Owning a Second Property can be a "beach". 19/12/14

The year is finally drawing to a close and I am enjoying the first day of a long awaited holiday.  But in reality these are tough times in our country and just looking around at the challenges we face, it would be wise to dwell on the things we have and are able to afford, such as basic services, fuel and clothing.  Our currency has taken a pounding, or even more precise a "dollaring"  in the last few days and this will surely affect our holiday spending with price adjustments being made in certain sectors already, to accommodate the down turn.  Just now I was down at the small cafe at the beach and looking at posters of  houses for sale, which tells a story of prices, which have moved up very little in the last few years.  The market in the "beach house" category seems very suppressed and it would seem that it takes very long to sell a property, unless the right buyer brings cash to the table.  Disposable income seems to be very limited and buying a second house at the sea appears to be a stretch for most South Africans.  The cost of maintaining and running a second household looks more and more expensive, especially due to the high costs of electricity, rates and taxes (although it must be said that the service being provided by these parastatals does not warrant that the consumer should pay for anything at present).  I am an advocate that one should render "unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but this country lives from the premise that you keep paying more and more, but you simply get less service and certainly no maintenance.  Every holiday home needs to be maintained and serviced in order to keep and grow it's value and the lesson I learnt today at the beach is that unless government starts to maintain and look after its infrastructure, the people that own houses, will also begin to stagnate and refuse to pay for the lack of service and this will further negatively impact the general outlook for investors.  It is good for our country when people buy second homes and try to grow their personal wealth in their own country.  It brings a belief in the services and structures and it leaves people positive and excited about the future.  I hope that in a few years, I will be standing again looking at the prices along the beach and smiling that there has been growth and development in the property sector and that it is underpinned by service delivery and support from government, which is after all its role and not that of a greedy gravy train, milking its way to the next generation.  All the best and enjoy the holidays.