Traditionally, especially if you’ve grown up in your family’s ‘owned’ home, it is expected that when you marry and are planning a family, you will enter the realm of property ownership. Many will have heard how important it is to have an asset like property because in the long-term it increases in value.
There are many reasons to feel pressure to buy a home:
FOMO (fear of losing out); usually manifests when the majority of your friends have bought properties.
Your family is growing, and a new baby is on the way.
Your rental lease is due to expire, or the landlord has sold and you can’t find a comparable property to rent.
You’re moving to different province and need to get settled quickly.
You need to be closer to family, for support (medical or assistance).
You’ve sold your existing property, and you need to move within the next month or two.
You need to downsize urgently for financial reasons.
Whether it is your peer’s or your parents pushing you into the idea of a property purchase, or for reasons beyond your control, it is quite normal to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to buy a property.
The thing about pressure is that it can cause you to make the wrong decision or compromise on your initial checklist. The sad reality is that buying a home because you have an urgent need, can manifest in buyer’s remorse, something that costs you dearly, be that financially or in your and your family’s wellbeing.
Pressure also means that if you are looking to buy urgently, you won’t have had time to really explore the market and understand its nuances, or what makes for a good deal. In such a case you may end up settling on a property that appears to be the best of mediocre offerings, or one that needs a huge amount of maintenance and/or renovation which may be unaffordable in the long run and too time-consuming to do yourself. Panic buying rarely has a good result.
Basil Moraitis, regional head for Pam Golding Properties in the Western Cape, confirms that such panic buying is often driven by insufficient housing in the area in which you wish to live. “Perhaps you have moved to Cape Town from upcountry, you’ve been renting and now your lease is now coming to an end, but you just can’t find a property that suits your needs.
“The best advice here is to stop searching on your own and find an agent you can work with, one who sympathises with your situation, understands your needs, and that you feel you can work with to assist you in finding the right home.’
Property practitioners are the most-informed about the local area in which they operate. Not only do they negotiate buy and sell transactions, but they also have information that the general public may not have access to, such as upcoming infrastructure development (shopping centres, medical facilities, road routes), and best is that they often know of properties that have yet to come onto the market.
“Information is critical,” says Moraitis. “My colleagues and I keep our buyer’s informed constantly to changing market conditions, and new listings coming onto the market. In this way we guide a buyer to make the right choice for them, even if that means approaching other agencies and agents in the area, and viewing their listings.”
New listings are being posted daily on Private Property and agencies’ own websites, like Pam Golding Properties. This means that an individual who is under pressure to buy, will need to search daily or approach a large number of agents for viewings.
As suggested by Moraitis, there is no need for this if you have a relationship with a single agent who is looking after your interests, or if you register with an agency via their website. If registered you will receive notifications the moment a new listing is uploaded.
Moraitis cautions buyers about advertising their need for a property on social media. “Sellers are reluctant to deal with buyers that approach them via these social platforms given the high levels of fraud, phishing and scamming,” he says.
Ultimately though, and regardless of the pressure, the handholding by an agent tends to be calming in a pressure situation. Moraitis says it may be that all a buyer really needs is “to be guided on their wish-list and expectations, be that price range, size of property and location."
