Tel:
+27 (0)11 955 9100 |
Newsletter - 31 March 2008
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| Word from the editor |
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Dear CyberAgent user, Can I call you blind? Can I call you dumb? I am sure that most of you can still remember my questions to you. Great was the response and positive thereto I must say. A great wake up call to those with listings on our www.cyberprop.com and affiliated websites. A big thank you all our CyberAgent users who are now listing correctly and answering on Internet enquiries. Dear Ingrid-san, First of all, thank you very much for all your arrangement. I tried to contact you over phone and SMS last night but I could not. Anyway, as a reply to you, we would like to take the following house (Reference Number 485659). Kindly let me know what the procedure is. Anyway let me call you again for further understanding today. Again, thank you very much for all your arrangement. Waiting for your reply and thanks Best regards Is it not nice to receiving emails like this? Estate Agents around the country who have are not registered could stand to lose millions of rands in commission from sellers should they decide not to pay the commission due to the Agent not being registered. Further more unregistered agents were warned that they have no recourse to the law if they are not paid their commission. Read more in Estate agents in commissions’ fiasco Great news this month is that CyberAgent and updating to our websites now make provision for two new currencies, the Mauritius Rupees and Israeli New Shekel.
New to our CyberAgent application is our CyberAgent Anywhere edition, an online system. Launch at the end of October 2007 CyberAgent Anywhere now top the scale with over 300 users and has just launch in Nigeria. A warm welcome to Gerald Ohadomere our representative in Nigeria! If you are a CyberAgent user your properties automatically updates to www.cyberpropnigeria.com Greetings! |
| It's here! |
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| Website Marketing - Updating to 20 websites from the 14th of April |
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| Properazzi.com |
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| The new rates valuations - Jill Corfield |
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NEW RATES EVALUATIONS MARKET VALUE – SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR ESTATE AGENTS? I was training the subject of “Contract Law” to one of my corporate clients today and the subject of the new valuations that the Municipalities are placing on everyone’s properties was obviously very much on everyone’s mind. This led me to thinking ………….. Will buyers now be asking the question “What is the [market value] valuation that Municipalities have placed on this property?” If high, will they then be nervous of having to pay high rates in the future – will this impact on their decision to go ahead and buy? If the valuation is way less than the asking price, will the buyer then be saying “Am I paying too much for this property?” It is not quite the same as the old days when the purchase price was always higher than the municipal value. I think agents will be expected to ascertain this figure when taking the mandate in the first place! Jill Corfield - Corfield School of Real Estate
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| Are you ready? |
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New regulations regarding training qualifications for estate agents from the Department of Trade and Industry are scheduled to take effect from April 1. Are you ready? The new curriculum is welcomed as it is beneficial to consumers and the industry in general. It’s also far more specific and honed to suit the complex and ever-evolving requirements of the real estate industry, encompassing a wide range of knowledge and skills incorporating legislative issues, marketing and finance, property management and estimations of market value, among many others...
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| CyberAgent Training and Info Sessions |
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We now provide you with FREE training session in the following areas;
During these training sessions more information will also be provided on:
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| PropertyTrader |
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Your properties are now advertised online with Property Trader as part of your monthly CyberAgent subscription! |
| Estate agents in commissions’ fiasco |
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Thousands of estate agents aren’t legally entitled to commission from sellers – licence fiasco. Thousands of estate agents aren't legally entitled to claim their commissions. This means their selling efforts, if their clients cotton on to their status, could be in vain. That's the upshot of the latest estate agency licence fiasco...
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| What's new in Property Genie |
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To all CyberAgent users; I wanted to update you on Developments on PropertyGenie.co.za. We launched our new development section in December and have had a great response with over 21 000 page views for that section in January! Please take a look at http://www2.propertygenie.co.za/portal/page/portal/pg/developments We charge R2 500 for the Main Feature on the landing page and R1 100 for the Smaller Features - the other Classic Listings are only R500 and I'm sure you'll agree we can hold quite a bit of information for clients. Its basically a mine-website within our portal. All we require is booking forms signed and commitments for at least 3 months with material and photo's sent to sales@propertygenie.co.za or couriered to our offices. Kind Regards |
| News |
| SA Hometraders |
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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.
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| Reep |
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| IEASA - New draft rules for Estate Agents |
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A REVISED version of the government’s proposed regulations to introduce compulsory qualifications for estate agents is now available, says the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa (IEASA). IEASA president Dr Willie Marais says while the revised draft is fairly similar to the original proposals the government issued last year, there are significant changes. These include a proposed admission exam in addition to the certificate in real estate which agents must obtain, and the deadline for existing agents to qualify has been extended by a year. However Dr Marais says at this stage these are still only proposals and the regulations must still be signed off by the Minister of Trade and Industry, and be published in the Government Gazette. |
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Purchaser's Cooling Off Right - Guidelines for Estate Agents The following guidelines are issued by the Estate Agency Affairs Board to assist estate agents in discharging their legal and ethical duties when negotiating a transaction which is subject to the cooling off right provided for by the Alienation of Land Act 68 of 1981 ['The Act’]. Clause 2.1 of the Code of Conduct states that an estate agent may not ‘do or omit to do any act which is or may be contrary to the integrity of estate agents in general’, while in terms of clause 2.2 an estate agent must protect a client’s interests to the best of his or her ability, with due regard to the interests of all other parties concerned. Failure to comply with the guidelines may constitute a contravention of these clauses, and/or the other clauses of the Code of Conduct referred to in the guidelines specifically. |
| Higher qualifications to spur real estate industry |
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This is a big step forward in raising professional levels in the local industry, says Neville McIntyre, CEO of Jigsaw, the holding company of the Development and Training Academy of Southern Africa (Ditasa), which trained the agents. Jigsaw is also the holding company of leading estate agency groups Aida National Franchises, ERA Real Estate, Realty 1 International Property Group and My African Properties (MAP). |
| Quotation of the month |
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Nobody will believe in you unless you believe in
yourself. |
With
the latest innovation from USP Designs, you can expect your office
to be a little quieter from now on. At USP Designs, we understand
that time spent behind a desk, is money lost, therefore we have
invested a great deal of time in developing software that allows
the agent to spend less time in the office, leaving more time seeing
clients and the office in full control at all times.
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.
The
first ever group of SA estate agents to receive NQF4 qualifications
were awarded their certificates during a ceremony at Unisa this week
(subs Monday 10 March).