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Buyer CMA

Use: A buyer (often a professional practice converting a house to offices) is assessing a specific listed property. The CMA must motivate the asking price (Indicative Market Value = listing price) with a market-evidence chain.

Audience

The buyer's representative (e.g. Wilanie for Japie van Zyl Attorneys). The buyer is making an assessment, not negotiating — the CMA shows that the price is fair and defensible.

Process

  1. Confirm the asking price with Sebastiaan or the listing agent — NEVER trust syndicated scraper sites. Aggregator mirrors (e.g. sahometraders.co.za) can show wrong prices (R4,490,000 vs real R3,950,000 — a mismatched erf size is the tell).
  2. Extract subject facts from the attached Lightstone Property Report PDF (read_file auto-extracts text): street address, legal description, land size, last sale, owner names, municipal valuation, zoning, street transfer history, comparable analysis schedule.
  3. Read the attached OTP / purchase agreement for context only: parties, suspensive conditions, commission split, special conditions. Do NOT put blanks from a pro forma in the CMA; flag deal-structure points to Sebastiaan separately.
  4. Collect current-listing comparables from P24 + Private Property suburb pages. 5–8 rows; prioritise same suburb + similar erf size + same conversion feature.

Evidence chain

  1. Registered sales (Lightstone comparable schedule) — verbatim transcription with R/m² column. This establishes the BASE residential value per m².
  2. Current listings — subject highlighted in row 1, then portal comparables. Prices are asking prices — label clearly.
  3. Conversion-comparable cluster — if other properties with the same conversion feature (business rights / zoning) cluster at the same price, that proves market rate, not outlier.
  4. Per-m²-of-floor cross-check — vs income-producing commercial stock (usually higher) and sectional-title office space (usually lower). Positions the subject.
  5. Closest alternative property — quantifies the premium for being on the busy road / having separate entrances.

Content template (from 56 14th Street exemplar)

  • H1 + price block: street address; INDICATIVE MARKET VALUE = asking price in big type. "Prepared for: [client] — [use case] (via [representative])".
  • Purpose: who requested it, which property, at what asking price, what the report does.
  • Property overview table: Lightstone subject facts verbatim — erf, floor area, accommodation, municipal valuation, rates, zoning, last sale, current owner, listing agent, "Listed — R3,xxx,xxx" row.
  • Location & conversion potential: suburb positioning (nodes, schools, arterials) + physical reasons the building suits offices.
  • Comparable sales — registered (Lightstone): verbatim table with R/m² column. Source note citing report date + average of the set.
  • Comparable properties — current listings: row 1 = subject (highlighted), then portal listings; source note with capture date.
  • Analysis & motivation: (a) registered-sales range + average vs subject price; (b) cluster of same-feature listings at the same price; (c) per-m²-of-floor cross-check; (d) closest alternative quantifies premium; (e) conclusion: "asking price well supported".
  • Disclaimer + prepared-by panel (navy). No Signature/Date lines.

Worked examples

  • /opt/data/workspace/CMA-434-Jacqueline-Drive-Garsfontein.pdf — commercial-marketed, R3,950,000, pending business rights, commission-split + rezoning flags from OTP.
  • /opt/data/workspace/CMA-56-14th-Street-Menlo-Park.pdf — 7-bed with 3 separate entrances, R3,300,000. The exemplar read from Drive.