SARS Loves Property

From time gone by, one of the most dreaded people in society, has been the tax man. In biblical times, they were more despised than ladies of ill repute, and even oppressive armies.

Over centuries, land barons have been taxing land tenancy and ownership, a custom continued today. All land / property  owners are taxed on their property portfolios and it goes without saying, every homeowner in the country pays their local council. The city taxes the homeowner for the funds to provide services.

But the time the Honourable SARS rubs his hands with glee the  most, is when a property is sold and transferred to a new owner.

For starters, the seller will pay the agent a commission for selling the property. Most of the estate agencies are vat registered. So the commission will attract vat. On a R2 million Rand property, the agent could (and should!) charge 7.5% plus vat. Kaching !!! SARS collects R21,000.

In order to get the property transferred into their name, the purchaser must pay transfer duty.
Transfer duty, paid to the intrepid government's coffers ...R77,000.

The Deeds office must also get paid for the work they do R850. (Surely the transfer duty could cover this? They are a Government department and the government is not very good at ringfencing income)

The attorneys will charge for their services, (registering a property is something you cannot do yourself) and we don't begrudge them their fee. Vat on attorneys fees...R2,695.

Our unsuspecting buyer, having paid a bucket of money to the state, breathes a sigh of relief, until the bank man comes calling.

Our unsuspecting buyer, applies to, and is successful at raising a home loan at the bank.

Registering the bond at the Deeds Office (assuming a bond of R1.5m).. R850. And of course, our intrepid attorney has to charge for the service, and the fee attracts vat.... R2096.

So that provides a summary of some of the ways the State coffers are fed on a daily basis, as properties are bought and sold........so that's R105,000 on this relatively small property transaction

What's missing?

CAPITAL GAINS TAX..........A headache for another day.

Real Estate Professional or Tour Guide?

Everyone has their own , or has heard, horror stories about buying or selling a property.

This is to help real estate agents take a careful look at their chosen profession and analyse their own standards.

South Africa, the USA and the UK are currently experiencing a "buyers' market" in real estate. Take a moment and think about how you treat a buyer.

If you were a financial adviser, and someone contacted you with Xmillion or more to invest, would you deal with it on the phone, or would you make a face-to-face appointment to discuss their needs and give yourself the opportunity to be the successful agent. Phone an investment consultant and see. But phone an estate agent with X millions to invest and at best an appointment will be made to drag you on a guided tour of the properties they have listed. If they have nothing that meets your requirements, they adopt a shotgun approach: show you anything they have and hope that one of them will stick. As a buyer I was shown countless properties over a 12 month period, many of which were no where near my requests and some not even in the suburb I specified!

The computer and office automation industries, among others, have for many years focused on need satisfaction selling. The basis of this is that you as a salesperson need to ask many questions to ensure that you have a very clear picture of what the buyer is looking for. Only then can you provide your solution with the correct product, and close the deal.

Subsequent research by Xerox Corporation in the 1980's showed very clearly that sales people that asked the highest number of focused questions, achieved the highest results. Almost unexpectedly, the buyers interviewed in over 10,000 interviews throughout the US and Canada, said that they trusted these sales people more. In a market where you are dealing with the biggest investment a person makes in their life, trust becomes a very important factor.

Needs: What does the customer need in terms of a property? Three bedrooms two bathrooms, garaging for two cars and a boat, family room for the teenagres and a flat for Granny as she is going to be funding a large portion of the transaction! Price / affordability !!!!! These are the non-negotiable aspects of their requirements.

Criteria: Suburb, view, shopping malls, schools, transport, friends in the 'hood etc.

Deals are only closed on the needs agreed to by the buyer and not the "nice" aspects of the property you try to push down their throats!

So, how do you treat your buyers? If you made the right impression, asked the right questions and provided the benefits of dealing with you and your company, would it then not be possible to conclude a buyer's mandate? (Buyers' Representation Agreement)

South Africa is hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup. An offshoot of the tournament will be many foreign visitors who may well be interested in purchasing property. It will be a first time in South Africa for many of them and with the currency exchange rate in their favour, property becomes very attractive. The 'tour guide' approach is best avoided with foreign businessmen.

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