Get properties valued ahead of the municipal valuations

"People owning valuable upper bracket homes, who have actually tried to sell these recently have had to accept that their market value can now be as much as 20% lower than it was at the peak period of 2007/2008. However, many other home owners are still completely unaware of this and have totally unrealistic ideas about what their properties are worth," says Pienaar.

Unrealistically high values

Previously, many municipalities failed to take the role played by the property boom in recent years into consideration which gave some properties unrealistically high values, but this is likely to change with the new valuations. "In the circumstances, all home owners, whether or not they plan to sell, should now set about getting an accurate and professional valuation on their homes. Our team, as part of Rawson Properties' ongoing community involvement programme, are prepared to do this free of charge and without imposing any obligation on the home owner."

Rawson Properties' senior agent, Gerald Romanovsky (a Stellenbosch University MBA graduate) in particular, can offer a highly sophisticated, in-depth valuation technique which has the rigour and discipline of systems used by the major professional valuators, but which is easily analysed and understood.

"Romanovsky's system not only assesses the recently achieved prices of similar or fairly similar properties in the precinct but he also considers value adding characteristics such as the view, the finishes, functionality of the layout, the orientation of the plot, security, the state of the garden, the condition of the neighbourhood in general and the exact position of the property - to mention only some of the points covered," says Pienaar.

Sworn property valuators

Price estimates offered by agents should not be confused with those from sworn property valuators. Their valuations are accepted in court and are used by banks or for estate purposes - but in an affluent market like Constantia it can take years for an agent to understand property values, especially those at the upper end. For this reason sworn valuers often approach his estate agents for input in valuing properties.

Once a valuation is done accurately, it can be used to challenge and alter the less competent valuations which crop up regularly in municipal records. However, experience has shown that those who apply for a municipal revaluation are more likely to get quick satisfaction if they do so early on in the process. If and when a flood of new valuations occur, it can take many months for the hard pressed municipal staff to attend to them.