How to make sure your agent is “for real

Although both homebuyers and sellers have the legislated power to stop bogus estate agents in their tracks, many are not aware of the steps they can take – or of the dangers of dealing with people who are not properly qualified or registered to handle property transactions.

“Much publicity has been given to the new compulsory qualifications for estate agents,” notes Ester Odendaal, operations manager for Aida National Franchises, “and since most of the national real estate groups like Aida have gone to great lengths to ensure that all their agents attain these qualifications, there has been a significant increase in professionalism in our industry.

“In addition, the past few difficult years in the property market have brought about a steep decline in agent numbers. But these two factors taken together don’t mean that there are no unqualified and unscrupulous people out there, acting as agents and taking homebuyers and sellers for a ride.

“Indeed, our observation around the country is that at least one in every 10 people operating as an agent at the moment is either not registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board, as required by law, or is not qualified to be handling property transactions without supervision.”

And, she says, the fact that these “agents” are prepared to openly flout the law suggests that they probably also have little regard for the Estate Agents’ Code of Conduct – or for the new Consumer Protection Act (CPA) – which would put any buyer or seller dealing with them at risk. “Unfortunately, it is also true that such individuals tend to focus their activities around those consumers who can least afford financial loss.”

The biggest danger, says Odendaal, is for homebuyers who might hand over a deposit to a bogus agent, “and there have been several sad cases publicised in recent years about desperate people who did just this in the hope of securing a stand or a home off plan, only to find that the ‘agent’ was nothing more than a con artist who then vanished with all their money”.

Also at risk, of course, are landlords and tenants whose investments and deposits are not in the hands of registered agents with properly audited trust accounts. However, the actions of a bogus or under-qualified agent can also badly affect home sellers – and now especially in the light of the CPA, since they are the ones who will most likely have to rectify any misrepresentation made by that agent to buyers, possibly at great cost.

But there are steps that consumers can take to protect themselves and avoid such situations, and more homebuyers and sellers need to be become aware of these, she says. “The first is to deal only with well-established, reputable agencies which obviously have an interest in making sure all their agents are properly qualified and act correctly, and the second is simply to ask an agent with whom you are considering doing business for their current Fidelity Fund Certificate – the proof that they are registered with the Estate Agency Affairs Board.”

Issued by Aida National Franchises

Aida head office: 012 682 9600

Contact: Ester Odendaal

Buyers return to simmering South Coast

After a quiet start to the new year, property sales activity along the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal has recently picked up sharply, with both local and upcountry buyers streaming in to snap up seaside properties at “bargain” prices.
In Amanzimtoti, says Deidre Ronnenberg, owner of the local Aida office, the biggest driver of this activity is news of Transnet’s R100bn plan to turn Durban’s former international airport site – just 11km from ‘Toti - into a new dug-out port.
“The anticipated increase in local property values as a result of this development, plus the fact that the demand for long-term rentals here is already increasing, is attracting a far greater number of investment buyers - and many of them are paying cash.”
Another factor driving sales all along the South Coast, she says, is the fact that real-term property price growth is expected to turn positive soon.
“The latest Absa figures show, for example, that although they were coming off a low base, home prices on the South Coast rose 7,5% yoy in the last quarter of 2011. And looking at this, many retirees and holiday-home buyers as well investors now believe that the local market has passed its bottom and are keen to secure property here before the upturn gains much more momentum.
What is more, Ronnenbergh says, budget-conscious KZN buyers are increasingly choosing to live permanently on the South Coast, where prices compare very favourably to the residential areas north of Durban. “In Amanzimtoti, for example, one can still buy a spacious two-bedroom beachfront flat with a garage for around R650 000.
“The town also has excellent schools and well-developed shopping and entertainment facilities to attract families, who are able to purchase good quality freehold homes here for between R700 000 and R1,3m. Luxury homes, some of them suitable for the establishment of B&Bs, are priced at around R3m.”
Further down the South Coast, says Aida area expert Glen Tweedie, there is a high demand at present for homes in retirement villages. “This stretch of coast is of course one of SA’s most popular retirement destinations, and it is estimated that there are some 400 000 senior citizens resident between Umkomaas and Port Edward.
“At the moment we are also seeing many people buying homes here that will accommodate their parents for now, and themselves in the future when they retire.”
The area is also attractive to buy-to-let investors, he says, because both holiday and long-term rental properties are always in demand. “Foreigners like to holiday here for several months during the European winter and particularly enjoy our international-standard golf courses. The mild climate year-round also means young families and seniors can enjoy affordable holidays here in the off-season, while the peak season of course sees crowds of upcountry visitors booking out every available unit.”
Prices for two-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in established retirement villages along the lower South Coast start from around R750 000, while two-bedroom apartments and townhouses suitable for letting or as holiday homes are available from around R600 000, and R700 000 with a seaview. 

Time to buy now as prices start to rise

The Western Cape, where property prices fell 0,3% last year, is the most expensive province in which to buy residential property, and Cape Town is the city with the highest average price in every home category, even if one excludes the multimillion-rand trophy properties strung out along the Atlantic Seaboard.

On the other hand, says Aida CEO Young Carr, the latest Absa research shows that the prices of small, medium and large “middle segment” homes in the northern and western suburbs of Johannesburg, (where prices rose 5,2% last year), often exceed the Cape Town averages for the same categories.

“For example, the average price of a medium size home in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs is R1,34m, while the average price of a medium size home in Cape Town is R1,26m.”

The latest Absa Quarterly Housing Review, he notes, also reveals that there is no one province with the lowest prices in all of the small, medium and large home categories, but that Port Elizabeth is definitely the cheapest city overall.

“The average price for a small home in Port Elizabeth is currently around R514 000, for example, compared to R593 000 in the central and southern suburbs of Johannesburg, which is the next cheapest area, followed by Durban/ Pinetown, where a small home costs an average of R711 000.”

As far as medium size homes go, Carr says, Port Elizabeth, East London and the central and southern suburbs of Johannesburg offer the best prospects for budget-conscious buyers, while the Eastern Cape and the East Rand in Gauteng are currently the least expensive places to buy larger homes.

“Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that according to the Absa figures, only two of the nine provinces experienced a year-on-year decline in property prices last year, while some metros actually experienced an above-inflation (real) increase in property prices.

“And on top of that, the FNB Property Barometer figures just released show that the yoy increase in property prices nationally was 6,6% in January and 6,7% in February.

“These are strong indicators that now is the time to buy, before the upward movement of prices starts to negate the benefits of low interest rates, or indeed before interest rates start to rise once more.”

Issued by Aida National Franchises

Aida head office: 012 682 9600

Contact: Young Carr

Aida Boksburg launches SMS campaign for CANSA funds

Aida Boksburg will not only be fielding two teams in the CANSA East Rand Community Relay For Life this month, but has also begun an SMS campaign to help raise further funds to help fight cancer.
“We are reaching out to everyone in our own business network and also in the bigger Aida franchise network countrywide to make this a resounding success,” says franchise principal Denver Ramnath.
“Like many businesses and other organisations on the East Rand, we will be supporting the Cancer Association (CANSA) by entering two teams in the Relay for Life, and we will also be fundraising during the event, which is being held on 23 and 24 March at the Boksburg City Stadium.
“However, we wanted to do more to boost CANSA – which no longer obtains any State funding - so we decided to get an SMS campaign running ahead of the event, so that even people who can’t get to the relay can participate and contribute to the fight against cancer.”
Those who would like to do this should SMS the word “CANCER” to 49040 to donate R15.
The CANSA Relay For Life overnight events are part of an international movement to unite cancer survivors and the communities that care about them. The members of the teams taking part take it in turn to walk or run around a track for 12 hours, and when not walking, can enjoy camping-out, entertainment and good food, games and community camaraderie in a festive atmosphere.

Each team pays an entrance fee and in addition, each team member is encouraged to organise a minimum individual sponsorship. The proceeds of the relays and any fundraising done on site all go to CANSA to help deliver its crucial integrated cancer-control service.
“And since the government has withdrawn all funding from CANSA it is now totally up to individual communities and companies to support the organisation in their own areas or risk having no CANSA representation or assistance in that location,” says Ramnath.

Budget comment - Aida - Young Carr

Young Carr, CEO of Aida National Franchises, says today's Budget makes it clear that government wants to encourage individual property ownership - and to make this possible across as much of the economic spectrum as possible.
"This will begin with the implementation of the new housing subsidy scheme to provide prospective buyers earning between R3500 and R15 000 a month with subsidies of up to R85 000 and enable them to access mortgage finance for properties priced at up to R300 000.
"Then there is the proposed mortgage support scheme, which Finance Minister Pravin Gordahn confirmed is under consideration and is expected by the banks and others in the real estate industry to come into operation later this year. It is expected to make mortgage finance more readily accessible to first-time buyers and others in the low-income or small house sector for up to about R600 000.
"And thirdly, the Minister announced significant changes today to the rate at which Capital Gains Tax will be charged, from 50% to 66% on properties owned by trusts and other legal entities and from 25% to 33% for properties owned by individuals. This is further evidence of the fact that government wants to see residential properties mostly owned by individuals - as we saw with the recent granting of an extended transfer duty exemption for those willing to transfer their properties out of CCs, companies and trusts and into their own names. It is also underlined by the fact that the threshold at which CGT becomes applicable on primary residences has now been raised from R1,5m to R2m."
In the longer term, he says, home ownership will of course also be fuelled by the massive R845bn investment in infrastructure projects over the next three years, the government's much-sharpened focus on job creation and education, and the plans to root out corruption and money wastage, especially as it applies to home building, land restitution and the improvement of urban and rural living environments.
"Overall, we are also very encouraged, from a property point of view, by the largely positive financial position in which SA finds itself, in contrast to the situation in many more developed countries as well as the other developing nations. Now if the country can unlock its resources and reserves of talent through the development of its infrastructure and people as envisoned in today's Budget, there will undoubtedly be a very strong increase in home ownership - and individual wealth creation.

Why improved tourism is positive for property

Two years ago, SA was gearing up to host the Soccer World Cup – and looking forward to a major economic injection from the thousands of tourists who flocked into the country to watch the games and support their favourite teams.

“But since then,” says Aida CEO Young Carr, “there has not been nearly as much said about tourism or its value to the country, even though hosting the World Cup undoubtedly helped SA to weather the effects of the worldwide financial crisis better than most.

“A thriving tourism industry is still, however, vital to all of us, and especially the real estate industry, as it is an important catalyst for the creation of new jobs and thus a means to help more South Africans realise their dream of owning a home.”

Responding to the release of the latest tourism statistics, he said it was thus very encouraging to see that both domestic tourism and the number of foreign visitors to South Africa appeared to be on the increase once more, following a decline during most of 2011.

The latest Department of Home Affairs figures show, for instance, that some 3,7m travellers moved in and out of SA during December – with more than 2,5m of these people being foreigners, mostly from other SADC countries, the UK, the US and Germany.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Tourism Marketing Agency reported recently that the province’s tourism industry had been flourishing since December, and that the rise in domestic tourism was especially noticeable.

In addition, the latest results of the Tourism Business Index backed by the national Tourism Business Council (TBCSA) and FNB show a marked improvement in business performance for the last quarter of 2011. The index registered 87,3 in the quarter, up from 70,0 in the previous quarter and well ahead of the 80,7 expected by the industry. What is more, the expected index for the first quarter of this year is 82,2, despite the fact that these are usually the slowest months for the tourism industry in the aftermath of the festive season.

“TBCSA head Mmatsatsi Marobe recently appealed to private sector players in the industry to pay more attention to attracting domestic and SADC tourists,” notes Carr, “and we agree that given the current economic problems in Europe and other parts of the world, this is probably where the most potential for growth lies.

“And once again, that growth is vital in SA’s campaign to create employment. Tourism provides both the motivation and the means for many people to start their own businesses - including guesthouses, craft and curio shops, restaurants and specialist tour companies – and in due course to create jobs for others.

“It has certainly been a lifesaver for many small towns in the past few years and from a real estate point of view, we have seen that there is always an increase in home buying activity in areas where new jobs are being created through tourism.”

Issued by Aida National Franchises

Aida head office: 012 682 9600

Contact: Young Carr

A Brief Description of SEO and SEM

If you want your business to be successful online you must get visitors to your website. Not just any visitors however, you need targeted visitors and you need a great deal of it. Among the best techniques for getting targeted visitors is from the various search engines and social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook which are very popular in South Africa and around the world. If someone types a keyword into a search engine they are looking for specific information so if your web site appears within the results you will have a pretty good chance at getting a very targeted visitor to your site. But exactly how does one ensure that your website is the one that comes up in the search engines? That’s where SEO or search engine optimization enters the picture.
Search engine optimization can be explained as employing a number of strategies to get your site ranking higher in the search engines for particular phrases. Effective search engine optimization should always begin with good key-phrase research. You must make an effort to optimize your web site for key terms that folks actually are trying to find in sufficient quantities but also key terms that are not so competitive that it’s going to be nearly impossible to rank for them.

This is where Website Analytics comes into our strategy for you. The analytics of what is going on ‘behind the scenes’ of the website is monitored by your webmaster and relevant alterations are made to keep your Websites Up-to-date with (or rather aiming to be ahead of) other websites in your area. There are many Companies around that help/sell these strategies. We would like to inform you of what it is you will get when subscribing to an AIDA Office Website and not be left alone in the dark and unaware of what it is that promotes websites and will get you on top with the Search Engine Results. We exclusively cater for Google Search Engine since recent statistics show that 55.98% of our visits on the National website since November 3rd 2010 is coming from Search Engines and 51.92% from Google alone. Therefore that 4% other search engines is not Priority to us and will to be attended to, since Google is South Africa’s leading Search engine when it comes to Real Estate (as many other industries).

The route that AIDA is going with the Website Strategy is to get a Website to represent each area/ city we are painting red. That websites will be linked directly to a provincial and the national website in a Spider-Web-like structure with each website linking back and forth, from and towards all the websites in the network. This strategy promotes all the websites and increases availability of AIDA Websites in search engine results.

One of the most important parts of a website is the URL (the name of your website). Explaining this very briefly, a website called www.aidaptaproperties.co.za will show as a good result when searching for keywords such as pta, aida and properties even before any code, keywords and info on the website is being looked at. In the case of www.pretoriaproperties.co or www.pretoriaproperties.co.za obviously the keywords when searching for Pretoria and Properties it will most definitely be more available in Search Engine Results.
Having one of these domains in our possession is important and would help you as an office with viewers to your office website as well as our National and Provincial websites.
SEO is very closely associated with another term, SEM or Search Engine Marketing. This is the practice of promoting your business using the major search engines, seeking to get targeted visitors to your website by ranking for your carefully selected keywords. Smart business people know that getting their goods or services in front of these types of targeted visitors boosts conversions and higher conversions means more money.


We have already explained the importance of choosing the right key terms but there is a lot more to SEO and SEM than just choosing the right key terms. That is only the beginning. The tasks you will need to complete can fall into two categories, one is called on-page search engine optimization which would be the steps you can take on your website that the major search engines want to see and off page SEO which is in essence getting back-links directed to your website from other websites. These one way links behave as a vote of confidence for your own website and the greater the number of back-links you can acquire and the better the calibre of those links the better.
There is much more to ranking highly in the search engines than I can talk about in this brief article and in reality learning proper Search engine optimisation usually takes quite a long time.
With all this said. Yes, it is very important to have SEO in place within your website and to update your website almost daily with new stock or info relevant to the Real Estate industry and or your area/city. And Yes, it might easily become very expensive to have and maintain this type of websites. Although there are many offices owning additional websites we would like you to consider having a AIDA Office website which is integrated with Our Listing Managing System (Prima List) and other AIDA Websites. Should you require more than what we offer and have other websites out of the AIDA arrangements, it will be on your own account.
In the case of websites being more available and having more ‘windows’ to connect your office and agents to is important. Less is not more in this case, thus we try feed and post our information to most of the South African Property Portals and websites available.
For any website questions and enquiries regarding your office websites you may contact me
Jaco Smit (AIDA Webmaster) at
012 6829600 or email jaco@aidasa.co.za