The Durban house has been undergoing some repairs over the last month in order to make it presentable to go on the market. The agent I spoke to on Friday with regard to a valuation happened on Saturday lunch time and we agreed on a number. I wanted a price that reflected the market demand and not some crazy number that would struggle to sell because more often than not the property will sit and become stale. I know enough that the chances are you will end up with that type of number anyway so you may as well start as close to a selling number from the get go.
yesterday the agent mentioned she had a young family who were desperate to view the property and understood work was still in progress, but wanted to view anyway. I thought the viewing was only going to happen this evening and was blown away when I was told they wanted to buy the property at full asking price.
There are a couple of conditions they would require being the jungle garden is cut back some more which is happening anyway and the bathroom wall is looked at for damp. This is happening as we speak because I had no idea this was a problem and more than happy to get that fixed. Everything else they required like the house plans is being taken care of by the estate agent and I am getting the electrics certified by my guy on site.
The madness is we have not even signed the estate agents mandate yet and only have this today so will get that done as soon as I have a chance. This was meant to be going to a show house in two weeks time and cannot believe it has already sold.
This is a young couple who have their parents living with them and they need the space plus more so they will be building on to the current property. The agent said they had been looking for the last 18 months and have found nothing suitable and when they had they were beaten buy other buyers. The fear for them is someone else would come in and grab the property so they made the offer immediately.
The estate agent is seriously good as she has also found a rental for our tenants close by and they are looking to move in next month so it all works out for everyone. This will take 3 months to complete so this will take us to January which is ideal timing. I chose the right agent which was kind of pot luck having looked at what properties sold and how long that took and by which agent. This agent is seriously on the ball and knows her job.
The plan is to finish what we had started on the Durban house and are doing the small jobs still and with some luck the plumbing in the bathroom wall will be completed this week and then we are done. We can then move on to upgrading the Johannesburg house in the New Year which will not be cheap, but oh so worthwhile. The difference is we will be living in a building site for 12 months or so and luckily have enough room to move around as required depending on what is being renovated. This will allow us to go fully off the grid electricity wise and definitely a huge selling factor when it comes time to sell.
