The Bottomless Pit
The perimeter fence needs another paint job but most of the repairs left are cosmetic hopefully. This has been an ongoing fight to get things done and was left in the capable hands of family members. Big mistake right there.
Our second house in Durban should have been on the market months ago yet I am still dealing with builders and fixing things myself. Ever since we got shortchanged with the insurance payout after the floods almost 18 months ago the house has been a slow go bottomless pit sucking me dry at every step.
The original builder came highly recommended by family members as they had used him for various alterations over the years and he has left the site incomplete with various jobs still unfinished. All they can offer now is apologies and how crooked he was.
The swimming pool contractor who I had been using for years was supposed to complete a job 3 months before the flood damage. All he had to do was replace the pool motor which he never did. The job obviously became a little bigger as it was now filled with mud plus the motor was still broken.
Today the pool is finally fixed and is now an inviting selling feature which has taken 21 months longer than it should and has cost nearly double the repair costs. The acid wash which is the normal trick once you drain all the water out as the acid removes the stains left behind by the stagnant water. This didn't work this time due to the red mud and the pool needed recoating
costing even more.
A quote came through today for the bottom fence that is a shared cost with the neighbor and I queried the numbers as this looked wrong. The damage is reportedly very minor and considering we had this replaced not that long ago paying 75% of the entire bottom fence for minor damage is kind of nuts.
When you don't live in the area and you have others looking out for you or supposedly looking out for your best interest things do become questionable. All I wanted was the house to be jazzed up and ready for sale at the back end of last year and saying the progress is slow would be an understatement.
The valuation came in much higher than I expected as being on flat land is desirable in the area. Still a lesson learned as it would have been better to have kept my British Pounds outside the country as whilst the property has risen the local currency has only lost value so I would guess this has already lost me 20% in overall value. Who ever said buying property is a good investments as it also depends on having a stable currency holding it's value.
How much more this will cost I have no clue as I trusted family to get involved and wouldn't even know exactly where we are right now. My guess is we are still a good 3 months away from having it on the market and I now know I need to get more involved. I cannot afford to have another flood causing serious rain damage as the insurance companies have already shown they will only short change you.
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Your metaphor of the bottomless pit was an effective way of describing the risks associated with certain investments, particularly those that are highly speculative or untested. It's true that the allure of potential gains can sometimes blind investors to the very real risks that come with such investments, and your post serves as an important reminder of the importance of due diligence and risk management.
This is why I don't think I would ever want to have a rental property as an investment. Just too much work to deal with on top of everything. Vacant land on the other hand might not be so bad. I hope you get this sorted out soon.
to be fair the housing market has been a bloodbath in 2022 even oversea, and most of the sales aren't new buildings because nothing is built, for the lack of raw materials.
Inflation is rising which put negative effects on Property market, Here in my country, price for the properties have been decreased by 20% or more. I don't think Property is a good investment these days.
Tough property market in SA at the moment. Likely to head lower, it's unfortunately more of a buyer's market though.
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