house that is up for sale is no
picnic. More so for a tenant as
he/she seldom has anything to
gain by a successful transaction.
At least an owner occupying his
own property has the incentive
of a sale and will do his utmost
to accommodate the agent and
prospective buyers. The poor
tenant's reward for presenting a
well-kept property is probably a
sale and an eventual evacuation.
One can almost sympathize
with tenants employing one or
more of the following tactics.
1. "Unavailability" exactly at
those times that the property
needs to be viewed.
2. Leaving the property in a
mess before viewers show up.
3. Friendly chats with buyers
about real and imagined faults
in the property and/or
4. Smelly and "nosy" dogs
greeting the buyers at the
front gate.
How does a seller
counter or prevent these
tactics from happening?
1. Employ one agency
that has respect for the
tenant's privacy and not
harass them at all hours
of the day/night.
2. Agree beforehand
with tenants about
appropriate times to
view the property.
3. Requesting tenants
not to accompany the
viewers through the property.
4. If no reasonable viewing
agreement can be reached
with the tenant, it may be
wise to terminate the lease
agreement, freshen-up the
house with an "immediate
occupation" incentive.
offered cash incentives to
tenants so as to compensate
them for inconvenience and
relocation expenses.
we must acknowledge the cur-
rent signs and realize that the
"slump" is not going to be as
severe as we had feared.
True, there still is an over sup-
ply of apartments for sale, but
due to a continued influx of
people, transactions are still
happening at a staggering pace.
It still is a buyer's market but if
sellers prepare their properties
well and list at realistic prices,
there's good reason to believe
will pitch.
There seems to be an
siz ed famil y h om es,
probably as a result of some
S e l l e r s i n t h e
N$700,000 to N$1,2m
br a c k et ca n b e
optimistic about finding
a buyer. We also
experience sales in the
N$ 2m+ market but
these properties need to
be in immaculate and
key-ready condition.