Grunberger

I bought this house in Johannesburg South Africa in 2018 after we fell in love with the potential we could see in the rambling ranch-style house with its' generous verandah overlooking the pool and a perfectly sized garden with very established trees. I had been stalking this listing online for several months thinking we couldn’t afford it but one day, we decided to go and see the house.

When we first walked in, it felt a bit sad and run down – I find that an empty house with no furniture often feels that way, especially if it is not freshly painted. This had been painted in some parts, but badly, and so there were paint spills all over the floors, windows, door frames, etc.

Looking past that, we admired the kitchen with its gas range, the feel of the open-plan layout, and we admired the pale blue wall colour, sandy floor tones and white trim that reminded us of homes in California. We felt that the house and garden were very neglected but with some cosmetic love and attention, it would be returned to its former beauty.

The most offputting part of the house overall was actually the same feature we believed had so much potential - the verandah. The space was amazing and the views spectacular, but the floor tiles were very old-fashioned and dated the place.

We were also concerned about the grey looking roof which looked sad and old. So, we made our offer contingent upon a roof inspection, and we adjusted our price based on our dislike of the verandah floor tiles and the shoddy paint job on the interior and the exterior. Similarly, we were concerned about the peeling boundary walls and the fact that the previous owners had relocated 4 or 5 months earlier and were managing the property remotely, which was reflected in the sad state of the garden and green pool.

In any event, we made an offer much lower than asking, which was accepted. Delighted, we completed transfer and moved in with the intent of fixing up the cosmetic issues we noticed, furnishing it beautifully and living there happily. Everything went swimmingly for 6 weeks, whereupon we had extremely heavy rainstorms that lasted several days and on Valentine’s Day 2019 we were dismayed to find 5 water leaks in our brand-new property. They were all related to and around the roof covering the patio which was almost flat and clearly had issues. So, we called the Roof Inspector who informed us that his inspection report (which was very expensive) is only valid on the day of the inspection and he is not liable for anything that may have occurred to the roof in the intervening months while the transfer was affected! We were flabbergasted and called the conveyancing attorneys who ghosted us, then we called the agent who refused to return our calls. We then approached our insurance company who sent an assessor and said we had bought a lemon in the sense that the previous owner had neglected the roof entirely and his neglect invalidated our claim. We were livid and also suddenly very worried about what other problems we might have bought because an owner who neglects a roof may not have taken care of other things either.

After several false starts and a bad contractor, we eventually got the roof properly fixed by a Roofing Contractor licensed with the SA Roofing Association and he issued us a 10-year guarantee on the work. He also sealed and painted the entire roof a dark black colour, resulting in a fresh, brand-new appearance.

With that issue resolved, we began the more interesting cosmetic repairs such as painting, fixing damaged cupboard doors, replacing old downlights with LED lights, and more. Over the course of the next 4 years, we painted the interior walls and ceilings, as well as the exterior walls, gutters and gates, finished the garage floors with Epoxy, replaced the ugly water feature with a stunning fountain, and, finally sanded and painted the exterior garden walls which were peeling before. The house was finally getting the love and attention it so badly deserved.

We treated and painted rusty gates, we treated and varnished exterior wood and garage doors, we treated and repainted the eaves, we cleaned and painted the gutters, fixed the downpipes which were dislocated from the building and installed drains to stop rainwater collecting against the walls of the house.

We fixed the pool which was green and not functioning when we bought it, we investigated replacing all the tile on the verandah which we didn’t love, but it was so expensive and after the roof fiasco, we were reluctant to spend a ton of money on something cosmetic like that. However, we did purchase a tile sealant which we put on every 6 months making the tiles a darker shade of black instead of dull grey and that helped immensely, along with furnishing the patio with plants and décor.

Sometimes the best fixes do not cost a ton of money!

Ultimately in 2022 we decided to list and sell the property and so we engaged a realtor to help us stage the property with some extra furniture, whereupon it looked so stunning, having achieved its potential and turned out exactly as we had hoped when we bought it and poured so much love and effort into it.