One of the children in our enclosed secure community set up a lemonade stand yesterday afternoon and it was actually very successful and well supported earning over R4000. Many in the community took the time to take a walk down to her stand and donated money for the local animal shelter. Many gave money showing their support without taking the lemonade and encouraged and thanked her for what she has started. It only take sone to start a trend and this young girl has got the community talking which is great.
What this innocent event has now done is bought the community together and there will be some event hosted by the various children who reside in the community at the end of each month. The last Saturday in the afternoon of each month will see some type of event taking place with many residents offering their assistance so the children can walk around freely and open up the roads as a safe play zone.
Being able to walk around freely without fear is something children have not experienced in South Africa like what we had when we were growing up. Times have definitely changed and the freedoms we once had is no longer the same due to crime and too many weirdos walking the streets.
We have always had the weirdos and were possibly just ignorant and naive and can only recall one incident when we were young. A man rode past us on his bicycle whilst playing with himself and he was pelted with rocks which were luckily lying around due to this being next to the railway line. This has stayed with the three of us who experienced this and this happened over 45 years ago.
Our community is secure and safe so children should be able to just play without fear and during the evenings attracts residents who stay outside the guarded area when they come and exercise either coming for a run or walk. Crazy to think they drive here and park their cars at the main gate in order to come and walk safely as outside on the streets they do not feel safe.
The obvious upside once the kids have their special afternoon each month raising money for good causes it will attract families wanting to experience that same lifestyle. The values of the properties will rise because this is what normality should feel and be like and what is missing in most parts of the country.
Property values in the area are on the rise and the secure zone we have not only has added an estimated 25% to the property values, but the value in the last 5 years has increased by roughly 250%. When we were completing our extended home loan two weeks ago we noticed that the property valuation for the land had increased significantly which we kind of knew, but had no idea by how much.
Our property value is sandwiched in between the larger gated communities and those that are just normal properties without the extra security. The gated communities have risen alarmingly in the area and has had a direct impact on our gated community property prices as long as we remain slightly less than the official gated communities. Our community is the next best option for those that cannot afford those sorts of prices and want the extra security. Once we have done our place up we could be looking at a 400% return in the next two years for a property we have owned for less than 10 years which is a very good investment return.
