Five for 2025: Make these your property priorities in the new year
Leapfrog Johannesburg North East, believes every property owner should prioritise the protection and wellbeing of this investment.
08/01/2025
Unsurprisingly, “exercise more”, “eat
healthier” and “save more money” are among the
most popular new year’s resolutions. This is
according to Gemini, Google’s AI-powered
assistant, but anecdotally most of us are sure
to agree.
And while there is certainly
nothing wrong with any of those, you may want to
consider making a few commitments for things
that add value to one of your most significant
assets, your property.
Michelle Cohen,
Principal at Leapfrog Johannesburg North East,
believes every property owner should prioritise
the protection and wellbeing of this investment,
as they would other things of value in their
lives.
Here are her top tips for setting
your house in order, so to speak.
1. Money matters
If saving more money is one of your
resolutions, your property, and specifically the
interest rate on your bond, is a good place to
start.
“Many people don’t know this but
the interest rate on the needn’t be fixed for
the full loan period. There is nothing stopping
you from ‘shopping around’ for a better rate.
Remember, a 1% difference in the interest rate
can mean a notable saving on interest in the
long term,” Cohen explains.
She adds
through that moving a bond from one bank to
another will incur costs, but a trusted property
advisor can work with you to weigh up the costs,
versus the savings over time
Similarly,
consider paying more into your bond each month.
In the immediate term that’s not a saving but if
done consistently, you’ll save thousands in
interest over a longer period of time. Bond
originator BetterBond has a useful calculator on
their website that helps you easily work out how
much you eventually save by paying more than the
minimum into the bond each month.
2. Property-related paperwork
It feels like every year most of us have more
“life admin” to deal with. More than just a
feeling, Psychology Today refers to it as
“invisible labour” which speaks to the toll it
takes.
And when it comes to your
property there is more admin than meets the eye,
which is why it’s worth making a resolution to
get it in order in 2025.
Everything from
reviewing the terms and conditions of your
household insurance policy to getting in touch
with a property professional to do a free
property evaluation. Even things like making a
(digital) folder for storing all documentation
and policies related to your property in one
place - don’t underestimate the peace of mind
paperwork that is properly organised can bring
to your life!
3. Master of maintenance
Don’t delay, maintain today! Property
maintenance can easily snowball - at first it
was just that one bit of the gutter that needed
replacing and the next thing it seems like the
entire roof is leaking.
“When it comes
to home maintenance, the absolute best advice is
to take care of things proactively and
immediately as they occur. Allowing it to get
out of hand will cost you more money, to say
nothing of the headache it causes,” Cohen says.
Make a list of maintenance-related
things that need to be taken care of in 2025,
and prioritise accordingly to urgency, or as
your budget allows.
Maintenance doesn’t
mean reconstruction or retrofitting, it’s about
keeping your hand on matters - fixing things
when they break, replacing fittings that are old
or outdated, and painting the interior and
exterior every couple of years.
4. Clear the clutter
We live in homes, not storage facilities -
and most of us own far more than we need or use
- which is why regular and disciplined
decluttering is important.
“A client
once told me she declutters quarterly as a means
of honouring her home for the safe space it
provides her and her family, and to bring new,
fresh energy into the space. It’s something
that’s always stuck with me and that I now do
myself,” Cohen shares.
Quarterly may not
be necessary but commit to doing it at least
once a year. Donate the things that you no
longer need but could be valuable to those less
fortunate, or sell the things that still have a
lot of value (“If you didn’t get onto that
bicycle once in 2024, it needs to go on Facebook
Marketplace,” Cohen quips).
5. Invest in your community
No man is an island, the title of the famous
poem goes, but the reality of modern life is
that we tend to be quite isolated from the
communities we live in. While this is partly by
choice and partly by design, it is worth putting
some effort into getting to know your neighbours
and/or getting involved in a community
initiative.
“An easy way to start is to
introduce yourself to your immediate neighbours
and get their numbers. Next you may want to
think about volunteering with the neighbourhood
watch as a way of doing something for the
greater good,” Cohen suggests.
Everybody
wants to live in a safe and friendly
neighbourhood, and that starts with a simple
hello. Neighbours where people know one another
and are aligned on the common good tend to be
more resilient, safer, better looked after, and
more appealing to potential buyers.