The best way to upgrade: Sell or Build?

Should a home owner wanting to have larger and better premises sell and buy elsewhere or opt to stay where he is and ‘improve’ his existing home?

Rowan Alexander, Director of Alexander Swart Property, says that this depends largely on how extensive (and, therefore, how expensive) the improvements will be.

“All my experience goes to show that if the home owner wants a radical upgrade, e.g. another two bedrooms, a study and a double garage added to his existing home, it will probably be cheaper for him to sell and buy elsewhere rather than to appoint an architect and a builder to convert his current home.  The reason for this is that building work of this kind at the Cape tends to be costly:  the builder is operating at today’s prices, which have kept up with inflation year by year, and is probably not asked to cut his costs in a highly competitive tendering situation.”

With small improvements, however, says Alexander, the situation is very different.  Here the owner is usually paying from his monthly earnings, not via a bond, and is able to go about things slowly.  Year after year he can make small but significant changes such as fitting new kitchen cupboards, installing wooden flooring, adding a patio and pergola, tiling a bathroom or converting a garage into a bedroom.  These upgrades, done over a long period, add immeasurably to the value of the home, but they do so without leaving a big hole in the owner’s finances.

“This is a very sensible way to operate and I have seen it result in certain homes almost doubling their value over the years.  It can also be very satisfying to the home owners who are increasingly making the home more like what they really want.  By way of contrast, however, the cost of a major upgrade is, in my experience, usually a great deal higher than the outlay involved in selling and moving to a bigger or better home more suited to the owner’s tastes and needs.” 

For further information contact Rowan Alexander on cell phone number 082 581 3116 or by email rowan@asproperty.co.za.