Tel:
+27 (0)11 955 9100 |
Newsletter - 29 October 2008
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| Word from the editor |
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Dear CyberAgent user, Has the current property situation taken you by surprise our have you been expecting it? Most estate agents are aware of the fact that sales are down as property is no longer the “flavour” of the month and that first time buyers now think twice before they purchase. As with the stock market it will not help us to get negative. Banks are still granting bonds not like in the early 1980’s when bonds were almost unobtainable. The business is still there with the only difference that it no longer knocks on our doors but we have to go out and look for it. How does the currently property market in South Africa compare to other countries;
As CyberAgent we give you the estate agent five points to focus on in the current property industry;
Good Luck! |
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| PropertyGenie billing communication |
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| Website Marketing - NEW |
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| What's new |
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www.Cyberprop.com A new for www.cyberprop.com face! Thanks Johan, it really looks very nice. In addition to our new look and feel we now also have market statistics relating to people browsing our website. It is quite astonishing to see how we have climbed in the number of properties viewed the past 7 months. That in spite of the fact that we don’t even control / manage the Sunday Times website. Currently the total property views is more than 4.7 million, nearly equal to last month’s 4.887 million with still a few days to go. The total rand value of property on Cyberprop.com really looks like overseas telephone numbers, R 580,062,756,100 for property for sale and R35,170,698,750 for rentals. Our stats is as “Fresh” as one can get them, calculated up until yesterday.
The stats include the following information
We will be adding a few more over the next month or so.
Another cool feature is the list of most active properties for the current month (www.cyberprop.com/Pstats.cp). Have a look and see if your company is on the list.
We have also added the number of times a property has been viewed. If you view a property the view count will be displayed just above the agent information. This is applicable to all our customer websites too. Should you not want this on your website, please contact support and we can remove this facility for you.
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| Solar Powered Home Address Signage |
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Maintenance free, no grid electricity, batteries or bulbs Available in green and red ~ numerical and alphabetical Ensure your clients are visible to emergency services at night!! Contact us for Bulk discounts Contact: Sonja Nel
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| South Africa Property and Real-Estate Professionals to Benefit from Free Training & Educational Channel |
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RE/MAX shares DSTV training and educational channel with SA real-estate Professionals through ‘Open Time’ format in November Cape Town, October 27 – RE/MAX of Southern Africa, the country’s largest real-estate group, today announced the launch of a free national marketing and sales training channel on DSTV for all South African residential and commercial real-estate agents and property professionals during the month of November...
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| Further signs of a residential property recovery now becoming evident |
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A fortnight ago Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank, said that she sees signs of the Cape residential property market recovering – albeit slowly – in 2009. That statement appears to have been vindicated by recent figures from the national bond originators, ooba, which show that average house prices year on year for September have risen by 3 to 3,5% from R768,557 to R794,977...
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| The TRAINER - Jill Corfield |
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CONFUSION SURROUNDING MATRIC QUALIFICATION My office receives many calls each week from confused and stressed out agents saying they do not have Matric and that they are far too old to get their Matric now at their age. Please understand that the new regulation 59097 does not tell us that we must have Matric. It tells us that we must have 56 credits in the Fundamentals section of the Unit Standards. What it does say however is that the Matric will give you credits – 20 for communication in first language and 20 in a second S.A language. If you chose Maths as an optional subject, then you will get the remaining 16 credits making the required total of 56 Fundamental credits... |
| 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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| CyberAgent Accounting |
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Email received from one of our clients; I know times are hard, especially for you guys, the agents have been hammered and are struggling. It will impact heavily on you. Excuse my anger, you probably did the right thing to protect your interests. Have a good weekend Our response: We have an automated debtor’s procedure on our Accounting where letters are send to clients with outstanding balances on the 7th, the 14th and the 21st of each month. Due to the fact that we issue invoices monthly (for hosting fees) we need to keep a strict control over outstanding balances to prevent accounts from accumulating causing high balances. Please ensure that your accounts are settled in time to avoid disconnection of services. Accounts Department |
| News |
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A warm welcome to all new Agencies September 2008: 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 September 2008:
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Illegal Eviction Q. Does the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 afford the former owner of land protection against eviction, where he or she refuses to vacate the property after the bondholder has foreclosed and sold the property in execution to a new owner? In other words, must the new owner comply with the provisions of the Act when seeking an eviction order against the former owner, who is now for all intents and purposes an unlawful occupier? Q. Does the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act 19 of 1998 afford a former lessee protection against eviction where he or she refuses to vacate the premises after the lessor has lawfully cancelled the lease? Read: The Prevention of Illegal/Unlawful Occupation Act Case Study The Estate Agency Affairs Board’s Comments on the recent judgement handed down by the Bloemfontein Supreme Court of Appeals in the matter of Ndlovu and Others Vs. Bekker and Others The recent judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Ndlovu and Others v Bekker and Others (judgment delivered 30 August 2002) has given rise to much concern on the part of property owners, not to mention landlords and letting agents. The perception exists that lessors of immovable property will now find it extremely difficult to obtain eviction orders against defaulting lessees, and that a situation may arise where a lessor has no choice but to put up with an unlawful occupier indefinitely after cancellation of the lease. Predictions of doom and gloom for the rental housing market abound. At common law a property owner is entitled to an eviction order if it can be established firstly, that he is the owner of the property and, secondly, that the person in occupation has no right to remain in possession thereof. Accordingly, if the common law applies it is relatively easy for a lessor to obtain an eviction order against a lessee who continues to remain in possession of the premises after cancellation of the lease. Similarly, it is relatively straightforward to obtain an eviction order against the former owner of a property in situations where the current owner took transfer of the property after having bought it at a sale in execution. The above-mentioned Act aims at affording unlawful occupiers some protection
against eviction. Section 4[6] stipulates that if an unlawful occupier
has occupied the land in question for less than six months at the time
when proceedings for eviction are initiated, a Court may grant an order
for eviction only if it is just and equitable to do so, after considering
all the relevant circumstances, including the rights and needs of the
elderly, children, disabled persons and households headed by women. Where
the land in question has been unlawfully occupied for more than six months
at the time when eviction proceedings are initiated, the Court must, in
addition to the aforesaid considerations, take into account whether land
has been made available [or can reasonably be made available] by a municipality
or other organ of state or another land owner for the relocation of the
unlawful occupier. This additional consideration need not be taken into
account when the land is sold in a sale of execution pursuant to a mortgage.
The period of the occupation is calculated from the date the occupation
becomes unlawful.
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| IEASA membership now a ‘must’ for serious agents |
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Any agents who want to call themselves professionals in future will have to belong to the Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA). That’s the unequivocal word from IEASA national president Dr Willie Marais, who also says that the current apathy among agents about issues that could seriously affect their livelihood and their future needs to change drastically. Speaking at the recent IEASA national conference, he said: “The Estate Agency Affairs Board has made it plain that it wishes real estate to be regarded as a profession and not just as an amorphous industry. But that would presuppose that every agent belonged to a professional association – as doctors, lawyers and engineers do... |
| Changing market creates need for a new business model for estate agents |
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The rapidly changing property market has brought about a need to adjust the way estate agents has been conducting their business from offices with high monthly fixed costs such as rentals & an administrative staff component – restricting them to the specific office or area. In the Helderberg, several national property brands have during the last 6 months closed their offices & have consolidated their operations into one regional office. Several independent estate agencies have also closed down due to the big contraction in sales volumes estimated at between 30 - 50% countrywide... |
| Quotation of the month |
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The future, according to some scientists, will be exactly like the past, only far more expensive. John Sladek |
| Offering from Webmail |
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