No good deed will go unpunished! (part 2)

During this time we  chatted about what we had done during the 10 years of not seeing each other and I told her about my investment properties in Hillbrow and the CBD, this peaked her interest and she told me that she has been toying with the idea of becoming a Managing Agent. Subsequent to this discussion she offered to "help" me manage my units and I thought it would be a good idea because she was an accountant, she worked for Joburg water and had good inner city connections and knowledge and she could be trusted. Good deed number two!

The next thing she got suspended from work because she had unraveled irregularities and had become a threat to her boss and colleagues. I then introduced her to Dave, my principal (at that stage) who is also a city councilor and he was very keen to help her expose the irregularities - she never allowed him near her evidence.


Now I suddenly became her best friend, I think it was more like her only friend! She now insisted on visiting all my flats and meeting with my tenants, I did not think anything about this and was comfortable doing this. I don't know why she did this but I have always been on very good terms with my tenants and I don't think it would have been easy to interfere in these relationships.

Meanwhile she approached both Dave and I about her managing agent idea and we decided that it would be a very good mix of talents, her accounting and workings of the utilities knowledge, my connections, experience and knowledge of property in the inner city and Dave's property and council knowledge. Dave was at this stage managing a couple of buildings and was struggling to implement a good system. At the same time I had realized that one of my investments was being extremely badly managed and as chairman of the Body Corporate was thinking of replacing him. So, Dave and her went into a partnership and I got the managing agent fired and got her in as the new managing agent. Good deed number three! 

This was sort of a good thing because the previous managing agent was killed a couple of months later in a car accident and the story was that he was forced off the road by his Nigerian drug supplier and that a lot of money in his trust fund had disappeared. Fortunately I had saved my building from this but I had now put it on a course for another disaster!

Things went really well for a couple of months. I was working very hard trying to learn my new career and money was very tight on my side. She, however, was still suspended on full pay (this long vacation lasted nearly a year if I remember correctly!) and she worked on the three buildings. She seemed to be knocking on my door everyday to pop in for coffee and a chat, I was quite stressed about making money and I was still very uncomfortable about the drama in America. She arrived one morning just after breakfast, I had an appointment and told her she could come in but I didn't have time for coffee. I asked her to please stop arriving unannounced and to please just check with me that it was convenient and to please understand that although I was at home I was working and could not afford to be interrupted all the time. This was the trigger!

Charles - how will I miss you?

For those of you who don't know yet, my only child, Charles, is going to teach in Korea for a year. He will be leaving Monday 19 October. This is the feared "Leaving the Nest" time for me and I thought I would share some of the emotions with you and hopefully make it easier for some of you when your turn comes.

Dear Charles, our lives will have been wrapped around each other for the last 23 years, 9 months and 4 days on the day you leave and I can't imagine how it will be to wait for so long to have you home again.

What I will miss:
Being your GPS - You phoning me on the way to a strange place asking me the way and then arguing with me about my directions! Why do you phone me if you know where to go??

Being your deadline - How do you always manage to push your deadline to the last second and not only that, you push it onto me and then start nagging and threatening me that I'm not going to make it. Remember paying for your flight to Korea??

Drinking your tea - I need to ask you to make me tea a hundred times before you do, then you make it and leave it to draw while you sit outside smoking and reading a book. By the time I start freaking out about my tea you discover that the drawing tea is now ice cold and beyond strong then all you do is nuke it in the mike and tell me it was made with love!

Smoking - I am happy that you respect the no smoking inside the house rule, but why can't you put your stompies in the ashtrays provided at the front door and at the back door? The dogs will be happy to have ash-free water and it will probably take a year to get rid of all stompies in my garden!

Shoes - I don't know where you got the habit of taking off your shoes when you come into the house at night, I learnt very quickly to expect your shoes anywhere and always managed to avoid falling over them when walking in the dark house at night.

Sleeping - I am so used to waking up at 4am when you come home from playing computer games with Charl. Hopefully my sleeping pattern will eventually go back to normal!

Chatting - I often wonder what it must be like having a daughter to chat to. All I can say is chatting to you is never boring, your theories and opinions are a mixture of naivety, entertainment, frustration and amazement. You've got IT - don't waste IT!!

 All I can say is it's been a pleasure raising you and I hope you have an amazing adventure forwards, you are well prepared and will be able to handle anything that crosses your path. Dink voor jy doen! 

Remember your fanclub at home loves you very much
Woof - Ugly, Lucy, Roxy and Wit Hond
Bye, Bye King - Bongi
Bye Fat - Johanna
Bye my Liefie - Ouma
Bye my boy - Oupa
Bye Asshole - Mom

Property - The beauty contest has started!

Property Trends
There has now been a definite shift in the market in my area! The latest homes that has come to market are really stunning compared to stock on the market three months ago, check my links at the end of this post. The agents, the few that are left, have now also come out of hibernation and are very active again. Three months ago the MLS open hours were attended by 3 to 6 agents, this past week we had an average of 9 agents per viewing and in some cases 20 agents attending. This means the buyers are now serious and the agents' phones have started ringing again.

If you have been thinking of investing in a second property or upgrading - now is the time!

Some tips when buying in a buyers' market

• The timing in and out of the market is crucial for the investor. The homeowner who lives in the home for about 7 years will benefit from his/her patience but a buyers' market creates a golden opportunity to upgrade . If you are down-scaling you have to try and sell at the peak of a sellers' market.
  
• The best homes are withdrawn in a buyers' market and re-appear when the market starts picking up again, I believe we are now entering this phase.
• Location drives value. Buying a rundown property in the best location means that you will benefit from the surrounding area. It is a known fact that suburbs can demand a premium. A good example of is this over capitalised house in the list below, in a better area this house could fetch R890,000. The best example of this in my stock is this Florida home.
  
• The market is ruled by what we term "imperfect communication". Buyers and sellers only see asking prices which are extensively marketed, but seldom see what is really negotiated. Ask your agent to show a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) for the property you are interested in buying. This will give you a good feel for the "real prices" in the area.

 New Stock on the Market
Under R700,000
An investment property - R360,000
For the first time buyer - R485,000
URGENT SALE - R499,000
Entry level home - R 540,000
An excellent investment both for R1,1m or R590,000 each
Upgrade from a flat to this beauty - R595,000
A fixer upper - R699,000

Under R1 million
A real beauty - R750,000
Stunning! Over-capitalised - R780,000
URGENT SALE - R820,000
Townhouse with private pool - R850,000
Well maintained home in cul de sac - R850,000

Over R1 million
A large home - R1,09 million
My favourite!! - R1,15 million
A large family home - R1,48 million
Large house and 2 bedroom flat - R1,8 million

No good deed will go unpunished! (part 1)

I have had a terrible fortnight! A "friend" from my past is haunting me and for two years I have tried to put the ugly mess behind me but I have now decided that it will not go away unless I do something about it!

What is friendship? Someone who was at school with you then went to the same Varisty and studied the same course and hung out together and became friends. We then lost touch, can't remember why, but she got married and I didn't. Couple of years later we realised we both had babies three months apart, she still married and me still not, skande! We then rekindled the friendship around the struggles of patenting. I actually can't remember if we kept in touch all the time or not but she got divorced along the way and of course I am still single. When the kids were about 9 we decided to take them to Disney World. It was a well planned trip and affordable because we were sharing everything.

Forcing two only children to share was a bit of a challenge and I ended up packing my bags and knocking on my long lost cousin's door in Houston. This was a blessing, they welcomed us with open arms and we had such a good time that we went back a couple of years later and she constantly nags me to come visit again.

Well I don't take kindly to being kicked out in a strange country and the friendship ended here, or so I thought! I sometimes wondered how she was doing because I can't imagine life could be easy if you are aggressive and constantly fighting, but she was involved in an affair with her boss and I imagined that she was happy. And my life was full with a son that was growing up fast and all the challenges of being a single parent, building a career in a very competitive environment and I have a family who are very involved with each other. So life went on.

I have another friend, Mr Cupboard, who was also at school with me and we have a very special friendship, we call each other every now and then meet up for a drink or a meal and generally have a good time in each other's company. For any of you thinking of making a match - he is married to a girl who also went to school with us and she also has a good time with us! Anyway he started nagging me to do a class reunion in 2006, which we did and he invited Angry Friend and I decided to be civil towards her.

At the reunion we were civil towards each other and after a lot of wine flowed she came to chat with me and asked about everyone in my family - it ended up being a one way discussion because by now she had fought with everyone in her family and alienated them all - I kid you not! She only had her daughter, then studying at the same Varsity as my son, Charles. I felt sorry for her, and had consumed way too much wine and so I decided that bygones were bygones and to get over myself.

Shame, after-all she had no one and I had a big family and lots of friends, surely I could open my heart and forget about the past - Good deed Number One.

How innocently we set ourselves up for disaster!