Agent numbers may be falling but membership of the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa (IEASA) is rising steadily and the number of regions is increasing.
That’s the good news from IEASA national president Dr Willie Marais, who says the organisation has gone from strength to strength in the past 18 months and that it is now more representative of the country’s estate agents than ever before.
“Membership has now topped 8000 and three new regions are about to be added to the current 10 – two of which, Free State/Northern Cape and Limpopo, were established in the past year,” he says.
“Following our absorbtion of the National Association of Real Estate Agents (Narea) earlier this year we are also in a strong position now to engage with government on legislation that affects our industry, such as the National Credit Act. We have recently also given detailed input on the Coastal Management Bill, for example, the Rental Housing Bill and the FIC Amendment Bill.
“We are also in a position to negotiate strongly with the statutory Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) on issues such as training and the much-discussed delays in agent registrations and the issuing of fidelity fund certificates. The latter issue has not been completely resolved but we have now secured an undertaking from the EAAB that it will be urgently addressed.”
Reviewing the progress made during his presidency, Marais said recently another important milestone was the national IEASA conference held late last year to mark the organisation’s 70th anniversary. “This was the first conference held in 13 years and was very well attended, so we are planning another one later this year.”
On the international front, IEASA’s former agreement with the National Association of Realtors in the US (NAR) has been renewed, and brought immediate benefits to IEASA and its members, such as local stewardship of the NAR’s internationally recognized CIPS, TRC, CPM, CRS and CRB courses.
IEASA has also obtained membership of Icrea – the International Consortium of Real Estate Associations – and access to the website www.worldproperties.com, giving all members of IEASA an equal opportunity to showcase their listings to a global audience. It has also been accepted as a member of the International Housing Coalition (IHC) and has been appointed as the SA agent of SIMA, the biggest property exhibition in the world that is presented annually in Spain.
The Institute is of course also heavily involved in agent education and training and to this end is participating actively in the National Qualification Framework for levels 4, 5 and 7, as well as the Organising Framework for Occupations as it applies to real estate. It has also recently established its own training academy.
And finally, IEASA has tackled head on the old criticism that it was “too white” to be representative of the industry. BEE has been addressed at board level of the organisation and it is assisting the Services Seta through the transformation committee to get all members assessed in terms of BEE legislation.
“All in all, then,” says Marais, “it could be objectively said that we have done a good job in the past 18 months, although we will not be resting on our laurels. There is still much work to be done to get the industry in SA on a truly professional footing and I’m confident that with the help of our growing membership we can get there.”
Issued by the
Institute of Estate Agents of SA National