Tel:
+27 (0)11 955 9100 |
Newsletter - 29 April 2009
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| Word from the editor |
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Dear CyberAgent user, Questions! It seems that the property industry is lately filled with these. Will property prices keep falling? Good news is that property prices in England and Wales fell an annual 7,3% in April, the smallest drop since January, property Web site Rightmove reported. According to the experts South Africa has been lucky so far. We have not experienced the rapid re-pricing of real estate that is being experienced elsewhere in the world and real estate agents can kiss their lucky stars.
How much longer will the bank remain impervious to the ongoing criticism from estate agents, homebuyers and sellers that they are wrecking the residential property industry? This is the question many will be asking after hearing Ivan Neethling’s, Chairman of the Western Cape branch of the Institute of Estate Agents, latest report on the frustrations now being experienced by agents due to the drastically small number of bond applications being passed. It seems that is by far the biggest problem in our current property market, banks hindering business by not approving bonds and secondly banks expecting deposits. Am I using the right real estate software solution? Our flagship product is CyberAgent. CyberAgent is an office management application for the Real Estate industry. Currently we have more than 1300 estate agencies using CyberAgent and this figure is increasing on a monthly basis. Our CyberAgent application is a total office management system comprising of all aspects involving a real estate office, operating in the selling of property. It currently consists of 11 different modules from canvass management to property management. A new bench mark for CyberAgent this month was topping the listing of 140,000 properties on over 50+ websites. This gives you a total of 7,000,000 listings on the Internet! Woohoo! Two new websites that your properties now update to;
Make sure that you are using the right software!
Good Luck! |
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| Whats New |
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Long SMS messages now supported! In the past we used to allow only 160 characters per SMS message - you will now be able to type a message of any length, the system will indicate the number of SMS messages as you compose the message - you will be billed according to the number of SMS’s your message spans. The usual confirmation and feedback screens will also detail exactly how many SMS messages will be sent. Enjoy!
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| Coming Soon |
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Make some extra money with Google Ads on your website USP Designs is in the process of developing an application where we can load Google Ads on your website. Should you be interested, complete the form below and we will supply you with more information as soon as the application is available.
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| New Website Features |
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| CyberAgent and SMS technology |
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| From our Support Desk |
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| Website optimization |
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| Website Marketing - NEW |
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| Monthly Stats - End March 2009 |
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| An estate agent has a legal obligation to protect the seller |
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Those selling property, particularly residential property, are often not aware that their agent is obliged legally and ethically to act primarily in their interest. Pointing this out in a recent training session, Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank, told some of the company’s agents that the Estate Agency Affairs Act makes it crystal clear that the agent’s duty to the seller includes...
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| In our thoughts |
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Elsabè from Silver Sails Estate Agency www.silversails.co.za, She was scheduled for a heart operation. We can now report that all is well with her. Barry from Hall Real Estate Boksburg www.hallrealestate.co.za Barry had a stroke and is although he is recovering it is not going too good with him. Should any of you wish to send him good well wishes you can mail him at barry@hallreal.co.za Demy Demkes’ from www.gemsproperties.co.za daughter is in hospital. Our best wishes and prayers to all of you for a speedy recover, The CyberAgent
team
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| Letter to CyberAgent |
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Dear Chris
I have asked this question before, but unfortunately I can’t find the answer!!!
Our pictures are appearing distorted on the website, please can someone please advise what size the pictures should be. I know I’ll probably have to change a lot, so only want to do it once!!
Kind regards
In response:
Hi Lesley
CyberAgent resizes the pics to 275px wide, the height doesn't matter.
CyberAgent only has a problem with quality when resizing very hi-res photos. I would suggest when taking photos of a property to take some low-res ones as well, so you can load them directly into CyberAgent without you having to resize them first.
Kind Regards Month after month we report on agents/agencies that does not follow up on leads; Good morning
I am still waiting for a agent to call me
Regards Don’t miss out on business! Your competitor next to you won’t!
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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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| News |
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A warm welcome to all new Agencies March 2009: 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 us at support@cyberprop.com or phone us at: +27 (0)11 955-9100 or 086 112- 9237 Most Internet enquiries March 2009:
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| Pushy buyers no match for a good agent |
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It’s definitely a buyers’ market in the real estate sector right now – but that does not mean that sellers have to put up with being exploited. So says Martin Schultheiss, CEO of Harcourts (formerly Homenet) who notes that in the current tight sales situation, more and more buyers are “taking a chance” with anxious sellers and trying to push for concessions not usually included in a home sale. Some are even going so far as to make demands after the sale agreement has been signed...
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| From Jill Corfield |
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ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION REGULATIONS:
AMENDMENT TO PROVISIONS DEALING WITH ELECTRICAL COMPLIANCE CERT
Some interesting Changes coming into effect on the 1st May 2009
These are mere comments on a few changes. It is necessary to refer to Government Gazette 31975 Notice No 242 on 6 March 2009 for full/accurate details. JILL CORFIELD
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| IEASA news - IEASA aims to outlaw ‘accreditation’ by homeowners’ associations |
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The Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA) is taking on the practice of “accreditation” which gives selected agents exclusive property marketing rights in some security complexes and estates. This stands to affect thousands of South African homeowners who have to date not been at liberty to choose their own agents when buying or selling units in certain developments...
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| The Power of Positive Thinking |
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Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds...
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| Quotation of the month |
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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. -- Anais Nin |
| Offering from Webmail |
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Will
interest rates come down this week? Some expect South Africa's
central bank to keep its aggressive monetary easing stance this week with
a steep rate cut while others say it will be very unlikely for the Reserve
Bank to announce a further rate cut. Many estate agents will be
listening to their radios at 13h00 tomorrow to hear who is right.
For
the Modern and younger generation as we are, life is unimaginable if you
don’t have a Mobile phone. It seems lto be an extension of our hands,
a tool for saying so many things. SMS messages are a new version of the
old pass-the-note messaging. SMS messages are ideal for communicating
with people because they are stored on mobile phone to be read when the
user has available time.The phone also keeps track of what was received
and what was sent. At CyberAgent we believe that SMS technology
plays a vital role in the real estate office therefore we have 5 different
SMS offerings. Read more in CyberAgent and SMS technology
Google
Maps down to suburb level on your property search with zoom
in and out capability
Once
you have registered you will receive your own username and password
to login to your links manager.
How
it works: 
Some
Basics of Web Design by Kirin Knapp
