Lunar fashion? It looks like the next generation of NASA astronauts will be wearing Prada to the moon. Thankfully those visuals are just to create some hype — the final new design is set to be unveiled soon.

In this Open Letter:

• Big moves: The startup helping SA homeowners get better deals.

• SA’s CO2 cloud, AI interview coach & SABC’s streaming numbers.

• Building things that matter: Join our SA product legend Masterclass.

• The emergency services you really want: The results are in.

• Lonely building your startup? Join The Open Collab and get support.

Together with:

TRENDING NOW

Helping 7M+ Homeowners Get the Best Deal

How hard/easy is it to lose a lot of money selling your house in SA?

Because selling seems simple enough, there are estate agents everywhere…

Nearly 4’000 Estate Agencies are listed on Property24, with some 40’000 Property Practitioners moving and shaking in SA’s R7 trillion residential property sector. 

And house prices seem to be skyrocketing, so it must be booming, right?

Uh, not quite.

SA’s big property dilemma

See, what you might not know (and likely neither do many estate agents) is that SA’s property sector has actually been battling to deliver real returns for quite some time.

We had a decent boom between 2000 and 2006 where prices rose by around 20% annually, and it’s kinda gone downhill from there:

• The 2008 financial crisis and a new credit act saw prices fall -16.5% in real terms.

• A decent-seeming 51% boost between 2011 and 2019 was brought down to just 0.4% due to inflation.

• During lockdowns, a brief 8% uptick was deteriorated to 1.1% by inflation.

• And we’ve had negative growth of -4.28% in 2022 and -4.19% in 2023.

So, you might be selling your house for more than you technically paid for it (or owe), but there’s a good chance you’re not getting what it’s really worth.

Remember that, unlike investing in unit trusts, where the diversification you get from a suite of shares tends to balance each other out for growth, a property is just one asset – if it depreciates, that’s a solid loss.

And in that scenario, you don’t just want an OK-ish agent, you want the best representation money can buy.

The moral? Estate agent choice can be make or break

Estate agents typically charge between 4-7% and at that fee, you want to be sure they are fighting for the best price for you, have access to the right kind of buyers and top of their game when it comes to the administrative side.

And considering property is often the biggest investment (or at least one of the biggest) most people will ever make, so, no pressure… 

The local player connecting you with your ideal agent

Enter Hoom. An online marketplace for sellers to find the perfect estate agent for their sale.

It all starts fairly simply; as a seller, you:

• List your property details in 6 simple steps 

• Specify agent preferences (ages, agent category, languages, gender) 

Then, within 24 hours, Hoom matches you with up to 5 estate agents in your area, based on your requirements, complete with pic, bio, value proposition, full disclosure on their commission rate, plus any additional services they offer (like photography, video tours, international market exposure, ID verification for viewers, etc.)...

All in the name of helping you find that one agent who will get you the deal you’re after.

Plus, if you sell your home using one of the estate agents you found via Hoom, you get some lekker seller-perks – most notably cashback (anywhere between R6’250 and R20k+, depending on the value of your house), for yourself, or to donate with one of the causes Hoom partners with.

And estate agents also benefit

From the agent’s perspective, it pays to bring your A-game when listing on Hoom, because: 

• The platform acts as a constant funnel for new listings

• There are no upfront fees or monthly costs for agents

• Hoom’s back-end and admin means all the leads are qualified and warmed up for sale.

But what’s really cool is that Hoom offers great opportunities for new entrants into the market to help transform the real estate industry. You no longer need a R1 million marketing budget to compete with the big agencies to get in front of sellers.

They’re currently only operating in Cape Town, with plans to gradually expand to the rest of SA over time. And, they were recently a PropTech finalist, and "Most Innovative Real Estate Company" contender at the 8th African Property Investment Summit. 

With more and more innovative startups shaking things up in an old-school industry, we think PropTech is ready to take some serious ground. We’re watching this space…

IN SHORT

Sound smart at the watercooler

💼 Ready. Steady. Job. MindCiti, a local mental health, soft skills, and job readiness app has launched its AI Interview Job Coach to help job seekers prepare for their next interview using personalised coaching and feedback, that simulates real-life interview scenarios.

💨 Carbon Clouds. Carbon Mapper has released the first methane and carbon dioxide detections from the Tanager-1 satellite including a 3-km-long carbon dioxide plume in South Africa, and methane plumes in both Texas and Pakistan.

📦 Go for Africa. Local click-and-collect delivery service Pargo is set to launch into more territories across Africa as it builds on its 4’000+ strong South African pick-up points and the 150 pick-up points in their trial program in Egypt that launched last year.

👀 StreamingABC. After launching a little over 3 months ago, the SABC’s free streaming service has racked up more than 500k registered users. The revamped platform offers catch-up content, on-demand video, as well as live streams of all SABC radio and TV channels.

😎 The Stack. Founders need tools and suppliers they can trust. Check out our Founder’s Stack with sustainable scaling and growth strategy help through Metavolve, your own CTO and tech team at a fraction of the cost with Octoco and 11 more vital startup tools & services.

CHECK THIS OUT

One less thing for Small Business Owners to stress about

According to a recent Xero study, 24% of SA small businesses reported cash flow problems, with 72% of them using personal funds to keep their business afloat. 

A major cause is delayed payments, with businesses spending an average of 1–2 months chasing late invoices.

But, even with on-time payments, it’s tricky covering the salary run when your customer payments runs don’t line up.

It’s a pain Sports & Corporate owner Allistair Bunding has experienced firsthand…

Add to that the need to buy raw materials upfront, and it’s easy to see why cash flow becomes a pressing issue, particularly around month-end.

Allistair describes how stressful it is to juggle these financial demands:

Like many entrepreneurs, Allistair initially tried to rely on traditional banks to fill the gaps.

But the process of getting funding is so complicated and time-consuming that 92% of small business owners do not even attempt to get funding from traditional banks anymore.

Traditional banking often adds unnecessary complexity to an already hectic schedule, and the last thing a small business owner needs is additional stress over funding.

That’s where Lula steps in

With its Revolving Capital Facility, Lula offers a streamlined and efficient way to secure funding – quickly. 

With Lula, there’s no complicated paperwork or endless waiting. Just a simple, functional solution that gives you the cash flow you need when you need it.

So if you’re tired of banking headaches, there’s a better way to get funding faster.

Get Lula – and make month-end a breeze.

HAPPENING SOON

Upcoming Events

Join us this Friday for the first in a 3-part series with an SA product legend. Want to learn what it’s about? Watch the video on IG below…

25 October 2024 — Product Masterclass: SA’s very own “product legend” Roger Norton is here for the first in a three-part product building series — The Open Collab community exclusive.

1 November 2024 — Sales Masterclass: Keep your B2B sales pipe filled Masterclass session with sales expert, Sebastian Chapman — The Open Collab community exclusive.

8 November 2024 — Product Masterclass: Part 2: How to keep shipping truly great products, fast — The Open Collab community exclusive.

15 November 2024 — Sales Masterclass: Part 2: Learn to improve your conversion rates with sales expert, Sebastian Chapman — The Open Collab community exclusive.

View all our upcoming events here.

BUILDING TOGETHER

Happening over at The Open Collab

In the last 48 hours alone, in our online community, we…

• Had an incredible chat roulette experience that made us feel at home 🤗.

• Got some last-minute tickets to SA Future Trust Summit.

• Helped John get AI to process all his looooong docs in seconds.

• Marvelled at how far AI has come with insane generations with Google’s ImageFX.

• Celebrated some remarkable Open Letter growth over the weekend.

• Got a sneak peek at Friday’s upcoming sales masterclass — it’s gonna be 🔥.

Coming Up This Week

• Wednesday 10-11: Office Hours, where we all log in and work together, + the whole Open Letter team is at members’ disposal.

• New: Free monthly startup strategy calls for all Open Collab members.

• Support: All day, every day: unlimited introductions, recruitment, service provider referrals and business-building insights.

WHAT YOU SAID

In case of emergency…

What other emergency services would you like at the push of a button?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🍫 Midnight snacks (19%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🤓 A helping hand so I don't have to work late (19%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ☕️ Caffeine hit (your drink of choice, of course) (14%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 💐 Instant gifts (for those forgotten anniversaries, birthdays, etc.) (29%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🔋 Charger delivery (when you’re running low on juice) (19%)

Your 2 cents…

Ooh, sounds like we’d support, Culpepper 🎁.

Not bad at all, Jason ☕.