Need for an industry-wide qualification that will inform consumers what they can expect, at the very least, when dealing with an estate agent.



More than 90 percent of consumers who participated in a recent Property24 poll voted for a minimum licence qualification for South African estate agents - a yardstick which the real estate industry itself is finally moving to put in place. The poll drew hundreds of responses and while not scientific, is a clear indicator that there is a need for an industry-wide qualification that will inform consumers what they can expect, at the very least, when dealing with an estate agent. This "standard" used to be a pass mark in the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) exam, but that was abandoned almost 10 years ago in an effort to make the real estate industry more accessible to previously disadvantaged people who perhaps could not afford the course or exam fees. It was replaced with a year-long "candidacy" for new agents under the tutelage of any other registered "full service" agent - a laudable idea but one that created a system that could not be properly monitored and has, says Institute of Estate Agents (IEASA) director Lynette Malan, been widely abused. "And agents themselves are aware of the confusion and distrust this has caused among consumers, which is why so many are now voluntarily taking the Board exam."The situation has also led to most of the large real estate organisations instituting their own training "academies" or qualification systems in order to assure consumers that their sales agents are both competent and trustworthy. Aida, ERA, Homenet, Pam Golding Properties and Re/Max, for example, all tout their training and quality control systems, while the recently-launched PA Property Professional Club seeks to set an even higher benchmark by limiting membership only to those five to ten percent of registered agents that can achieve more than 40 unit sales, or R5-million worth of sales a year. However, says Malan, even the best efforts of the industry have proved insufficient because the training given is not standardised. There is no reliable, independent measure by which consumers can gauge or compare what the qualifications awarded by the various companies or organisations actually mean in terms of the service they can expect. Which is one reason why Malan, who is widely acknowledged as one of the top real estate trainers in the country, and fellow-IEASA director Jill Corfield, have now been appointed by the Institute to set up a Section 21 company that will certify both trainers and training courses for the industry. The other is that these will be certified in terms of the "unit standards" set by the National Qualification Forum and administered by the Services SETA, which will enable real estate organisations that offer IEASA-approved training to benefit from the new national skills levy system. The financial incentive should encourage participation among agencies, and give consumers the independent yardstick they want but unfortunately not quite yet, as the "unit standards" have not been finalised. Meanwhile, what of the Board exam? Says Malan: "Our expectation is that this will be equivalent to a second-level qualification in a new, three-tier system." Article: Rodney Hayter Property Professional Online - 15 April 2002 hayter@icon.co.za