[imagesource: Property24]

For many ‘townies’ anything past Muizenberg is basically unchartered territory.

They went to Kalk Bay once and found it charming but it’s just so out of the way, darling.

En route to Kalk Bay via Muizenberg you pass through St James, which used to have properties on the market that were relatively affordable.

I checked this morning on Property24 and the cheapest listing I could find was a one-bedroom apartment for R1,75 million, with two-bedroom options starting from R3 million.

Those are nearing Cape Town CBD prices.

We’ve ticked off R20 million and R16,5 million properties in St James (both are no longer listed so maybe they sold?), and if you’re dabbling in fantasy you may as well go big.

Bugger it – eight bedrooms, all ensuite, and views for days. The asking price on the Property24 listing is a cool R24 million:

A magnificent 800 sqm modern mansion that has been renovated to the highest specifications with luxury and space abounding. Beautiful finishes and artistic touches everywhere.

From the picture-perfect rim-flow pool overlooking False Bay to the unique pale blonde wooden floors in the bedrooms offset with white & grey tones in all the en-suite bathrooms, this home offers the discerning buyer everything and more.

The impressive property has a state of the art gourmet kitchen with a separate laundry/scullery/pantry, an enormous open plan lounge/dining/entrance area with spectacular views from every angle, a spacious TV lounge, a rim-flow pool with a glass-enclosed entertainers bar area, a double garage plus 4 off-street parkings and a separate self-contained one-bedroomed housekeepers apartment.

That kitchen is a looker. Unless you can convince people that St James is too far to travel you’re in danger of hosting all the dinner parties now.

Oh, and there’s also a heated spa bath, a state of the art security system, a Lava fire pellet stove, and many other goodies.

Rather than me listing those let’s take a tour:

You get to tell people you live on Boyes Drive, too, which is basically St James’ version of Nettleton Road.

Keen? Let’s assume you knock the price down to R21 million with a little wrangling and you pay 20% upfront (R4,2 million).

Your 20-year bond repayments at 7,75% interest are now R137 919 a month with total once-off costs of R6,8 million.

But the view…

[source:property24]