A Man of Definitive Vision “We’ve had to work extremely hard to get where we are today. And I could not have done any of this if I did not have a team of dedicated people who saw the vision and ran with it.” of our local residents are from Johannesburg & Pretoria who have relocated here but still run active businesses in Johannesburg, London and the rest of the world. That’s the beauty of the estate, it offers you an ideal live-work position and from an investment side you have better liquidity if your primary residential location is close to a CDB and an airport. In the long-term Val de Vie affords you a worthwhile lifestyle investment.” The concept of family is very important to the live-work-play balance at Val de Vie. A father of two, Martin is a keen polo player and cites Cyril Ramaphosa and Johann Rupert as business leaders who have inspired his outlook on business. Martin attributes his success in development to two salient points. “There are two things I firmly believe in: you never sell a good property and when there is blood on the streets, buy.” It has been said that opportunity favors the brave and in the case of Martin Venter, bravery and opportunity converged on an old Cape farm, its potential skillfully unearthed to create a visual masterpiece.
Leonhard Jonas: For former investment banker
Leonhard Jonas, life at Val de Vie is nothing short of outstanding. He enthusiastically invites, “Look at my view; how beautiful is this! And the best part is it takes me all of 5 minutes to get to work!” Leonhard is a director of Guardian Development Projects, a residential property development company situated on the Val de Vie Estate. Like Renier Swart, Leonhard exchanged his Pretoria boardroom for one with a better view. “The return on investment on a property at Val de Vie is twofold. On the buying side, there is the capital appreciation of an asset in a sought-after residential estate, and then there is the strong rental component. There is huge demand for rental properties on the estate. Irrespective of the property price you can expect a 5% plus rental return on your property. So from an investment point of view the numbers at Val de Vie make sense.” With the Paarl and Franschhoek Valley regions being declared a World Heritage site, development options in the area will soon become limited due to stock availability. Leonhard explains, “property is all about supply and demand. There will come a point at which nothing more can be developed in the Valley. At that point, when the demand comes you will have a great return on your investment, if you have invested well in the supply.”
Renier Swart is a Pretoria man through and through,
however after 37 years of “winning the rugby”, he decided to relocate to the Western Cape for a change in lifestyle.”I run my own businesses located across the country in Vereeniging, Durban and Cape Town. I decided to move to the Cape in 2007 and discovered Val de Vie. At first I wanted a plot as an investment but soon realized that this was where I wanted to live. I have a young family, two kids under the age of 4, so deciding to build our first home together on the estate was the most natural decision for me and my wife.” Renier’s previous Pretoria home was in the affluent suburb of Waterkloof but it was Val de Vie’s security and proximity to good schools that swung the vote in favor of life in the Franschhoek Valley. “I was very impressed with the security on the estate. From every access point and along the perimeter it was clear that security was a top priority. That coupled with an additional R4 million security upgrade and proximity to some of the leading schools in Paarl & Franschhoek, I knew this is where I wanted to be for the long term.”
the polo field at val de vie washed in the golden rays of the paarl sunset.
11