My wife's aunt is 92 years of age and over the last few days she has lost it mentally. Up until last week she was thinking normally and there was nothing unusual. Yesterday and this morning it is like there is another person as now she is talking about how busy she has been at work and how her team has been achieving targets. The gibberish and not making sense apparently does happen and also did not know this. As sad as this sounds this is life and what happens to some of us when we get this old. My gran was 102 when she passed many years ago and she was fully aware having all her marbles and was just a very strong lady.
The aunt has been staying in the granny flat on my Durban property for the last 21 years and even though this was longer than expected I cannot regret giving her a roof over her head and some happiness having her own space.
Financially this did hold us back as I would have liked to have sold this property 10 years ago already, but was forced to sit this one out. Not a train smash as the property has been paid off years ago having taken a shorter bond/mortgage than normal and this was a wise choice.
The extended family is now making plans to move the aunt into a hospice next week ss she needs full time care and what she has now is insufficient for her needs. Up until this point she would not listen to any talk about care homes and really fought for her freedom to stay where she was. This is understandable and everyone backed off allowing her wishes to be fulfilled.
What this now triggers for myself is to prepare the property for sale with a fresh lick of paint on the exterior wall which is well over due. The garden needs some attention as her side was more like a jungle which no one was allowed to touch and we know there are a few snakes living in that area that we need to be aware of. They have been spotted sunning themselves on the steps by her front door so we know they are around. I would be guessing what they are even though someone has confirmed they are mambas and just know they are poisonous.
The sale should not be a struggle as this property is a wanted property due to what it offers and even though this is on a hill has flat land with a driveway allowing parking for around 15 cars. This will be perfect for an extended family due to the main house with 4 bedrooms, a granny flat and a teenage pad. There are a few properties in the area that businesses have purchased and converted so the prospective buyers could literally be anyone.
The short term plan is to sell this property and then use part of the sale to renovate the Johannesburg property and send the balance of the funds overseas. This would place us in a strong position financially having a decent nest egg offshore which is something I have been planning for many years the Rand is roughly R22 to £1 and when we purchased this property was around R10 to £1 so not a great investment even though the value of the property has risen by around 300% in 20 years.
