It will come as no surprise to those who track the rise and fall of residential property in South Africa – and the factors which influence these – that for many buyers today, a home security system will be among the most important factors influencing their choices. This, in turn, says Tony Clarke, Managing Director of the Rawson Property Group, means that sellers who intend to increase the value of their homes should ensure that they are fitted out with state of the art intruder prevention and detection equipment.
“Other factors being equal”, says Clarke, “nothing enhances a home’s value quite so much as a good security system today. Today’s buyers, he adds, often expect a home to have such security fixtures as:
• electronically operated entrance gates;
• electrified and alarmed perimeter fencing;
• an efficient alarm system operating throughout the house and on all windows and doors, with panic buttons at strategic points throughout the home;
• adequate external lighting, some of which comes on automatically when it gets dark and some of which will be triggered by movement on the property. If possible, this should be complemented by remote controlled internal and external lighting;
• internal security doors, possibly of the concertina type, which enable parts of the building, e.g. the upper floor, to be given additional protection;
• a camera/intercom system at the entrance, in some cases supplemented by CCTV cameras at other points on the boundary and in the grounds.
If security measures on the home are taken seriously, says Clarke, it is possible to make a home exceptionally safe and “virtually impregnable” these days and this is a huge attraction for many buyers, especially those who may have had a crime related, traumatic incident in their past, and to those families where the man in the house may have to be away on business for several nights at a time.
“The good news”, said Clarke, “is that any sums spent on security instalments add two or three times their cost to the ultimate value of the home. Like solar heating, this is a route which all of today’s home owners should be following.”
