Deciding on a property strategy

When deciding on a property investment strategy can be overwhelming. It can also be daunting when you think that the only way to make money with property is rental income. Rest assured, this post will give you a few things to consider and end off with links to all the property investment strategies I have researched!

Before we dig in, let’s look at some myths about property investment first.

Property profitability myths

• Property cannot give you the returns stocks can
  • You make your profit when you buy, not when you sell. If you invest well, you could pick up a property at minimal cost to you, if any.
• When you calculate the cost of repairs, maintenance and other costs it becomes unprofitable
  • I include these in my calculations and so should you. Remember those good property investments will have some maintenance from time to time. You don’t have to do maintenance though – many just fix and flip!
• You will need to pay money from your own pocket monthly as the rent doesn’t cover the mortgage
  • Well, sometimes. It depends on the property you are investing in.
  • You could easily just connect buyers and sellers.
• Rent and property value will not increase by inflation
  • This is biased, as many many stocks do not increase with inflation either – Steinhoff anyone?
  • Though property can be concentrated, you can still do good research to minimise any risks.

Choosing your property playing field

When choosing to invest in property, you can invest in upper class property or in lower class property. They come with their own good and bad things – pick your poison.

For me, the first choice is between Krugerrand and cash flow properties.

Property type strategy: krugerrand or cashflow properties

All property is equal – but some are more equal than others. 

I personally believe there’s two types of property you can invest in – cashflow and krugerrand properties and a good property investment strategy has a bit of both. Here’s a quick summary of these:

Krugerrand properties

Cashflow properties

To give an illustration of the following, I normally compare my personal properties on a rent to purchase price ratio: If I buy a place for R 400 000, I expect a minimum rent of R 4 000 per month (a 1% rental factor). Often I would actually expect a rent of more than this – as I would prefer my rent to cover my bond and all monthly fees. This is an example of a cash flow property.

I could also buy a Krugerrand property. I could spend R 1 000 000 on a place that is a bit more upper class, but my rent is only R 8 000 (a 0.8 % rental factor), and my levies and taxes have been deducted yet.

How long should you be investing?

Some people like making a quick buck – and exiting their investment before too much time passes. And that’s okay. 

Some people are more interested in getting capital gain. This means they want cash now. For others, invest in passive income – e.g. rental income every month.  

Passive income

• You get paid regularly for not working – e.g. monthly rent for someone living in your flat
• Low / No involvement with returns, without affecting your capital investment – think dividends and rent
• Buy to keep – you are not planning on selling anytime soon, thus your taxes are lower

Capital gain

• You do a deal to get a cash injection – e.g. buy, fix and flog a property
• High/moderate involvement to manage your investment until you flip it
• Your end goal is to sell your investment and use the profits for something else.

Many people will tell you in old age you need income – which is true, and many people settle for passive income, rather than drawing money from their living annuities. Well, the fact is you will need money then, and I would opt for passive income! But right now, it would be cool to have both. The cycle often works as follows: make money through capital gain, and invest this into assets that will give you passive income. 

I love passive income, but I do realise that your own money only will not make you retire early – unless you sell both your kidneys, heart and lungs. 

Cash or loan?

Most people don’t have the cash liquidity to buy a property without a loan – yet some do.  If you have the cash – well done! If not, well then you need to settle for a mortgage/home loan. But I do believe there would be reasons why you would not want to buy the property cash. 

Here are some things to consider:

Mortgage

• Many fees will be payable – see my blog post here
• You could deduct fees and interest from tax
• The majority of the monthly repayment could come from the rent

Buying cash

• You generate instant cash flow
• You only need to pay fees for the transfer attorney, not the bond fees
• You can reinvest your profits to make more money

I think everyone wants to pay off properties, but this really depends on your strategy and the time you have left before retirement – If you are very close to retirement, you sort of need to make a plan to get monthly money coming in.

Fees, costs and other factors to include in your calculations

Many people do not know where to start when they need to work out if the property profitability. Here are some guidelines that could help you to work this out for yourself:

• Know beforehand all fees:
  • Monthly fees
  • Yearly fees
  • Possible unplanned costs
• Take into consideration the rent you will earn, as well as a possible rise in property value
  • You cannot determine by how much property values will climb, but you can look at historical data and compare that with stocks and bonds and other properties. If you have had your property for a while, you can calculate these!
  • Call a few estate agents to get a better idea about market-related rent
• Calculate how much you need to pay out of your own pocket (your shortfall or deposit)
  • Compare this with other properties and other options that you know well
• Speak to a tax consultant about the most effective way to pay fewer taxes
  • The best way on this is to have more expenses and less income. Note you should NEVER rent your property out far below the standard – SARS sometimes checks this with audits – and they check all your expenses as well!

Calculations for investor savvy people

If you are really tech-savvy and have awesome Excel skills, you are able to work out some of the following:

• Calculate the annualised return of your property by comparing the amount of money that you would need to pay out of your pocket, and including the rent and the property growth you have had,  minus your expenses of course!
• work out your ROI over the 20-year term with projected rental income and property value increases. Note to include other fees as well and don’t estimate a rental increase of 10%, this really is rare in the property market!

Property strategy links

Here is a list of property strategies:

• Buying property at auctions in South Africa
• Airbnb and guesthouses
• Buy to sell / Fix and flip
• Holiday home renting
• Student accommodation
• Buy to let

I want to mention that combining these property investments with a property tax strategy could be extra advantageous. Have a look at these property strategies here. 

Conclusion

I see this post as an introduction to strategically planning your property investment. The most important thing from all of this information is that you need to be hands-on: you need to know what’s going on in your investment. Volunteer to be on the body corporate of your sectional title investments, be included in your neighbourhood watch and speak to many of the estate agents and rental agents in the area to be up to date with the latest changes and news.

The three most important strategy categories to take from this post is:

• Property type
• Term strategy 
• Financial strategy

Happy investing!

Extra reading

• Private Property -6 top investment strategies used by property investors
• Property Geek: A LIST OF EVERY PROPERTY INVESTMENT STRATEGY OUT THERE (WITH PROS AND CONS)
•