Factors to consider when purchasing a house

There are a number of factors to consider after purchasing a property, when family needs change or purchasing an investment property. How do you know what to do to make the space suitable for your needs? Let’s explore 4 things that you need to consider before embarking on this journey

-Municipality regulations

-Structural integrity of building

-Return on investment ROI

-Orientation

-Single vs multi-storey building

1.) MUNICIPALITY REGULATIONS

When considering purchasing a property always research on what expansion is allowable by the town planning regulations. You can easily request a zoning certificate from municipality and see what is allowable.

The zoning certificate will tell you

a) height restrictions single/double or multiple storeys

b) square metres allowable,

c) building lines within property

d) building types allowable, ie residential, flats, cluster housing, commercial, industrial

A zoning certificate will guide you in all this, your architect will guide you with this   It forms part of their inception report. All this information has a bearing on the opportunities available on your site.

Site boundaries-a surveyor generals diagram will show you how big your site is

2) STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF BUILDING

Oftentimes people intend on adding an additional storey but overlook that the existing foundations might not sustain the additional load. A structural engineer needs to be engaged to determine if that is possible. They will assess the soil types and advise accordingly. If the existing structure is not sound then the additional storey will need to be structurally independent of the ground storey. Either it will stand on steel or concrete columns. You will also need to consider ground floor additions instead of vertical additions.

3) ROI RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Clients often overlook this. It doesn’t make sense to buy a fairly new building and then try to remodel or make additions. The cost of purchasing such a property and remodelling will be too great to realise a return on that investment. It is better to buy a modestly old or rundown property at a reasonable price and do renovations on it. The cost of purchase and remodelling will often make it feasible to sell it and realise a return. General advise when intending to resell the property is to not exceed the price of the most expensive property in the area by 10%.

But you might argue that you have no intention of selling but rather looking to spend the rest of your life there then who are we to deny you that comfort, but your children and grandchildren might find it difficult to sell in the future if you ignore the rule of thumb.

In some instances it is actually better to demolish the entire property and build new. There are instances where the renovation cost will equal price of a new build yet with a renovation you have restrictions of what exists as opposed to just demolishing and building what you want.

4) ORIENTATION

How is the building oriented?

This is a very important question, it makes or breaks your comfort within a space. If the house is oriented east or west it is better to demolish completely or partially but if it north facing then remodelling opportunities exist and need exploration. In the Southern Hemisphere north facing is the best orientation.

5) SINGLE OR MULTI-STOREY

This aspect requires that a family assesses their day to day needs. For a young family yard space and entertainment space might be a priority for an elderly family a single storey will be ideal for their mobility. Others with a growing family might consider a multilevel house as ideal because it leaves more yard space for their growing family