Dear CyberAgent user,

Still not sure how important the Internet is in real estate sales?

The California Association Of Realtors recently released their “2008 Survey of California Home Buyers”. It underscores how many real estate agents are out of touch with reality in regards to what today’s consumer wants and expects.

I can hear it now. “It doesn’t apply to me”. “Real estate is local”. “My market is different.”

You know them, they are the ones who still probably have AOL email addresses and may in fact still think that AOL is the Internet.

It’s time you as a real estate agent who wants to run a “business” wakes up and takes notice of what is REALLY going on in the industry.

Here is what the survey found:

1. 1. Home buyers expect and want real estate agents to answer the telephone or respond by email! 96 percent of Internet buyers expected a response within four hours or less…31 percent of the Internet group expected an IMMEDIATE response! You see what the consumer wants. Deliver it! Real simple. You don’t need a business coach to learn how to be accessible and answer the phone or an email!

2. The survey showed that “Traditional” buyers take as much as 10.3 weeks searching for a home and wanted to see almost twice as many homes with their agent (23.3 homes) as Internet buyers (12.7 homes). 200% more, twice the amount of work…Hello McFly!! , I ask again. Buyers are too much work? Maybe you are working with the wrong buyers!

3. 71% of the Internet buyers would use the same real estate agent again

4. Homebuyers who used the Internet in the home-buying process reported that the first Web site they visited was Google (40 percent), Hmmm, when 40% of the market is using Google to find homes just what do you think they were searching for? If you have to think too hard for the answer you may already be lost!

5. The survey found that 90 percent of buyers in the Internet group found their real estate agent using the Internet, while just 9 percent found their agent through a for-sale sign and 1 percent through an agent’s marketing materials

Ok, so what are you going to do with this information? We already know that most will discount it as it not being relevant to their endeavors. Some won’t believe it and others won’t even know how to respond. That’s fine. It’s the others out there that this is written for, that small percentage of maverick real estate agents who use contemporary data and means to actually run a real estate business. Take this data and run with it. You are and will continue to distance yourself from the pack and this survey confirms you are on the right track.

We at CyberAgent believe that currently and to the best of our knowledge, no other office management software in South Africa compares closely to the functionality and benefits within CyberAgent.

www.cyberprop.com has become a property portal with hundreds of thousands listed properties, both for rental and for sale. CyberProp and our CyberProp newsletter is our community channel with the man in the street, providing them with “real time property” and industry related news. We have tens of thousands subscribers for our CyberProp weekly newsletter.

We also formed relationships with other property websites and currently update the properties of our users to these as well as the numerous in-house websites (40+ websites) giving you the client maximum exposure!

By using CyberAgent you do not have to be ignorant anymore. Best of all, we will do the running for you!

Now if you are still not sure of the importance of the Internet do not miss the following article; Move over Obama - SA is alive with e-campaigning possibilities

Good Luck!
The editor

Click Here for printable .pdf file

When an estate agent tries to secure a sole mandate for the property, it is wise to ask him (or her) if he has any intention of leaving his company because if the agent does move on before selling the property he is not, by law, allowed to take the sole mandate with him – it remains with his agency.

It is, therefore, imperative to check out the agent’s future plans for employment...

THIS IS A WARNING ONLY!

Your properties (33) will no longer be listed on the following websites SHOULD YOU NOT UPDATE SOON

If you have received this warning and was perturbed about it, do not fear. Why this warning?

We do maintain a high standard of quality of the properties listed on CyberProp and our affiliated websites with respect to the period of time a listing has been displayed on the websites – there’s nothing less appealing to a person browsing a website than seeing the same old things week in and week out. We have therefore adopted the measure of removing a property from the www.CyberProp.com website if it had been uploaded more than 30 days ago.

This means plainly that if you have not updated your website (and thus also www.CyberProp.com) in over 30 days – your properties will be taken off CyberProp. You will receive email confirmation of the fact on the day the properties are removed and notification to update prior to any removals.

For more information contact support@cyberprop.com

By: Keith Campbell

The year 2009 has arrived on the wings of the storm. “The situation is dire, it is deteriorating, and it demands urgent and dramatic action,” said US President Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration.

It has been estimated that nearly $7-trillion (yes, trillion) of wealth was destroyed on US stock markets last year, from relentless declines in the values of stocks. This estimate comes from American analyst Jeremy Payne, who is a senior vice-president at S&P Capital IQ, a market research and analysis com- pany. He further estimates another $5-trillion in share price losses outside the US, and some $10-trillion lost in the global housing market. “We’re probably looking at $25-trillion worth of asset price deflation,” he told the Washington Post. The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimates that, worldwide, stock markets dropped by an average of 50% last year, and cautions that the decline could continue...

Dear Computer Operators

Happy New Year to you all - I trust you all had a well deserved break and are truly back in the swing of things.

Herewith a very important email from Clive Ashpol of the EAAB which talks about the much confusion over whether or not Principals should do Level 4 first or just level 5.

Your Principal may or may not have seen this so decided to include it anyway.

Best wishes for 2009
Jill Corfield

Newcomer non-principal estate agents

All newcomers who want to register as non-principal estate agents must apply to the EAAB for registration as intern estate agents (in precisely the same way they would have done for registration as candidate estate agents under the old system) in the service of an estate agency undertaking...

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 Anywhere
  
• Keep me Informed Function
  
• New developments in CyberAgent
  
• New Update Manager
  
• REEP (Real Estate Evaluation Portal)

A warm welcome to all new Agencies November & December 2008:

November:

December:

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 November 2008:

Everyone knows that there are hundreds of thousands of South Africans living in Perth and London, but not many are aware that there are also 30 000 living in Florida in the US, and thousands in the states of Georgia and Michigan.

This emerged at the recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) conference held in Orlando, Florida and attended by several SA representatives, including Dr Willie Marais, national president of the Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA), who says: “Since 1994 the world has been open to South Africans and while many have chosen to emigrate permanently, many are also just working overseas to broaden their experience and before returning to SA...

Article by: Yolandé Hayward

THE global economic meltdown and resulting widespread job cuts could result in South Africa‘s crippling brain drain soon becoming a brain gain as South Africans living abroad are forced to return home.

And it is has been predicted that within the next few months the “floodgates” will open as expats seek the security of home...