Responding to recently released figures by the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB), which puts the number of registered estate agents in South Africa at a record high of 64 159, a jump from 57 000 in May this year, Barak Geffen, Executive Director of Sotheby’s International Realty, operated by Lew Geffen, says that it's unlikely that anyone coming into the industry in the past few months has received sufficient training and experience to be able to offer a professional service.

“Therefore, roughly 20 000 agents have less than a year experience as that is how many people have written the board exam in the last  twelve months.

 “Essentially, all that's legally required for someone to start working as an estate agent is to be registered with the EAAB and in possession of a Fidelity Fund certificate. Also, one isn’t required to write and pass an exam to achieve full estate agent status if they've completed a practical training period of one year under the guidance of a qualified agent. 

“The number of ‘agents’ flocking to the industry is worrying if you take into account that sellers are trusting these so-called professionals with an investment that takes most a minimum of 40 years to pay off and own outright. Property is most people’s number one most valuable asset. A professional corporate financier or merchant banker with a minimum of ten years experience would be chosen to represent and sell ones business - selling ones property is just as serious a transaction that is best conducted by an experienced professional.

“It is vital for consumers to safeguard themselves by choosing reputable agencies, like Sotheby’s International Realty, operated by Lew Geffen, that pride themselves on attracting the highest calibre most experienced agents who receive way above industry standard ongoing training.  This ensures agents are informed and they can offer clients a uniform, high standard of service throughout the country.

“Untrained agents are unlikely to know how to put a comprehensive and successful marketing plan in place for sellers and will not be able to guide the seller from a point of genuine authority. It is also doubtful that someone who has been in the industry for three months will have a tight grasp of the property values in a specific area.

“If you take into account the low entry barriers into the industry and that the majority of agencies that do not offer in-house training, most agents are left to their own devices, which for many fly-by-nights are limited. Therefore there are thousands of agents selling properties who are not sufficiently qualified.

Geffen believes it is up to bigger brands in the industry to upgrade the level of professionalism not by just training on technical real estate knowledge, but also on the facilitation of wealth creation. 

“Over time people have used property investment as way to create wealth and provide for retirement - the entry level qualification does not equip an agent with the in-depth market knowledge required to understand and successfully advise their clients in this area”.