When the need arises for a roof over your and your family's heads, you basically have to contemplate three choices - to rent a place, to buy a place, or to build a place. Each option has its merits and drawbacks.

When renting a place, it may be true that you don't need much of a capital outlay, and you can relocate quite easily afterwards, but you will never own a place of your own. Every Rand that you pay in rent, simply goes to somebody else's pocket, and your ideal of owning your own place keeps slipping further and further away. Any escalation in property prices is to the benefit of the property owner, while the tenant will simply have to pay a higher rent.

On the other hand, whether you buy a finished house or build a house from scratch, you will need some initial capital of your own, but all price escalations in the housing industry will be for your own benefit in the long term.

Although it might in some instances be cheaper to buy an existing house than to build one from scratch, the only sure way to get everything that you want or need, is to look for a proper stand and build your own house the way you want it.

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