Retired life in a village atmosphere in Overberg
Have you considered the lifestyle you want when you retire? Michelle Funke finds out more about Napier Retirement Village
IF YOU have always wanted to retire to the country, Napier Retirement Village may be a good investment bet. You could be forgiven for thinking that the rural community of Napier in the Overberg is just another pleasant and rather sleepy hollow, but actually Napier has a tangible vibrancy. Once a farming town, this delightful village is fast moving up the chart of aspirational places to move to.
Lying at the foot of the Soetmuisberg, Napier is emerging as a real challenger to Greyton in its appeal. Numerous restaurants, local wineries, galleries and a burgeoning community of artistic and creative residents confirm the fact and make this village worth a serious look.
Today in Napier, century-old cottages blend with modern houses in a rural village surrounded by the rolling farmland that is typical of the Overberg region. This and the hospitality of Napier residents leave a lasting impression on visitors and people who stop en route to the coast. Napier is in the Cape Agulhas region with easy access to the seaside villages of Arniston (Waenhuiskrans), Struisbaai and L’Agulhas. Bredasdorp, a busy Overberg town and the nearest big supermarket, is 25 minutes away and Hermanus with its hospitals and shops is about 45 minutes away. You don’t have to stray far from Napier though because the village boasts its own butcher, baker, dairy and barber; it has its own brewery (the most southern brewery in Africa) and a couple of wineries, including Jean Daneel’s boutique winery.
For the 4,000 Napier residents, there’s plenty to do; various clubs offer anything from bowling to reading and bridge to craftmaking. The main street is peppered with numerous restaurants. For those wanting to stride out, the Grootberg Hiking Trail is a new 8km walk around the Grootberg summit and, indeed, everywhere you go in the area you’ll be rewarded by sightings of birds amid the fynbos.
At Napier Retirement Village, a range of life-right retirement cottages and units are available. This provides investors and their spouse with the right to occupy a cottage or apartment for the rest of their lives.
“When you enter into a life right scheme you simply purchase the right to occupy a unit or cottage for the rest of your life or until you sell that right,” explains Mark Tame, trustee of the Conversion Trust, developer of Napier Retirement Village in the Overberg. “The ownership of the unit is retained by the development and is not transferred to the individual as with sectional title units.”
Life right falls under the Housing Development Scheme for Retired Persons Act, protecting buyers financially and ensuring sales contracts are followed through on. No transfer duties, registration fees or VAT are payable.
There are several life right options available. Some provide for fixed levies and limited capital recovery, while others, with variable levies, provide for full capital recovery. Monthly levies, of course, go towards the upkeep and operational costs of the complex.
The life right is a popular, widely practiced model around the world. In the US and Australia, life rights are the most common type of retirement property sale.
In New Zealand up to 80% of residents in a retirement villages have a life right agreement.
At the Napier Retirement Village, buyers are able to choose their own plot and make custom alterations while paying the balance on the deposit only once the unit is complete.
The transferring attorneys hold the 10% deposit in a trust where it earns interest until the date of occupation. In the event of a sale, the outgoing resident or deceased estate receives a percentage of the resale price. Tame explains: “At Napier Retirement Village the resale cottage or unit will be offered to those on a priority waiting list, which will be managed by the Conversion Trust to ensure that the sales value of all units remain market-related.
“On transfer of the resale property, the seller will pay 7.5% of the resale price to the Trust as a sales/marketing management fee, and 7.5% to the levy stabilisation fund controlled by the executive committee of the Napier Retirement Village Management Association.” This stabilisation fund is extremely important because of the stabilising effect it has on the monthly levy, removing “much of the inflationary risk from the retirement equation”, says Tame.
At Napier communal areas and facilities are available to the first occupants already. They include a clubhouse, library, two lounges, gym, solar heated pool, healthcare facility, dining facilities, laundry and kitchen. Contact: Napier Village Will 081 271 0543