Those estate agency principals and agents who have been in residential real estate marketing for some time are finding that many of the facts that they are now expected to know in order to pass the new SSETA/Estate Agency Affairs Board NQF4 and NQF5 examinations are “old hat” – but there is always a fair amount of which they were not aware or of which they need to be reminded, says Lanice Steward, MD of Anne Porter Knight Frank.
“For those with limited experience of, or new to, estate agency work, these qualifications will prove invaluable,” said Steward. “There is a large body of information surrounding property and much practical management information which should be assimilated before either a principal or an agent can claim to be truly professional.”
Steward, speaking as a committee member of the Western Cape Institute of Estate Agents, said that the recent warning put out by Sandy Walsh, the Instititute’s Cape head of training, has to be heeded: Walsh warned that the EAAB would probably not take a lenient view of, or grant extensions easily to, those who have had the time to study but who fail to qualify by the end of the 2011 deadline.
“The EAAB could get tough and start withholding Fidelity Fund Certificates and the Institute will not accept as members those who do not have certificates,” said Steward.
“At the same time it has to be acknowledged that right now if an agent cannot produce such a certificate but can show proof of payment to the Board, he or she should be accepted by clients because the Board has not yet quite caught up with its certificate processing.”
The number of SA estate agents has in the last three years been cut by almost two-thirds – but, says Steward, this elimination process, coupled to the stringent educational qualifications which are now obligatory, will, as promised, raise the status of estate agents to a genuinely professional level.
Steward said that, contrary to the generally held view, estate agents are among the most regulated in South Africa. Entering and operating in this field, she said, is governed by a plethora of laws which do not surround or regulate other free enterprise initiatives. This, she added, should give peace of mind and confidence to estate agency clients, especially if they have qualified and can produce a Fidelity Fund Certificate.
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