I'm Back!

I am very embarrassed about my absence from my blog!

I have been studying for my NQF4 - Real Estate and trying to make money in a very depressed market. After I got the fabulous news that I passed my NQF4 I took time off to relax, but now I am back again, hopefully in a better market!

For those of you who don't know what NQF4 - Real Estate is, let me explain:
I completed my POE (Portfolio of Evidence) for my RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) for my NQF 4 - Real Estate (Don't know what NQF stands for but NQF4 is equal to matric). New legislation is forcing all current estate agents to qualify before 2011, I got a bursary (it costs R9000, not sure why it is so expensive - all you get is a file with all the questions and assignments and a two day lecture of how to put it all together - no answers!) and if I didn't meet the deadline I would have to pay back the R9000 and then pay another R9000 or more when I do it later.

I think it is a good thing to raise the bar for this industry (hopefully we'll improve our reputations) but I think someone has started another gravy train, the assessors get R300 per portfolio they mark so the average cost of the whole thing is about R1000 per person, how do they calculate R9,000 per agent?

Please don't get me wrong I am very happy about this, because it does mean that it will now be recognized as a profession and not something bored housewives do when they need a bit extra cash to pay for the next trip to Disney World. The current entrance requirements are NOTHING, you can walk into an agency, register as a candidate agent and start selling houses - the only restriction is that you are not allowed to sign a contract (so you don't even have to be literate!), you must have a full agent with you when signing an offer or mandate, but 12 months after you registered you automatically become a full agent and can even open your own agency!

No wonder people don't trust estate agents! I am amazed at how many of my colleagues don't have matric, this has now come to light because you have to either submit your certificate or do an extra 2 modules. If I had completed my B.com degree, it would have only cost me R750 to get exemption. I am intrigued about all this money, how are "they" calculating it and who and where are "they" and can't I sell "them" some property to invest the R400m "they" are making out of this! Remember there are currently about 40,000 registered agents in SA.

It seems the hard times in the property market are over and things are finally starting to improve! I am currently working on 7 transactions which are in different stages of the process, two are past delivery of guarantees which is close to conclusion, two waiting for bond grant and two very good prospects but low offers waiting to be accepted.

The last one I literally hatched, I have been working on it since November - sold it to 4 different buyers and twice to the current buyer! I'm amazed at the willingness of SA Homeloans to take a bath on this one instead of granting a 100% bond to a guy who has an excellent credit rating etc. They are now taking a R110,000 loss up front instead of R50,000 and the extra interest they could earn over 20 years. But I have always said these guys are given a "recipe" of how to grant a bond and are not taught to think out the box and do the calculations a little bit differently. But I am not complaining because at least they are starting to grant bonds again!

It seems the properties that have been on the market forever are now disappearing but at bargain prices - so if you are considering buying an investment property - now is the time and if you have been trying to sell be prepared to get an offer lower than your lowest threshold!