Dear CyberAgent user,

The new National Credit Act was received with mix feelings earlier this year. The new act is set to come into full effect from the 1st of June next month and for sure will have an adverse influence on the South African consumer. But will it have an influence on the property industry? And that is where we will be focusing this month.

How will this new legislation impact;

• the running of your business?
  
• how you advertise and market your properties?
  
• what you tell your clients and what you don't tell them?
  

and for those estate agencies that does rentals;

• on how you can recover bad debt?

For a full version of the New Credit Act visit our CyberAgent website, www.cyberagent.co.za

"Speculation exists that the stringent credit profiling required under the new Act will slow home sales as banks begin to implement the provisions of the Act and check on the overall credit exposure of all borrowers before they can approve any new home loans." This according to Herold Gie Attorneys, New National Credit Act affects SA Property Industry

Standard Bank has a comprehensive plan in place to ensure that they are fully compliant by 1 June 2007. Should you have any questions you can email them at NCA@standardbank.co.za. Be prepared!

Greetings!
The editor

Expose your properties to a large segment of the population as there are more than 15 million cell-phone users in South Africa

What are the benefits that a SMS function can give you;

• Buyers can first do their homework
  
• Minimum cost to the Estate Agency
  
• Prospective clients will get the correct information
  
• Prospective clients can get the information that they are looking for
  
• Building a relationship with your client
  
• SMS messages are accessible 24/7

SMS Functions

There is a facility on each property that allows the prospective client to send an SMS to the property’s agent

There is a free SMS facility that is for the use of anyone who visits your website

Cell Phone enquiries from the public

You can subscribe to the SMS facility in CyberAgent. This allows you to SMS your contacts and your agents

Client Manager
Bug fixes includes : Buyers Search function - when the search form yields the results and you try to exclude a listing from the result - the search used to clear (as if you'd clicked New Search). Fixed!

New Feature: Strict Search on Contact Manager's Filter page. After a release in November 2006 - where we adresses the issue of the search on Price, some clients came back saying they prefer the search to work in a "strict" fashion. We have therefore brought in a "strict" tickbox which you can tick before performing your search. The main difference between the Strict search and the non-Strict search is that the non-Strict search takes the buyers' minimum and maximum price into consideration whereas the strict search takes only the max price into consideration.

Referral Module
You can now CC your franchisor/Group administrator whenever you send a referral.

This picture was taken at a recent training session in the Garden Route

We now provide you with FREE training session in the following areas;

• Gauteng
• Kwazulu Natal
• Western Cape
• and the Garden Route

During these training sessions more information will also be provided on:

• CyberAgent Mobile
  
• CyberAgent Mobile PC Version
  
• Keep me Informed Function
  
• Cell phone / Internet Module
  
• New developments in CyberAgent
  
• New Update Manager
  
• REEP (Real Estate Evaluation Portal)

Property trader is a free real estate magazine, targeting all sectors of the South African residential property community. The publications provide compelling local market editorial with informative national features and columns delivering a truly unique perspective for those of you interested in the property market. As a group we currently publish in excess of 60 million pages of advertising per month via more than 400 000 issues weekly in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and Mpumalanga.

Your properties are now advertised online with Property Trader as part of your monthly CyberAgent subscription!

www.propertytrader.co.za

Welcome to PropertyGenie

Homebuyers today are increasingly using the Web to search for property - it's convenient, quick and hassle free. Because of this, real estate agencies are placing more emphasis on using the web as a marketing tool and it is established that by 2008 more real estate advertising money will be spent online than in newspapers.

With this in mind, PropertyGenie.co.za was designed to showcase the listings of South Africa's leading real estate agencies and give customers a single portal through which to find property online.

All CyberAgent users properties are now automatically updated and advertised on www.propertygenie.co.za

Nearly 18 000 properties listed and growing!

If you are not yet advertising 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:
http://www.cyberagent.co.za/ananzi.shp

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:

&

Now you can update directly to SAhometraders when you do a property update in CyberAgent.

USP Designs (Pty) LTD and SAhometraders have formed a working relationship that now allows CyberAgent Users to update to SAhometraders without double property capturing.

USP Designs have negotiated a reduced monthly subscription of R250.00 excl. VAT to SAhometraders for all CyberAgent users.

If you are interested contact Sandy on 011 955 9100 or complete the form on this link and we will contact you shortly.

http://www.cyberagent.co.za/traders.shp

Concerns exist that the new national credit act, which is set to come into full effect from June of this year, will have an adverse influence on the South African property industry.

In fact, the anticipation of the new act has already been cited as a contributing factor to the dampened growth in house prices – with a decelerated growth of single digits as opposed to the double digits experienced in the first six months of 2006.

Speculation exists that the stringent credit profiling required under the new Act will slow home sales as banks begin to implement the provisions of the Act and check on the overall credit exposure of all borrowers before they can approve any new home loans.

>> Read More

• Promote a fair, competitive and sustainable credit market
  
• Educate and help you to make informed choices
  
• Enforce affordability checks and calculations in all cases
  
• Protect you through the establishment of a national credit regulator, a consumer credit tribunal and a debt counselling process.

The Estate Agent by the EAAB