at the room.

I believe that these kind of online rooms provide a tool that can help the local government employee focus on doing good things for our community and not duplicating emails and telling people the same story over and over again.
Not only that; it also empowers the community to contribute and share progress because many times the local government managers may have no idea of the local conditions and issues.

You are invited to join the Simon’s Town Room. Come in and share your stories, your solutions and come and ask questions.

Visit http://friendfeed.com/rooms/simonstown and phone Johan at 021 786 4028 if you need training.

An investment of $1000 in July 2007 in AIG is only worth $28 in December 2008. But Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett) retained most of its value and a similar investment of $1000 is still worth $976.

Warren Buffett’s salary of $100 000 did not change in many decades, while the same can not be said of AIG’s Hank Greenberg millions "received".

At the end of the day the investor can choose where to invest and then take responsibility for their choice.

I am sure you are asking: "Why do you write about Jingle Bells, Abba and Warren Buffett when there’s only 17 days left of the year?"

Let me try and explain:

1. I think that Jingle Bells is designed to trick me into spending money on junk. And we have had enough of that.
2. Although ABBA was lured into this Jingle Bells trap. Let’s forgive them. You can choose to be happy and watch Mama Mia.
3. The end of year is always a time to reflect and, for me, Warren Buffett is the ultimate example of what’s possible even when the world seems to be crumbling.

May you have a great Warren Buffet investment future and a happy Mama Mia festive season. Thank you for reading these emails during 2008.

Regards

Johan and Elmarie Horak

]]> http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/14/17-days-left-jingle-bells-abba-and-warren-buffett/feed/ http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/12/can-simons-town-house-prices-continue-to-be-stable/ http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/12/can-simons-town-house-prices-continue-to-be-stable/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:40:49 +0000 Johan http://simonstownrealty.info/2008/12/12/can-simons-town-house-prices-continue-to-be-stable/ In general the Simon’s Town house prices have been stable except for a few that have reduced significantly.

This

home for sale in (sold in the week) Simon’s Town reduced from R4.5 to a current R2.75 million.

Apparently another nice house  in Simon’s Town reduced from R7.5 million to R3.2 million.

According to the Absa House price index:

House prices have held out surprisingly well thus far despite the depressing market conditions which resulted in sales dipping by 30% to 50%.

 
However, it now seems as if price declines are in the offing for homeowners.
According to the latest version of Absa’s house price index virtually no price growth occurred in November and prices were lower in November than during the previous month.

Jacques du Toit, property economist at Absa, predicts that homeowners will probably experience price reductions in the next few months.
Absa’s house price index is based on the average price of all the property transactions that it financed during a specific month.

Only houses with price tags of less than R2,9m are considered for the index due to the ability of one or two transactions with exceptionally high prices to bedevil the average.

Four other indices have also been created, of which some are using other accounting methods, and this has stirred great confusion in the housing market.
Months ago already, Standard Bank’s index, which uses the middle price, has recorded reductions of up to 10% and this index is 3,1% higher in November than a year ago. The reason for this is that several bigger transactions have pushed the index up.

Absa’s index has indicated no fluctuations during this period and showed lower growth each month than in the previous month.

Absa’s index reported on Friday that the average house price was only 0,3% higher in November than during the same month last year – and this price is now R963k.

However, the average house price for November was 0,1% lower than in October, which indicates that drops in the index will now be the norm.
The average price of a house of between 80sq m and 140sq m that is worth R670,300 was 0,3% lower in November than a year ago.

The price of a mid-sized home (140sq m to 220sq m) was 1,3% higher than a year ago at R965k and that of a house larger than 220sq m 0,4% lower than last year at R1,38m.

Although the national average price is still higher than a year ago, it doesn’t mean that prices in some regions haven’t been dipping. According to Absa’s quarterly overview the average price was lower in four provinces during the third quarter.

In a city such as Pretoria prices were already 6,1% lower and in Bloemfontein this figure was 7,6%.

The reason for average house prices remaining fairly constant amidst sharp declines in sales is because few people in South Africa, when compared to other countries like the US, have had to sell their properties out of necessity. Sellers can therefore hold onto their properties if they’re not satisfied with the price.
But as high interest rates start taking their toll, more people have to dispose of their properties.

The irony is that the weaker market conditions aren’t necessarily the result of a dearth of buyer’s interest.

The leading property groups are all reporting that there’s been a surge in the amount of visitors at showdays and property website visitors since the middle of 2008.

The problem, however, is that prospective buyers struggle to get financing.
One of the largest mortgage initiators, ooba, reported that banks rejected 51,8% of all first-time buyers last month because they didn’t meet the more stringent affordability requirements of the National Credit Act (NCA).

Besides the fact that this percentage is rising, banks are also requiring a bigger deposit. The average deposit that buyers paid last month was 31,5% higher than in October.

There are many cases where the sellers quickly finds a buyer, and at a decent price, but the deal is then scuppered due to financing issues.

Even if the buyer obtains financing, there is often a clause which forces him to first sell his property, and the process is then scuttled when the person doesn’t find a seller that is able to obtain finance.

The housing market can breathe a sigh of relief because the SA Reserve Bank decided to lower interest rates this week.

It is unlikely that this reduction will be an immediate stimulus for the market, but it could help to relieve the pressure on existing homeowners. – David van Rooyen, SakeRapport

I believe: Although the Absa index is not exactly applicable to type of properties for sale in Simon’s Town it has very valid lessons for Simon’s Town home owners.

Have Fun

Johan Horak

Image by woodleywonderworks via Flickr

Most analysts tells us that home owners will have to wait until 2010 for noticeable improvements in home values. Therefore if you can wait then don’t sell your Simon’s Town home until 2010. This is not good news for Simon’s Town real estate agents like us. But it’s the advice that matters and this is what I would do if I were you.

For more info read

and

The 50 basis points rate cut on Thursday brings fairly good relief to homeowners, as it signals a drop of around R500 per R1m of a bond.

So says Brian Falconer, CEO of Colliers International Residential, who adds that the decrease by 50 basis points signals that the tightening cycle has had the desired effect in reducing consumer spending and curbing inflation. "The rate cut should be the first of a series of rate cuts within the next six months," he says.

"In the meantime, property prices have reached market-appropriate levels and there is now pent-up demand from normal buyers: those who need to buy because they are upsizing, downsizing or relocating. Many homeowners need to sell for the same reasons, and those who bought more than three years ago should still see healthy capital growth."

However, FNB property strategist John Loos said the rate cut decision offers little financial relief to the hard-pressed household. "But it is believed to be only the start of a series of interest rate reductions expected to end in interest rates being in the region of 3,5 percentage points lower at 12% prime," he said.

"The affordability of housing has been negatively affected by the cumulative 500 basis points in interest rates since June 2006, which caused monthly mortgage repayments to rise by 35,6%. Consumers’ spending power was also severely eroded by sharply rising fuel and food prices over the past two years," says Jacques du Toit, property economist at Absa.

He says based on the higher interest rates and the ratio of household mortgage debt to disposable income, which was somewhat lower at a level of 47,3% in the third quarter of 2008 (48,2% in the second quarter), the cost of servicing household mortgage debt came to 7,3% of disposable income in the third quarter, unchanged from the second quarter.

"Nominal year-on-year (y/y) house price growth was at 0,3% in November 2008 at its lowest level since late 1992, while in real terms, prices were down by more than 10% y/y in October. Nominal house price growth for the full year is forecast at 4% (14,5% in 2007), with a growth rate of less than 3% projected for 2009. In real terms house prices are set to drop by about 7% in 2008, with a further decline expected in 2009."
Du Toit says against the background of current and expected economic conditions, especially with regard to inflation, interest rates are forecast to be cut further during the course of 2009. However, he warns that the outlook for the residential property market towards year-end and into 2009 remains depressed. "The market is forecast to bottom around mid-2009 and to gradually recover in the second half of the year on the back of lower inflation and interest rates, only to record a noticeable improvement in 2010." – Eugene Brink

Therefore wait before you sell your Simon’s Town home. And if you want to place your Simon’s property on the market ensure that you don’t add any fat to the asking price. Because this is not the time to negotiate. Be confident that you have the correct price to sell your Simon’s Town house and stick to it. No Fat! Or hang on till 2010.

Good Luck

Johan Horak

Cape Malay seafood curry, originally uploaded by Vilseskogen.

Yummy! black mussels, fish, and shrimp in semi-spicy curry at Black Marlin restaurant in Simon’s Town

Boulders Beach, originally uploaded by mooi kiekies.

Above: A unique split boulder. - BOULDERS BEACH is a sheltered beach made up of inlets between granite boulders, from which the name originated. It is located at Simon’s Town, Cape Town on the False Bay Coast of the Cape Peninsula.

It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982. Boulders Beach forms part of the Table Mountain National Park.

Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this vulnerable bird (Spheniscus demersus) can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment.

From just two breeding pairs in 1982, the penguin colony has grown to about 3000 in recent years. This is partly due to the reduction in commercial pelagic trawling in False Bay, which has increased the supply of pilchards and anchovy, which form part of the penguins’ diet.

Bordered mainly by indigenous bush above the high-water mark on the one side, and the clear water of False Bay on the other, the area comprises a number of small sheltered bays, partially enclosed by granite boulders that are 540 million years old.

The most popular recreational spot is Boulders Beach, but the penguins are best viewed from Foxy Beach, where newly-constructed boardwalks take visitors to within a few metres of the birds.

It is also a popular swimming beach, although humans are restricted to beaches adjacent to the penguin colony. Source: Wikipedia (Amended)
EXPLORE: DECEMBER 4, 2008 - #361

Uploaded by mooi kiekies on 4 Dec 08, 4.48AM PST.

Harbour Paddler, originally uploaded by Gregor Rohrig.

Here are some interesting people in Simon’s Town

Read more here:

This lovely home for sale in Simon’s Town was recently reduced from R3 2 million to R2 750 000. It is not often that you find a rare gem so close to the ocean for this price.  You can hear and smell the ocean while having breakfast on the enclosed patio or enjoy the fresh air while having a braai next to  the pool.  The view is stunning and the home offers all that is needed including a self contained flat.