Are you too old, or too young for your complex?
When choosing to move into an estate or sectional title complex, you’d best do some research to make sure it would be a good fit for you, and that includes whether its age demographic would suit your lifestyle.
So says Omar Kinnear, developer of ResidentPortal, the fast-growing, web-based communications portal for community schemes.
“It’s always good to find out as much as you can about the scheme you’re considering, so that you don’t end up regretting your decision to move there,” he says.
Understandably, given South Africa’s crime statistics, one of the first questions people ask when considering a move into a community scheme, is the general safety of the area and the security infrastructure in the scheme itself.
“Other questions would typically relate to whether the scheme has fibre internet, the proximity of schools, shops and other amenities in the area and the availability of public transport. Within the scheme itself, the prospective buyer or renter would consider whether it has facilities such as parks, pools or tennis courts, among other things.
“But how many people enquire about the age demographic? Are the residents mostly older people, or young families with children?”
Effects of a disparate age demographic
Kinnear believes this question is important, because age disparities have the potential to cause conflict between residents.
“If most residents are families with small children, the general environment will inevitably be busier and noisier. Older people may be less tolerant of noise than young people – especially if they work from home.
“Similarly, younger people may find life uncomfortable in a scheme where most other residents are liable to complain if they play music after 10pm, or have friends over for a braai on weekends.”
Conflicts relating to age-associated behaviour can also arise when residents have been living in a scheme for a number of years.
“For example, residents may have moved into a scheme a dozen or more years ago, when their own children were small. They are now at an older age, where they discover that they have less tolerance for young children than they had when they were at that stage in life.”
He shares a real-life example of an older couple currently living in a Centurion estate. They are both academics and, until two years ago, had enjoyed peaceful living in the estate for 13 years. However, due to the pandemic, they have both been working from home.
“It’s been awful,” says Natasha Botha (not her real name). “We are surrounded by families with young children. Most of them are nice enough, but I suddenly became conscious of how much noise they make!
“Of course, when Covid hit, everyone working from home had to exercise patience, given that schools were closed for part of the lockdowns, but my husband and I now both agree that we have simply become too old to cope with the noise that children make in general. I suppose I’ve forgotten how noisy our own were, but we’re moving to a retirement village soon and we can’t wait!”
Kinnear points out that there’s very little one can do under those circumstances, except to learn to tolerate the noise, or, like this couple did, move to a more suitable residential environment.
“In all likelihood, a retirement village would be a good choice, but for any older people not ready to go that route, I would advise the same cautionary approach to finding out the scheme’s age demographic, to ensure they don’t jump from the frying pan into the fire.”
ABOUT ResidentPortal
ResidentPortal is developed and managed by Sandton-based software consulting and development company, Business Xponent Solutions (BXS). The estate communication platform is one of the products emerging from 20 years of experience in the software industry of its founder, Omar Kinnear. One of the original developers of the SARS eFiling platform, Kinnear brings to ResidentPortal a wealth of knowledge of system performance and security.
Since 2016, around 100 complexes are using the Free Plan of ResidentPortal, and over 1000 residents, mostly in and around Gauteng, are benefiting from the way the full-featured Standard and Pro packages are simplifying their lives in their estates and complexes.
For more information, contact: Omar Kinnear, 078 798 3378
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