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News
Seeff Fractional Ownership steams ahead bringing luxury within South Africans’ reach
 Even during this period of higher interest rates periods, Seeff Fractional Ownership is steaming ahead and achieving huge growth in sales. A new perk that they offer is that now, for the first time ever, you can exchange your time at your unit with hundreds of other resorts. Henry Greyling, CEO of Seeff Fractional Ownership and a founder member of industry watchdog, the South African Association of Fractional Intermediaries (SAAFI), is one of the pioneers of fractional ownership in South Africa. He say: “Seeff is the only company able to offer its investors the following - they can now exchange their unused ‘time’ for time at their pick of 900 luxury holiday homes in 30 resorts in 12 countries!”
Nothing makes more sense than investing in fractional ownership now that interest rates are up and people are considering selling their holiday homes. Of course fractional ownership makes sense! You can sell your holiday home, and with just a fraction of the sales price, purchase a share in a luxury holiday home on a golf estate from as little as R299,000. I truly believe that fractional ownership is a path towards wealth creation that allows the average South African to acquire ‘bricks and mortar’ shares in world-class properties, in prime locations and at extremely competitive prices.
Samuel Seeff was recently asked by Joan Muller of FIN24 (in an article titled ‘Where the property gurus invest’) what he'd do with R1m. He responded that he would “Buy two fractional ownership properties at golf estates Zimbali (KwaZulu-Natal) and Pezula (Knysna) for leisure use.” The article was not partisan – Andrew Golding indicated that, similarly, he would “Invest in top-end fractional ownership properties for their ‘excellent’ capital growth prospects.”
The ‘property gurus’ know that fractional ownership is a winner. The person in the street is also now looking more closely at the economics of fractional ownership, and finding that it is not just for the wealthy - even though the assets inevitably have a high monetary worth. In other words, you can buy a share in a home in say Sparrebosch for R465,000 and the home itself may be worth R6 million. You then actually own that share – and if you ever sell, you will reap the value of your share of the capital growth in that prime property. And being in a prime, sought-after spot, it is sure to appreciate faster than regular properties. We achieve year on year growth of 20% to 32% on resale of shares, for our investors. In the past 5 years the values of our Premier Property Portfolio have doubled.
This might all seem a bit complicated – but another huge benefit of fractional ownership with Seeff is that we take all the headaches away. Seeff Fractional Ownership has a skilled, dedicated back-up team whose sole purpose is to look after the properties by managing them, letting them, selling them, finding new partners, looking after housekeeping and maintenance – whatever is necessary. Fractional ownership allows buyers to enjoy their holidays in ultimate luxury in extremely well maintained and managed villas, and to generate a return on their investment. It’s a win-win situation – with no more slogging away fixing up your holiday home when you are supposed to be on holiday!
People now understand the concept of fractional ownership better - you don’t just own a week of time spent somewhere - you own a portion of the actual house, i.e. of the actual bricks and mortar. You can also sell this share through Seeff at any time and realise the capital appreciation on that property. In some instances owners of fractional title have realised returns of more than 40% within 18 months of purchasing.”
Do the maths
The predominant trend among South African holidaymakers is to take between 3 and 4 weeks of leave a year. This translates into them paying peak season rentals of up to R5000 a day. That puts the price tag of an average 3-week holiday at around R105,000, depending on when they go. As an example, for just R165,000 they can buy a share of ownership in a property which will continue to appreciate in value - and give them a lovely base for a holiday.
In the not-too-distant past, premier resorts such as Zimbali would have been out of reach of the average holidaymaker. (We currently have a family of over 310 Seeff fractional investors in Zimbali alone – and this is growing rapidly.) Today, however, as deeded share owners, they can enjoy from 2 to 4 weeks every year for between R365,000 and R565,000 at places like Zimbali or Cape Town’s Waterfront. Other offerings include Barra Dunes Villas in Mozambique (R165,000, Sparrebosch@Pezula in Knysna (R465,000), Arabella Golf Estate in Hermanus (R495,000), Horizon Bay (R285,000) in Blouberg, Zebula in Limpopo (R420,000), Pinnacle Point in Mossel Bay (R495,000), San Lameer (R295,000) and Shelly@Sea (R190,000) in KwaZulu-Natal. All come with superior furnishings (including leather lounge suites and plasma TVs), and the villas offer at least 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, private pool, boma or golf cart (where appropriate), while apartments offer at least 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms with the same superior furnishings.
Many people do not understand the full extent of the financial rewards and the luxury holiday, which is an integral part of fractional ownership, and are not aware that exchanges can be made. Say you buy a share in a villa in Pezula or Zimbali through Seeff, you can exchange/swop your allocated holiday with someone else who bought through us, at another estate. This offers the best of both worlds: you have ownership and capital growth, as well as flexibility. Seeff Fractional Ownership will soon also be able to facilitate international swops in villas in France, Spain, Portugal, Mauritius, Seychelles and many more.
Investor Willem Britz recently made use of the exchange system: “I purchased a share from Seeff in Zebula. With only one phone call, I could take my family on Christmas holiday to one of your magnificent villas in Zimbali for 10 days and end our holiday off in Pezula for a week…this investment is the best I have ever made!”
The crux of Seeff Fractional Ownership’s phenomenal success is our extensive back-up maintenance and after-sales management services - which is unique to us. We see the selling part of fractional ownership as relatively easy, owing to our 5-year history and expertise in it. (Indeed, fractional ownership has only been going in South Africa for the past 4-5 years.) Our sales prove the point, as does our growth by 84% in 2007 over sales in 2006. We are still seen as the market leaders by far. We see the maintenance aspect as the cherry on the top in terms of our service. We have a superb management structure and back-office handling everything.
This excellent support enables Seeff Fractional also to effectively manage letting of the units. Letting is proving to be huge business and our investors are seeing really excellent rewards. The letting of our investors ‘unused time’ is running extremely efficiently. In addition, re-sales of their shares have grown by 320% over 2008, and this will form the basis of sustained growth in the future.
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WIN!
