Buying a property is hellishly expensive. If you’re moving into a bigger house (which we don’t recommend) you might need a few things. This only adds to your costs at a time when you probably don’t have much cash. Robyn found a way around this cost by buying a few choice items from the previous owner.

We found a house being sold by an old lady who needed to downscale. The costs were enormous. We negotiated R25,000 off of the asking price in exchange for putting down a 12% cash deposit, because she needed the cash urgently. I like to think that the R25,000 seems small, but add that to the home loan amount and it becomes a lot more.

Because she was downscaling from a huge 900 square metre house to a one-bedroom flat, we asked if we could buy curtains, tables, gardening tools and all the stuff she didn’t need anymore for a flat fee of a couple thousand. This saved her having to box it, move it and pay to store it. We got the entire house with curtains, dining room table, chairs, 2 lawnmowers and a lot of extras for a small amount.

Why we love it

We tend to think the things we own are worth what we paid for them. If you’ve ever tried to sell any of your possessions online, you know you can only expect a fraction of what you paid. While buying used goods strips away some of your choice, you can get quality products for a song. Sometimes you can even get things you wouldn’t have been able to afford at all. Don’t be afraid to ask previous owners or tenants if they’d be willing to part with some of the things you can’t afford. The worst they can say is, “no”.

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