Excited about setting up the church website. Fruitful discussion is taking place.

July 18 is Nelson Mandela’s birthday and the United Nations has confirmed this day as International Nelson Mandela Day in his honour. Out of this initiative and to celebrate his life and the 67 years that he was in public service an idea was born. This idea became the 67 minutes of community service initiative. On this day and during the whole of July people from all walks of life, all over the world stop what they are doing to donate 67 minutes to community service. From cleaning schools and nurseries to visiting sick people in hospital to feeding schemes and public park clean-ups the ideas to participate are endless.

South Africa is a internationally recognised venue for conferences, seminars and trade shows. Not to mentioned world class in terms of sporting facilities and concerts. U2, Fifa and numerous others will attest to this fact. What’s not to love?

Having worked in the affordable housing space for over a decade I have seen investors make huge returns. With a littler planning and careful application of the correct funding model a savvy investor could make decent returns. The trick is the correct mix of properties that will offer a market related rental yield over time. The additional benefit is the commensurate capital appreciation of the portfolio over the medium to long term.

The shortage of affordable housing in the bondable sector is around 800 000 units, however the figure is even higher in the gap market space, that is the space above the RDP and subsidised band but below the bondable band of around R250 000 to R280 000 range, this figure is reputed to be over 1 million units. This offers comfort to anyone who is interested in the market size and its future sustainability.

Another major benefit is that the initial purchase price can to negotiated to secure a sizable discount to market price, this immediately leaves adequate equity in the transaction to satisfy the conservative  investor. By sourcing the correct tenant a landlord could make the acquisition cash flow positive from the early stage and the lead time to real inflows are readily shortened.

In my opinion, this class of property asset is the ideal vehicle for individuals, investors clubs alike. I would gladly show interested parties how to get started.

The price of oil is up again around $100 today. The need to focus on alternative energy is now more then ever a reality and a necessity. I hope one day be a provider of wind energy and other alternatives.