Good deals on horizon for prospective home buyers

While the housing market slumbered during the lockdown, this is the time for buyers to land a better deal, with anxious sellers wanting to offload their properties and a low lending rate.

This is the consensus among some of Port Elizabeth’s top real estate agents who have adapted quickly by pushing for virtual tours during the lockdown.

The new level 3 regulations allow commercial and residential property agents to get back to work — with the necessary safety precautions.

KW Explore realtor agent Andrew Serfontein expects the property market to open with a bang on Monday.

“After the news that the country was dropping to level 3, I received calls from five people keen on seeing properties,” he said.

Agents would push for deals as threats of reverting to level 4 or 5 loomed.

“Everyone will want to make the most of this time,” he said.

Agents had struggled during the lockdown but it had forced them to become “tech-enabled”.

 “We could not operate normally. We could not show homes to people in person and could not visit new clients.

“Other than that, the deeds office closed and you could not get rates clearance certificates from the municipality.”

Serfontein said an agent was paid only after a property was registered in the new owner’s name.

“Payment ground to a halt.”

On the virtual tours, he said: “We used them before the lockdown so we were prepared for this.

“It has its place. Sometimes people bought through the virtual tour, including during the lockdown.

“It is a complete and extreme buyers market.

“With the prime lending rate dropping and people coming out of the lockdown anxious to sell it might lower the price.

“It really is a great time to buy a house.”

Serfontein said he expected the property market rebound from Monday.

RE/MAX Independent CEO Kobie Potgieter said real estate companies with good business fundamentals, access to a solid reserve fund and a strong rental book would survive the pandemic.

“But the fact that there was no income or generation of income for two months set us all back substantially.

“Real estate business owners used this time to reflect, analyse their businesses and plan for the ‘new normal’. The face of the business in SA has changed for most businesses.

“The ability to adapt and innovate will set successful businesses apart from the ones that will close down.

“Through Covid-19, the way people live and work will change and it will have a direct impact on real estate.

“This again will have an impact on the value of the assets.

“Some purchasers are re-evaluating their pending transactions and questioning their capital spend.

“Certain segments of the market will become less desirable and the sustainability of these segments will be affected heavily.

“Building technology in real estate companies will play be a key role to ensure sustainability and enabling staff to work remotely.

“Many positions will become redundant and be replaced with tech-savvy employees, who will be able to add more value in our new virtual world.

“The demand of property will however not be affected.

“The strong demand for residential property is due to our population growth and urbanisation and that hasn’t changed.

“The only thing that will change is the price point that clients will be looking at because of their affordability that was effected by the pandemic.”

She said RE/MAX Independent had quickly adapted to the lockdown.

“One of our biggest challenges was the fact that our professional photographers were not allowed access into our new listings.

“We had to also virtually value properties, as we were not allowed access into the new listings either.

Talana Foot Real Estate and Financing owner and CEO Talana Foot said April had slowed but May had picked up just as quickly.

“It is gaining pace. There is definitely momentum building in and around our industry and it’s heartening to see.

“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, though, because there’s still a mountain to climb.”

She said virtual tours had their place but buyers always preferred seeing the real thing.

“Most still want to walk into the property to get a feel for it.”

She said it was buyers’ market due to economic and political factors

“And as employees move to a work-from-home model, many will scramble to change their home office spaces to enable them to work efficiently and comfortably.”