So in my first post, about a year ago, I got all the way up to starting RPIC (Pty) Ltd, a property investment company. I will keep off from there, and circle back to some other ventures and activities, such as EasyBuild Bricks, our other property ventures, HiVeld Signs, my goat farm, the rabbits and much more... But first, let's continue with the story of RPIC:
The piece of land that we purchased had pre-approved plans for a 3-bedroom house, and since me and our 4 partners were all from the world of construction, we were elated, this was going to be the best build and sell project in history!
Yeah, that didn't happen...
You see, working in construction, and being a property developer is two vastly different things, especially if you take into account the low level of quality you receive from residential construction contractors. Let me explain. We contracted a firm, which had all the right registrations, was willing to sign our tedious construction contract, and seemed like a genuinely good guy. Unfortunately for us he was woefully incapable of performing the works without constant supervision, massive fights regarding payment, and of course, he had forgotten all the agreements of the contract, using the race card whenever things got heated. This was extremely frustrating, and lead to cost and time overruns we really didn't want, or need.
We were faced with a decision. Do we continue like this, or do we get our company registered and take over construction ourselves?
You guessed it, we got our ducks in a row, and took over the project, ridding ourselves of the bad contractor, and using subcontractors we knew and trusted. Things were looking good again!
All went along well, with a minor hiccup here and there of course, and the property was completed early 2020, ready to be sold. We had one issue though, the market took a bit of a dip, and sellers were scarce, but luckily we had a trick up our sleeves, we offered the property for sale using an instalment sale agreement!
A bit of technical knowledge for those of you that don't know what an instalment sale is, it is an allowance in the South African property laws that allow you as a seller to act as the financier on the property, so instead of the buyer taking a bond through a bank, they pay instalments directly to you. It is quite technical, and a lot of lawyer time and money goes into making sure it is 100% legal, but in this case it was the perfect solution.
Pressure was mounting, as myself and my wife was in the process of moving to Belgium, thus the sale needed to go through urgently, otherwise it would create an unnecessary administrative burden on us and the new buyers once we were out of SA.
So with this ace up our sleeves we managed to secure a fantastic buyer, a couple and their two daughters.
The deal was just about fully closed, when COVID hit... What a disaster! A full lockdown was initiated in South Africa, and everyone was confided to their houses for a couple of weeks, and thereafter you needed special permits to move around... Luckily for us we managed to get permission for the new owner to move in, and they loved it!
Unfortunately for me, one of my business partners got a serious case of cold feet about staying financially invested in our new company with us leaving the country, and asked to be bought out of his financial share. He would however still remain a director, but just couldn't bare risking his cash on such shaky grounds, so I did what every slightly crazy entrepreneur does, I cashed out my pension and bought him out!
So, the big day arrived where myself and my wife moved to Belgium. We got on a police escorted bus at the Dutch embassy in Pretoria and off we were to the airport. You see, the COVID laws got relaxed just enough for us to fly out on a repatriation flight, but was still so strict that we were basically corralled like sheep (or prisoners) and with lots and lots of extra measures, temperature readings and forms that surely killed a forest we arrived at our terminal, a dim light oasis in an otherwise darks and empty OR Tambo airport, what an experience...
For the rest it went quite smoothly. We arrived in Belgium, quarantined for 2 weeks, did the necessary tests and got to work in our new roles. You see, even though we started RPIC, we are still both working, and working hard, to fund our expansion.
And just there is where the next part of our journey begins. But more on that in my next post...
