The publicity given recently to the danger (for the seller of a property) of finding himself having to pay double commissions is timeous and much needed, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates. “At least two recent court cases,” he said, “have shown that the seller can all too easily find himself having to [...]

With the Consumer Protection Act now making it even more essential that the seller of a home declare openly any defects of which he is aware, it has been said by some estate agents that the voetstoots clause is now becoming redundant:  the repair of almost any defect in the home discovered after the transfer [...]

When an estate agency, like Vineyard Estates, runs an active rental division, there will always, says Vineyard Estates’ CEO, Anton du Plessis, be a strong motivation to sell homes as buy-to-let investments.  The question that he is frequently asked, he says, is, “Can you honestly recommend this type of property investment rather than one in [...]

Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates, recently found himself in a situation where, after for working for a full year to sell a residential property (i.e. long after his sole mandate on the property had expired), it was eventually sold by the owner to a member of his own family.  However, “being essentially [...]

Habitatio rights not confirmed by the relevant clauses in the document.  Whenever a property is bequeathed or sold to a buyer on the understanding that he or she will allow a third party to occupy the premises in perpetuity (i.e. until that person moves on or dies) – a situation of conflict is possible at [...]

Conditions in the Cape residential property market have, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, caused him to revise his attitude to sole mandates.  “In the old days,” he said, “I would often recommend dual mandates, especially when they involved a big name company and a smaller local agency.  In dual mandates, said du [...]

Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, has drawn attention to a recent High Court case (involving an auctioneer and Netluk Boerdery cc and Another) in which the plaintiff’s plea that he had not fully understood the contract was taken as grounds for allowing him to opt out of it.  “The Smith Tabata Buchanan Boyes [...]

FNB’s decision to stop issuing any bonds at sub-prime rates will probably be followed by the other banks – but this is not a death blow to the residential property market, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of the Cape Peninsula estate agency, Vineyard Estates.  “Right now,” he said, “the rates are low enough to promote [...]

At the Cape, says Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates, winter almost invariably ushers in a period of slow residential property selling – and already this year the pattern is beginning to repeat itself.  This, he says, follows on from a four month period in which upper middle and upper bracket property attracted [...]

Sellers and buyers dealing in residential property have to realise that delays in transfer do occur and no estate agency or conveyancer can guarantee a transfer date.  This was said by Anton du Plessis, head of Vineyard Estates, commenting on a recent case in which the Deeds Office held up a transfer by almost one [...]

In the last decade, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, there have been regular attempts by sellers of property to cut down on or avoid paying commission – but if and when these reach the courts the arguments for the cancellation of commission have almost always been rejected and the courts have almost [...]

Another high profile Cape estate agency chief executive, Anton du Plessis of Vineyard Estates, has commented on the practice adopted by some estate agencies of insisting that deposits be paid into their own trust accounts, instead of to the conveyancer’s trusts.  These comments follow on the accusations now being levelled against certain high profile estate [...]

The volatility of the Cape Peninsula property market and the lack of sufficient sales to draw up truly representative figures for the upper bracket market, says Anton du Plessis of Vineyard Estates, makes it very difficult to give definite, realistic valuations on the more expensive homes when these come up for sale. “The situation,” said [...]

Anton du Plessis, the livewire CEO of Vineyard Estates, the Cape Peninsula estate agency serving Bishopscourt, Upper Kenilworth, Upper Claremont, Newlands, Rondebosch and Constantia, has drawn attention to an Appeal Court ruling (in the case Solvista Investments vs Sasol Fibres) which, says du Plessis, clarifies the message that the liability to pay all rates and [...]

Any idea that the Cape Town City Council might back down on its new ruling that a certificate has to be obtained from an accredited plumber before a home can be transferred to a new owner can now be dropped:  the ruling has become law and will be enforced, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of [...]

Serious legal problems can arise when a house or an apartment is bought by a couple who are not married and only one of them signs for it. Anton du Plessis of Vineyard Estates says; “The couple being partners carries no weight in law – unless the arrangement is signed and sealed under what is [...]

When buyers are struggling to raise finance for a bond to purchase a home, one of the most powerful “tools” at their disposal is a suretyship or guarantee.  If a borrower can get a well resourced individual or company to stand surety for the loan he is likely to be given it.  The danger here, [...]

With traditional marriage agreements now considered passé by many people, quite frequently a couple will buy a house or an apartment together – but only one person will sign for it.  This, says Anton du Plessis, can lead to problems because the couple being partners carries no weight in law – unless it is sealed [...]

Although verbal agreements can be – and often are – binding in SA law, where property is concerned every agreement and condition has to be in writing (or in 21st Century terminology, in print with signatures).   Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, said that he has in his 24 years in property seen several [...]

There has always been a tendency among South Africans, especially those who have achieved success in the business world to believe that they are capable of handling property transactions on their own. They are inclined to think that a perusal of the business media and talks to friends have somehow qualified them as experts in [...]

Are you paying the right price for your new property?  How does a homebuyer know if he is offering the right price for the property in which he is interested?  There are, says Anton du Plessis of Vineyard Estates, the Cape Peninsula residential property marketing agency, certain checks which can indicate whether the seller and [...]

Many Cape Town estate agents will tell you that it is hardly worth their while to keep their offices open during the Christmas/New Year period.  This is very definitely not the view of Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates.  He ensured that he was completely available over this fortnight when other agents took [...]

Examined critically, right now buying to rent in Cape Town’s southern suburbs does not appear to be a great investment opportunity – but some experienced, shrewd buyers have been buying steadily for exactly that purpose. Seeking to explain this, Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, which is headquartered in Upper Claremont, said that during [...]

In recent years, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of the Cape Peninsula estate agency, Vineyard Estates, the average difference between the achieved price and the asking price of homes in the southern suburbs has been ± 13 to 15%. “This fact,” he said, “is often discussed.  The danger is that it can lead to all [...]

There are still numerous potential buyers looking for a property in the traditionally upmarket Cape Peninsula suburbs of Constantia and Bishopscourt, says Thys Human, Vineyard Estates Upper Constantia agent – but, he adds, after being presented with an attractive list of options in today’s market, they are often determined to search for possible better value [...]

While it is quite understandable that potential homebuyers will always ask themselves the question, “Could I not be better off building my new home rather than buying a used one?”, in the current highly competitive market that proposition is unlikely to be a good one, says Anton Du Plessis, CEO of the Cape estate agency, [...]

South Africa, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of the Cape Town estate agency, Vineyard Estates, is the traditional home of the entrepreneur and self made man.  The diamond and gold mines fostered a culture in which people accepted that they could take control of their own futures –and become wealthy.  “Rudyard Kipling, who was Rhodes’ [...]

Anton Du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates the outgoing chairman of the Western Cape Institute of Estate Agents Peninsula Committee, said recently that he and his fellow committee members had accepted wholeheartedly the government’s instruction to transform the estate agency sector.  The alternatives, he said, is to face “prescriptive action”.  “On the face of it, [...]

The selling of a home frequently involves a whole chain of related property transactions, involving two or even three buyers and sellers, and this can cause complications related to the occupation date, says Anton Du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates.  “Occupation on transfer is,” he says, “the widely accepted practice – and our experience indicates [...]

How many times have we read in the business media that property sellers still tend to overvalue their properties?  And yet, says Anton Du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, some 30% of sellers still succeed in setting too high a price. “This,” he said, “can be very frustrating to the experienced agent who over the [...]

This may come as a surprise to many people in some way involved in the residential property sector, but selling a home fast can lead to problems for the agent. Discussing this recently Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, said that most good agents have had cases where they sold a home within a [...]

Speaking to a group of property developers from out of town, Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, listed five do and don’t guidelines to be kept in mind when appointing an agent. These, he said, are: 1. Unless you are absolutely convinced of his/her merits, do not appoint a person who is “just an [...]

The news that the civil servants in the Cape Town Deeds Office could be joining the countrywide strike is disturbing to the Cape’s property sector, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates. “Any delay on the transfer of property can be disastrous to those involved,” said du Plessis.  “Large sums of money which clients [...]

When the principal of an estate agency with 22 years’ property marketing experience says that a home recently listed by himself is far and away the best he has ever been involved with, property watchers should take note. This is the position in which Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates, has recently found [...]

When a seller of a residential property is considering appointing an estate agent, he should always ask for a copy of the agent’s standard sale agreement, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates. A copy of this document should be sent to the seller’s attorney/conveyancer for perusal because this conveyancer will in most cases [...]

The number of visitors to most show houses at the Cape has been ‘dismal’, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, an agency which has always stressed the value of show house days. “In the past three weeks, many show houses have seen only one or two visitors the entire afternoon,” said du Plessis. [...]

There is some truth in the adage bandied about by the Cape property agents which says that Constantia will usually be the last area to be hit by a recession and one of the first to emerge from it and right now Constantia is showing signs of becoming an excellent performer in the property market [...]

Anton du Plessis, founder and chief executive of the seven year old Cape Town Southern Suburbs estate agency, Vineyard Estates, which traditionally targeted Newlands as its main focus of activity, reports that he has been mandated to sell a “once in a lifetime” residential opportunity in this popular suburb. “I realise that that description of [...]

Inheriting property is always slightly more complicated than inheriting such assets as shares or movable goods and there will occasionally be cases where the heir actually does not want to take ownership of a property assigned to him. Discussing this situation recently, Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates, said that where an heir [...]

One of the interesting facts revealed by his weekly review of the asking and achieved residential property prices in the areas that he serves, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, the Cape Town southern suburbs estate agency, is that the number of show houses held has hardly altered since the boom period of [...]

Most Cape estate agencies accept that in mid-winter their sales turnovers will drop by anything up to 50%, says Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates – and this year, he adds, the slowdown could be exacerbated by the two-month holiday atmosphere that the World Cup is likely to engender. Despite this, says du [...]

One of the challenges that every estate agent has to face, said Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, is to decide whether the potential buyer can in fact pay more than he said he is able to or, alternatively, whether he is, in fact overstating what he can pay. “It can take years of [...]

Vineyard Estates, the residential estate agency with head offices in Claremont, has been given a mandate to sell a home in Constantia which, says Anton du Plessis, the Chief Executive of the agency, is one of perhaps no more than a dozen Constantia homes able to claim with complete veracity that it is in a [...]

Anton du Plessis, the CEO of Vineyard Estates, one of the smaller, high turnover agencies serving Cape Town’s southern suburbs, has drawn the attention of all in the property sector to an often overlooked but vital part of any Deed of Sale, where the purchase is conditional upon the sale of the buyer’s house. Many [...]

Anton du Plessis, the Chairman of the Peninsula branch of the Institute of South African estate agents, has urged all agents in his area to attend a talk by the high-profile lawyer, Milton Koumbatis which will take place at the River Club on Thursday the 15th of April at 3:00 pm. Koumbatis will be talking [...]

The Cape residential property market, already on an exciting recovery path (with sales rising monthly) will be given a further boost by the unexpected but welcome 0,5% drop in the interest rates, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, which is currently enjoying its most successful quarter since 2006. “This move by the Reserve [...]

Debate in the property world has long been lively on the subject of whether the best performers in the sales and marketing sector are likely to be the big gun agencies (with impressive support and referral systems, big advertising budgets and ongoing training programmes) or the small, highly motivated one and two man bands that [...]

Vineyard Estates CEO signs up five sales in five days Three weeks ago, Anton du Plessis, Chief Executive of Vineyard Estates, told colleagues that not since the market frenzy of 2004 had he experienced quite such keen interest and so much activity. “In late January I had over 30 people at one new release showhouse,” [...]

Estate agents should, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, study the title deed of the homes they are selling and should be able to produce these for discussion if and when a prospective buyer begins to show real interest. Twenty two years in residential property marketing, said du Plessis, have shown him that [...]

In the current residential property market, says Anton du Plessis, CEO of Vineyard Estates, it is difficult to give an accurate valuation. “Throughout my career,” said du Plessis, “I have found that when the market is turning, valuations can prove to be inaccurate within a few weeks of being given.” Many Cape Peninsula agents, he [...]