Tel:
+27 (0)11 955 9100 |
Newsletter - 02 May 2006
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| Word from the editor |
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Dear CyberAgent users, With sixty thousand plus real estate agents in South Africa and with this number growing on a daily basis it is getting harder and harder to stand out from the crowd. What can you do so that customers and fellow realtors know, choose and recommend you? Simply taking floor time and doing open houses is a good way to make a living, but to make a quantum leap in income you need to have satisfied customers and referrals plus you need to be one step ahead. You will find plenty assistance in this month's CyberAgent newsletter. Your palms begin to sweat and you avoid eye contact with someone you know you've listed, but you just can't remember his name. Your heart sinks as you hang up the phone after a call from a potential seller; you forgot you'd made an appointment with her. You pound your forehead in frustration as you realize, too late, what you should have told a buyer about the property that would have made the sale. Have you ever thought, "If only I'd been born with a better memory, I'd be a better real estate agent?" We are sharing four memory slips that can cost you a sale. Greetings! |
| It only takes that one enquiry! |
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YES! It only takes that one enquiry and we at CyberAgent will bring it to you.
To: Requests@Cyberprop.com (CyberAgent Web Server - Sunday Times Property)
We are meeting tonight!
Sent: 10 April 2006 15:02
Hi Liefa Joe, die lyk pragtig. Ek het die agent gebel en sy ry nou, sal my terugbel met al die info. Dankie The CyberAgent Profession package includes your own custom designed website. This website is easily updateble using CyberAgent as an off-line listing tool. By the click of a button all your properties including relevant information and images will be updated to your website in less than 2 minutes. Some of the features included in your website are:
Example Sites - click on image to view
Your website will also be optimised and submitted to leading international and local search engines and for additional exposure your properties will be advertised on:
We also give you the opportunity to generate more traffic to your site, by submitting articles to the weekly CyberProp newsletter with over 17 000 subscriber world wide. |
| CyberAgent Mobile |
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Have you read about CyberAgent Mobile? If not, do not miss out! CyberAgent Mobile is a winner! Not only for the Estate Agent but also in the IT world.
Congratulations on being nominated by Sybase for a Computerworld Honors 21st Century Achievement Award.
The awards ceremony is on June 5 in Washington, D.C. On that day, all Laureates will be presented with a prestigious medal as recognition for their contribution to the field of Information Technology. Later that day, five finalists will be announced in each of the 10 award categories (Business, Education, Environment/Energy/Agriculture, Finance/Insurance/Real Estate, Government/Non-Profit, Manufacturing, Media/Arts/Entertainment, Medicine, Science, and Transportation). At the awards gala that evening, a 21st Century Achievement Award winner will be named for each category, along with the presentation of some special leadership awards.
If you do not know what CyberAgent Mobile offers, go and have
a look NOW! Click here to read more about CyberAgent Mobile |
CyberAgent Mobile Will CyberAgent Mobile work for you? You can now test drive the new CyberAgent Mobile program free for 7 days. Download the program(free), Once loaded on the device you have 7 days in which you can run the program in demo mode. Click here to for more details |
| What's New ??? |
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New Update Manager In order to prepare for the release of CyberAgent 4 later this year, the Update Manager had to go through a major revamp. As a result, updates and synchronization with Internet is now much faster. It is also now possible to determine the property counts on all linked websites. Previously all data was updated to the website and then been placed in a queue for updating to all linked sites. As a result of increased agencies using CyberAgent and the number agencies updating daily, a bottleneck were forming with regards to the updating of the various websites. The new Update Manager will now:
Form Layout:
B. This will return the active property count for each website listed under Websites Updated list box. After execution, click on the Property Counts radio button and select the website under Websites Updated to display the information in N. C. The Delete Property on Website button will delete all data from all sites. Use this only when instructed by support personal. It will only increase the time of your next update as all property will be updated with the next Update Websites execution. D. Internet numbers are automatically updated every time Update Websites are executed. Internet numbers only gets allocated after a successfully update of a website. This means that a new property¡¦s Internet number will only be updated with the next Update Websites. Use this if you want to update the Internet number without doing Update Websites. E. By default, only pictures of modified and new properties are being compared and updated. It may happen that while updating previously not all the images were synchronized. You can use this function in order to updated these failed pictures. After execution, click on Sync Pics radio button. The result will be displayed in N. F. Opens a Internet explorer and displays information regarding the latest changes made in CyberAgent. G. Website information enables you to modify contact information and view account balances, reprint invoices and statements. H. Used to update CyberAgent I. Change the way your computer connects to the Internet. Some connections/networks do not allow FTP access. FTP access is used to copy pictures to the Internet server. FTP access is much faster than HTTP access and therefore it is recommended that you change the Update Mode to ¡§Display while sending¡¨ option. If your connection/network does not support FTP, change it to ¡§Use HTTP when sending¡¨. Please contact support should you experience any difficulty with the sending of pictures. J. ƒº Closes this form. K. The Websites Updated list box contains all linked site that will be updated. L. Options that will list information regarding the option under N M. While executing, the different processes as well as websites will be displayed here. N. Edit box containing information relating to the option box(L) For more information - Click
Here |
| CyberAgent Mobile Training |
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Our next CyberAgent Mobile training session for Gauteng is on.
Agents interested in CyberAgent Mobile for the PC, will have the opportunity to learn more of this exciting new product - soon to be launched!
For more information on training please email Karen@cyberprop.com
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| CyberAgent & Ananzi |
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If you are not yet advertising on on South Africa's biggest and most popular search engine with over 10 million page impressions monthly it is time to register now! To read more simply click on the following link: |
| News |
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A warm welcome to all new Agencies:
We trust that by now you are well aware of what CyberAgent can do for you. If you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact Fanie at support@cyberprop.com or phone us at: +27 (0)11 955-9100 or 086 112- 9237 Most Internet enquiries: Cyberprop
Sunday times
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| No more waiting for statements |
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No more waiting for statements and invoices. By logging on with your username and password you can now get it online at: http://www.cyberagent.co.za/uspacct/
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| Four Memory Slips That Can Cost You Real Estate Sales |
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Your palms begin to sweat and you avoid eye contact with someone you know you've listed, but you just can't remember his name. Your heart sinks as you hang up the phone after a call from a potential seller; you forgot you'd made an appointment with her. You pound your forehead in frustration as you realize, too late, what you should have told a buyer about the property that would have made the sale. Have you ever thought, "If only I'd been born with a better memory, I'd be a better real estate agent?" The good news is that you don't have to be born with a great memory! Like almost anything related to the real estate profession, memory improvement is a learned skill that anyone can cultivate. You can become a highly effective and well-respected real estate professional.
Begin by learning how to prevent these sticky memory-related situations
that you may already have experienced... Read
more |
| The Estate Agency Affairs Board |
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NOTICE TO ALL STAKEHOLDERS The new Levy Schedule for Estate Agents and Attorneys is provided by the EAAB. Stakeholders are also advised that the Board charges a fee for services rendered.
Thank you |
| Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa – events calendar for May 2006 |
Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa - the property industry's number one professional body since 1937. When you deal with a Member of the Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA), you are assured that he or she is trained and qualified, legally registered to practice, and has access to all the supporting services which he or she needs to provide you with high standard of service that you expect. Bill Rawson - National President: Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa |
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| Real Estate news |
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Fewer investors in buy-to-let property market -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE South African residential buy-to-let market is showing definite signs of weakening as the number of gung-ho investors who entered this market looking to make easy money dwindles. When the residential property boom started about five years ago, buy-to-let investors entered the market hoping to earn an income from letting out second or third properties. However, as the boom gained momentum more and more people opted to buy property instead of renting to take advantage of the favourable economic conditions. According to the First National Bank Property Barometer for the first quarter of this year, buy-to-let investors have not been realising their required returns to make the investment viable. FNB Homeloans CEO Ed Grondel says some of these investors are getting out of the rental market, resulting in less rental stock — and this could potentially drive yields up again in the future. He says there is “definitely still a rental market” but at “reasonable rentals”. A year ago 25% of residential property buyers were buy-to-let investors, but now they represent only 16%. “There are fewer investors now who feel they can make a quick buck. They are not achieving attractive yields,” he says. Grondel says in the past these investors always had an “insurance policy” of capital growth if they sold. However, residential property price growth year-on-year has slowed to 14,5% in the first quarter of this year, compared with more than 30% more than a year ago. “If you’re not getting yield and much capital growth, it makes it less attractive to get into investment property.” But director of Johannesburg-based developer Renprop Chris Renecle says his company has found that most of the buy-to-let investors who were invested in the property market before the boom are still involved, but are focusing on cheaper properties. He says the number of investors who were speculators looking for capital growth has dropped substantially. Executive director of Sotheby’s International Realty Barak Geffen says there is too much property supply in the buy-to-let market in general and this is causing a weakening of this investment sector. He says the supply of townhouse units and other smaller apartments has reached saturation level. However, there is still opportunity for owners of houses and luxury apartments at the top end of the market to earn attractive rentals. He says these are properties worth R3m to R4m and upwards. Geffen says a lot of investors left the stock market when it stopped performing from 1998 and invested in real estate, which started performing from 2000. “People who had invested in the stock market started investing in developments or supplied developers with capital to develop properties. “This resulted in an oversupply of rental property across the country. If there is too much supply, obviously rental prices and yields come down.” But, says Geffen, the demand for owning property has also tapered off because property has become expensive. “There is an affordability argument because salaries, to a significant degree, have not increased in line with price increases.” He says this has caused consumers to reconsider renting as opposed to owning. He says not only do some people at the lower end of the market rent because they cannot buy, but many executives who earn high salaries are also cautious about buying. “They (executives) are noticing price appreciation is lowering now. They perceive there could be some kind of correction in prices and it is causing them at this stage in the property cycle to be hesitant when it comes to buying.” Geffen says a 100% bond on a R4m property will cost the new owner R40000 a month, but an individual could rent the same property for R15000 to R18000 a month. He says because executives are building wealth they do not want to live beneath their means so would rather rent a luxury property than possibly come into the property market at the wrong time. Geffen says these executives invest in middle- and lower-priced properties to finance their lifestyle at the top end of the market. “In the upmarket areas there is a very buoyant rental market where demand is climbing, but in the development market where there are townhouse developments and apartments where it is oversaturated, investors are struggling to realise the yields that they expected upon making their investment.” Article from: www.businessday.co.za |
| Quotation of the month |
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A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug. - Patricia Neal |
For
a nominal fee of R100 plus VAT per month, per agency, your properties
can also now be advertised on 
Nearly
15 000 properties listed and growing!