In 2016, I bought my first property. Like many people, I believed real estate was the safest way to build wealth. After all, “property always goes up,” right?
Seven years later, I sold that property. Along the way, I learned some valuable lessons about real estate, investing, and how the stock market compares.
This is the story of that experiment.
Buying my first property
On November 7th, 2016, I bought a property for R750,000 (~$56,264).
I put down R450,000 (~$33,758) as a down payment. That’s an unusually large down payment, but at the time I was only earning R168,000 (~$12,603) per year. Banks weren’t going to give me much of a loan unless I put in serious cash upfront.
On top of that, transfer duties and legal fees added another R65,000 (~$4,878).
By February 2017, the property was officially mine.
Renovations: The “3-week” project
I wanted to fix it up before moving in. The plan? A quick 3-week renovation. The reality? It dragged on for 2 months and cost me R150,000 (~$11,253).
If you’ve ever renovated anything, you probably saw this coming.
Life as a landlord
After living there briefly, I decided to rent the property out. The rental income was R6,000 per month, which covered most of the mortgage.
But it wasn’t all profit. Rates, taxes, and levies cost me another R2,000 per month. And of course, being a landlord comes with the usual headaches—maintenance, repairs, and tenant management.
Selling the property
On February 7th, 2024, I sold the property for R1,195,000 (~$63,228).
Here’s the math across 7 years and 2 months:
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Total money spent: ~$56,478 (down payment + fees + renovations + monthly costs)
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Profit after sale: ~$6,750
Yes, the property was paid off, which sounds great. But the actual cash return—after seven years of work and stress—was underwhelming.
Discovering the stock market
In 2020, I started exploring other investments. I chose the stock market, building a portfolio that’s now:
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70% S&P 500 (VOO ETF) – basically an index of the 500 biggest U.S. companies.
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30% individual tech stocks – Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc.
I manage it myself, which keeps costs low. Today, that portfolio is worth a six-figure USD amount.
What if I had invested in stocks instead of property?
Let’s imagine I had taken the same money I used for the property and invested it in the stock market back in 2017.
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Down payment: $33,758
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Renovations: $11,253
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Total: $45,011
At the time, the S&P 500 ETF (VOO) was trading at $195.68 per share. With $45,011, I could have bought 230 shares.
Today, those same shares would be worth about $133,630.
That’s more than double the return compared to my real estate investment. And importantly:
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No tenants.
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No repairs.
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No surprise costs.
But let’s be real…
The stock market isn’t perfect.
I’ve seen my portfolio drop by 30% in a single year. I’ve had five-figure losses that took over a year to recover. Volatility is part of the deal.
But despite the ups and downs, my stock market returns have far outpaced my real estate returns.
The takeaway
Real estate isn’t bad—it can be a fantastic investment under the right conditions:
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High rental demand.
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Good location.
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Reasonable purchase price.
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Ability to use leverage effectively.
In my case, though, the combination of a big down payment, average rental income, and ongoing costs meant the returns weren’t great.
The stock market, on the other hand, has been:
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Simpler – Buy, hold, and check in occasionally.
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Scalable – Easy to grow as I earn more.
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More rewarding – Higher returns with less effort.
For me, equities beat property. And that’s where my money—and focus—is going now.