The Westville  Tree House

Did you know that in Germany, it is not uncommon for a house to stay in the family for 200 years? They just don't want to sell their homes.

In all the suburbs of South Africa, there are many great, hard-working estate agencies that can help you buy a home or find a new owner for your property. Just like with any smart homeowner, seller, buyer, it is important to negotiate what you pay the agency for their service.

Remember, it is your money, and one day you need to retire! Read on.

The cost of buying and selling a home in South Africa is too high. Let's focus on the high cost to sell our most precious possession and the thing that we least want to part with. The family Home.

We may have been forced into doing so because we have reached a financial crisis, unemployed thru no fault of our own and can no longer pay the calling mortgage bank. South African estate agencies charge homeowner 8% commission when the house has been sold. (The commission varies between 4% and 8%. In the United Kingdom and the European Union, that fee is between 1.2 - 1.8 %) 

If the home is valued at 2M and the agencies charges an 8% commission that comes to a whopping R170,000 plus transfer and legal fees = R12,000 brings the total to R 182,000 in commission paid. Almost a quarter of a million rand. 

Dear homeowners, that huge payment is just too high cost to find a new owner for your home. Plus, the fact that many homeowners needing to sell their properties are venerable in a stressful situation that is no fault of their own.

The long-term implications of the "high commission" type payment for services is that when the house has been bought and sold 2 or 3 times as happens in many cases, the estate agencies commissions have added 25% onto the cost of a home. That means the next homeowner caries this added commission cost with him and has greatly increased his debt. Those high costs are one of the reasons many of our hard-working folks will retire one day without pension support. There was just nothing left over to put aside for retirement after paying for the overly high home bond.

A house. A Flat. A commercial property. Office Space. And that should be 2% OR MAXIMUNM 2.2%. WE ARE GOING TO KEEP THE MONEY IN THE POCKETS OF THE HOMEOWNER. After all, it is the homeowner who has worked for and paid for the house. Right?

The cost of selling a home must fall. NO MORE HIGH PROPERTY COMMISSION FEES. It just becomes too easy to load the price of selling the house to an unsuspecting and struggling homeowner trying to feed a family & keep a roof over his head. NO MORE HIGH COMMISSIONS.  Stand up people. This is your money. We don't have to be over charged just because we are South Africans. -  John Venediger  Remember. If you buy a big, expensive motor car it means that you will probably never own a home of your own. DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON NEW AND EXPENSIVE CARS.