Catching Up : Institute to provide training



Initiatives by the Cape branch of the Institute of Estate Agents are likely lead to township estate agents' skills being improved - and, in time, in township property deals beginning to catch up with those in other areas. At present the level of property dealing in townships is very low. The General Manager of the Cape branch of the Institute of Estate Agents, Vivien Marks, says that the Institute's "dedicated" transformation manager, Joy McNab, and her assistant Thabo Manganyi, recently for the first time succeeded in persuading township agents - 25 in all - to attend a half day seminar at the Institute's training centre in Pinelands. The seminar and the transport to and from it were sponsored by Dream Start, the Standard Bank Home Loans low cost housing financier. "The seminar," said Marks, "had two good results: firstly, it convinced those attending that registration with the Estate Agency Affairs Board and regular training would pay handsome dividends. Second, it showed us at the Institute just how much had to be changed to bring property dealing in the townships in line with other parts of South Africa." Township agents, said Marks, work under almost crippling conditions, without offices, cars or landline telephones. Delays are so common and good legal advice so scarce that they almost invariably run out of resources and incur high levels of debt. On the legal and business side, a host of difficulties is also likely to crop up: all too often it is found that the buyer cannot qualify for a loan even if he has the necessary income or savings because certain areas remain redlined and black listing for a small debt incurred long ago can be difficult to reverse. A further difficulty is that ownership and transfer documents required for a sale often can no longer be found or are incomplete or incorrectly filled in. Many apparent owners have not taken legal transfer and in other cases traditional inheritance laws can complicate ownership cases. In one or two cases occupation of part of a home by a second family has been taken to mean that they are now co-owners. Another difficulty is that the lack of estate agency trust accounts makes it difficult to know where to deposit money until negotiations are complete. "All these and other issues," says Marks, "are complicated by a dire lack of legal and clerical expertise amongst the agents - as I have indicated, however, they appreciate how much they can gain from Institute training and, with possible help from the Estate Agency Affairs Board, we will be running regular training for the first 25 candidates and hope to extend this to include at least another 50 this year. Later, as in serving other previously disadvantaged communities, we will take them on to more advanced courses that will include the drawing up business plans." Marks commended the courage and perseverance shown by the townships agents in the face of difficulties which, she said, would probably have "sunk" the average agent operating under easier conditions. "Believe me, these are tough and courageous people with an ability to continue fighting and beat the odds. It is for that reason that we are particularly pleased now to be giving them the training they need." Issued by Tim Cartwright