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IEASA National
Institute Of Estate Agents Of South Africa - National |
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IEASA commends the EAAB
The recent announcement by the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) that not only newcomers to the real estate industry, but also those who have been in the business for years will have to study and pass exams, was received positively by the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa (IEASA).
The President of the IEASA, Bill Rawson, says that the CEO of the EAAB, Nomonde Mapetla, has to be commended on accepting the challenge of re-introducing a training qualification as a precondition to entering the industry. “Mapetla obviously recognises the tremendous consumer benefits in introducing a minimum qualification for estate agents.”
According to Rawson, there used to be a minimum qualification for estate agents in the past, but this was later changed and barriers to entering the industry were dropped. This decision has resulted in the EAAB being inundated, receiving up to 4 000 phone calls from consumers on a daily basis.
“A remedy would be to educate estate agents to give a better service to clients. At long last we have a CEO who has risen to the occasion and decided to rectify the problem,” Rawson said. “I must congratulate her on the very high standards that she has set for industry, as it will certainly turn the estate agency business into a real profession. However, one cannot help wondering how effective the administration of such a system would be.”
Rawson adds that the IEASA has never supported a no-barrier approach and have always encouraged professionalism through structured training. “We have been unrivalled in our position as the largest trainer of estate agents over the years, mainly because we are an apolitical organisation that has remained abreast of topical issues and trends, and supports agents at grass-roots level who do not have the resources to run their own training programmes.”
He feels that the real challenge in South Africa is to find a way to include people from historically disadvantaged in the real estate industry. “We must in no way set the bar so high that an elitist market segmentation will prevail.”
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