As consulting town planner, I am often confronted by homeowners demanding why they cannot conduct a business from their home or for that matter from any dwelling. It is normally the excuse that “everyone is doing it”. The question is always: Is it legal? As with many things in life, the answer is not so straight forward and therein lies the confusion for Joe Budding Entrepreneur.

The above question is heard almost every day in the property field. The answer is, like everything in life, not so simple. In broad terms, it really depends on your own goals and circumstances. Here is why:

As the new year kicks off almost everybody in the property development industry seems to agree on one thing: Certainly it cannot go worse in 2011 than in the two preceding years. Obviously the question is: Where are we in the economic cycle? I quote Adrian Goslett, CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, below where he takes a look at where South Africa’s property market is in the property cycle and what this means for homebuyers and sellers.
Cycles, a well-known phenomena in the world of economics, are evident in all economic sectors including the property market. These cycles are predictable long-term patterns that can be divided into three distinct stages known as boom, slump and recovery.