Orman invests in SA property

For her first international property, Orman has selected an apartment in the über-plush and exclusive The Cliffs development in Northcliff, Johannesburg.

Read more at: http://www.investmentbroker.co.za/news/detailed/12

Showhouse uptick

FROM : Adrienne Hersch

SUBJECT : Showhouses Getting Busier


Most of our agents are reporting a much higher showhouse attendance than was experienced in 2009 or even in 2008, with some properties having as much as 47 potential buyers going through one particular property.

Adrienne Hersch, CEO of ADRIENNE HERSCH PROPERTIES says, “The last two Sundays our agents were inundated with visitors and quite overwhelmed with enquiries, which is a pleasant change to the four or five visitors we had in the past”

Adrienne added, “Our agents found it exhilarating that they had to scramble to get all the names of the visitors, and at the same time dealing with questions from the various interested parties.”


This time of the year is normally the time that people change jobs or children change schools, coupled with the challenges of travelling in the traffic that gets people scouting for something new or closer to work.

It seems as if 2010 started with people feeling definitely more positive about the near future and are prepared to start looking at upgrading or moving to more appropriate housing to suit their needs.

“Buyers are still spoilt for choice, with a lot of homes on the market, but not for too long says Adrienne”. “As soon as there is an equal number of buyers as sellers, we will see a sharp increase in property prices, which we feel will start in the third quarter of 2010.”

Adrienne Hersch 011-728 7013

The Adrienne Hersch year end do - 2009.

The Adrienne Hersch year end do - 2009.

tighting the noose - further regulation of estate agents

Category: Top Stories Date Added: 13 January 2010 LINDA ENSOR

Political Correspondent

NEW legislation to tighten up the regulation of estate agents is on the agenda of the Department of Trade and Industry this year.

A draft policy for the industry will be released to stakeholders later this month for them to make input.

The industry is regulated by the Estate Agencies Affairs Act of 1976, which trade and industry deputy director-general Zodwa Ntuli said was “very backward” and out of date.

In particular, the act did not deal effectively with unscrupulous estate agents who swindled clients out of money and then simply moved on and opened up a new business under a different name, he said.

If estate agents were caught, they could only be charged criminally and even then the fines were “so ridiculously” low that they would not deter anyone as crooks could simply budget for the penalty, which is a fine not exceeding R5000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, or both.

Ntuli also said it was unsatisfactory that the fidelity fund maintained by the Estate Agents Affairs Board to protect consumers — to which all registered estate agents had to contribute — was sometimes used to compensate the clients of fraudulent, unregistered agents who had not contributed to it.

The current act did not address this anomaly.

“We need to create a balance between requiring registered members to contribute to the fund while at the same time empowering the authorities to deal severely with those who are not registered, as they are the ones who are a liability to the industry,” Ntuli said.

The many cracks and loopholes in the system had to be tightened up and the fragmentation of the regulatory regime addressed.

Some aspects of the act could be more appropriately administered by the new Consumer Protection Act.

The lines of responsibility for the training and accreditation of estate agents were also a bit blurred between the trade and industry and housing departments and the Services Sector Education and Training Authority. “What happens now is that you have forum shopping,” Ntuli said. “When things are not clear, people can choose which department to go to, to suit their own purposes. This makes the management and enforcement of this industry a bit difficult.”

The profile of an Estate Agent

Real estate barriers breaking down, survey shows



29 September 2009



Transformation in SA’s real estate industry is speeding up, a new survey shows.



The results of the just-released poll show that black agents now make up 10% of the total, compared with just under 4% five years ago, when the number of agents registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) was roughly the same as it is currently.



“In real terms the increase means that the number of black agents registered has risen from about 2000 to around 4200,” says Dr Willie Marais, national president of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA) “and we are delighted at this growth, which we see as an important sign of that the residential property market overall is becoming more integrated.



“It reflects not only the rising percentage of black buyers in the market but the fact that the divide between the so-called township markets and the traditional suburban markets is narrowing, with more people now transferring freely from one to the other.



“Indeed, this is underlined by a further finding of the survey, that 18% of all agents, or almost one in five, now include township homes in their marketing mix alongside suburban houses, sectional title and cluster homes, retirement units and agricultural properties.”



The 2009 survey, conducted by an independent researcher with the backing of IEASA and Property24 as well as the EAAB, is the second such poll ever conducted in the SA real estate industry, the first having been done in 2004.



Distributed to 42 000 agents registered with the EAAB, it probed a wide range of characteristics of agents and agencies, including demographics, business activities and technology usage, as well as compensation structures and although participation was entirely voluntary, it drew a strong response.



This revealed among other things that the typical SA agent is aged between 35 and 55 (54%); married with two children (72%) and earns R13 000 or less a month (54%) by working on a commission-split basis in an independent agency (74%). IEASA will release further findings over the next few weeks.



Issued by the

Institute of Estate Agents of SA

The EAAB declares an official dispute.

The Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) wishes to advise that it has formally declared an intergovernmental dispute with the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (SSETA) in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act of 2005.



The dispute between the two organs of state arises from various activities engaged in by the SSETA from time to time with reference to the estate agency profession and the training of estate agents which, not only exceeds the legislative mandate of the SSETA but, also, undermines the standing and authority of the EAAB in the exercise of its powers and functions as the statutory regulator and professional body for estate agents.



The EAAB can only conclude that the SSETA seeks unlawfully to intrude on its autonomy, infringe both the rule of law and the principle of cooperative governance, exercise purported powers in an unlawful and unauthorised manner, engage in illegal self-help and, generally, act in a manner unbecoming an organ of state.



The parties to the dispute are now be required to convene a meeting to determine the nature of the dispute, to identify mechanisms or procedures to assist in the settling of the dispute and to agree on such mechanisms and procedures for this purpose and to designate a person to act as facilitator in settling the dispute.



The EAAB will make every endeavour possible to resolve the dispute with the SSETA in compliance with the constitutional obligations to do so imposed on organs of state and for the benefit of the estate agency profession and allied stakeholders.



Issued by: The Estate Agency Affairs Board



Contact: Ms. Portia Mofikoe

Portia.Mofikoe@eaab.org.za



Date: 2 November 2009

Print giving way to the Web in SA real estate

30 October 2009

Print is steadily losing ground as the Internet becomes the number one advertising medium for estate agents, a new survey shows.

The results of the just-released poll show that local or community newspapers are now the only print options that command more support than the Internet, with 54% of agents regularly placing adverts in these papers while 47% make use of online property portals to showcase their stock.

What is more, 74 percent of agents now also regard their company websites as important advertising channels.

By contrast, only 34% of agents advertise in the property magazines that are distributed for free, and only 29% support the weekly property supplements to major newspapers. Even fewer make use of glossy property magazines (15%) and just a handful (3%) ever advertise on TV.

“To a large extent, this sharp shift towards online advertising is a result of the property market downturn,” says Dr Willie Marais, national president of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA). “With sales and income way down, agents and agencies have been forced to cut costs wherever possible, and print advertising has always been one of the biggest items of expenditure for most real estate companies.

“Consequently, they have turned more and more to Internet advertising, which is relatively low-cost and sometimes even free, and has several other advantages too, including global reach and a much longer ‘shelf-life’ for each ad, which can remain on view as long as a property remains unsold.”

Agents have also discovered the joys of interactivity, he says, with most property portals offering a ‘matching’ service that immediately advises potential buyers of new listings that match their home search criteria, as well as the facility for those who are interested in a particular listing to instantly contact the agent via email or SMS.

“And then there is the greater manageability of online listings, with agents being able to instantly upload a new photo, for example, or to change price and other details that may make the property more attractive to potential buyers.”

Indeed it is not surprising, Marais says, that many agencies have in recent years actually diverted resources from print advertising to developing, fine-tuning and promoting their own websites to local and global audiences.

The 2009 real estate survey, conducted by an independent researcher with the backing of IEASA and Property24 as well as the Estate Agency Affairs Board, is the second such poll ever conducted in the SA real estate industry, the first having been done in 2004 – when only 62% of agents were using the Internet to advertise.

Besides advertising preferences, the research probed a wide range of characteristics of agents and agencies, including demographics, business activities and compensation structures. It was distributed to 42 000 agents registered with the EAAB and although participation was entirely voluntary, it drew a strong response.

Issued by the
Institute of Estate Agents of SA

Property prices on the rise.

Ooba's price index rose 1,89% year on year Sept 08 to Sept 09. The ave price was R791 478 a year ago and last month R 806 494. Have we turned the corner?