 Good evening and welcome to episode 345 of the Private Property Podcast. I'm your host, Uzaman Donga Kumalo. It's a Tuesday edition of the Private Property Podcast, and of course, you've drawn us for the first time. You are tuned in to the only daily property show in South Africa that helps you on all your property needs. And it doesn't matter where you are on your property journey, whether you're looking to buy, to sell, to build, or you're renting, this is your one-stop shop on all things relating to property. And to all our regular viewers at home from the top fan gang members on Facebook and Instagram, as well as on YouTube, welcome back. You know how we do it every single weekday. You and I have an appointment at 7pm. We're always in conversation with the property expert who helps us make better property decisions. And talking about making better property decisions, as you know, we also have a host of other great shows every weekdays at 8pm that you can tune into. As it is a Tuesday, you can catch a warning farmer on the farming podcast. And she comes to your screens on Thursdays as well at the same time. And every Mondays and Fridays, Chad brings us the home shopper's show, where he takes us through exquisite properties that you can find on www.privateproperty.co.za. And Estee Clawson brings us the first time home buyers show every single Wednesday. She's always in conversation with people who've not only walked that first time home buying journey, but have gone on to grow their property portfolios from strength to strength. Those are some of the great shows that you can look forward to every single weekday at 8pm right here on Private Properties Social Media Pages. I can already see some of the love that we're getting on our Facebook page. Do keep it coming. Michelle Beaumarans is watching. I also saw Nelda Everton, who's also watching. Of course, Michelle Beaumarans, Howard Mogadaxani, Gleid Sherinda, Messi, Nipipindi, Mahathir Shingani saying we've made the right choice tuning into the private property podcast. And you certainly have done that. And of course, one of the other things that you can look forward to on our Facebook page is entering the competition that we are running, where you can stand a chance of walking away with 500 grand cash every single evening right here on the Private Property Podcast. And all you have to do to stand a chance of walking away with that cash is to comment, rather, on the post that we have pinned on our Facebook page as we set on the bold goal of reaching 20,000 comments. And of course, if we call your name, you have to be watching us live in order to claim your prize. This evening, we've got 1,500 grand in the money bag. So halfway through the show, we'll see who is going to walk away with that cash prize. Well, that's some of what you can look forward to this evening. And I do hope that if you entered that you're going to be watching and of course, be able to walk away with that cash prize. But this evening, we're looking at one of those topics that I absolutely, absolutely love. We're looking at 10 questions to ask your real estate agent. I think many of us sometimes don't know what we should be asking, especially when it comes to our home ownership journey. We know we should be asking something, right? But we're not quite clear what are some of the questions we need to come on with when we are working with an estate agent. And that's part of what we're going to be looking at. I want to find out from you at home, what have been some really great questions that you've been able to ask estate agents that you worked with in the past that you found very useful and that helped you make a better choice when it comes to the property or properties that you were looking with that estate agent. Do share with us those questions down here below and help us get a better sense of what we should be asking our estate agents. I'm joined this evening by Annette Evans, who is a general manager at the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa, ISA. Annette, good evening and thank you so much for joining us on the show. Thank you, Zama. Thank you very much for inviting me this evening. It's a privilege. Thank you. I think, Annette, before we even kickstart the questions we should be asking our estate agent, first to seek us through what ISA is and the work that it does. Yes, we actually started in 1937. I haven't been here for all of those years, obviously. And our main role is to assist and support and guide estate agents, property practitioners, as we're going to be calling them very soon. And we are a non-profit organization and we are membership-driven. So our members come to us for any assistance and, as I said, support or guidance that they may need. And we are very much involved in upskilling them and also just representing them on the different platforms with stakeholders, such as the estate agent base board, which is the regulator. And they are essentially fall under the Department of Human Settlements. So we are very much the hub. We work with everybody and we are as neutral as we can possibly be, because the main thing is for us to be there and to have the connections with everybody that we need. We don't generally advise the public, but if somebody phones me and asks a question, I can guide them and direct them to the organization that would assist them best. And I think that's actually just such a great resource to be able to tap into. Because sometimes we don't quite know which direction to go when it comes to having some of our questions answered or queries addressed. And I think being able to, at the very least, get a sense of, this is a direction you should be going with. These are the right people that you ought to be having a conversation with. Certainly something that is very useful. And I think then, you know, we should probably get into the first question we should be asking the estate agent that we're working with. Because I think so many of us at home, as I would say, we tend to not know what to ask. I think we know we're supposed to ask something. But more often than not, we're not exactly clear on, okay, what exactly is this thing that I should be asking? I think the number one thing, as you mentioned, is that the estate agent you're dealing with needs to have a Fidelity Fund certificate. And that means that they should check that they are registered on the estate agency, a Facebook website, and make sure that they are registered. And also, we encourage them to check that they belong to the Institute of Estate Agents. Because that extra level of professionalism just means that you're dealing with somebody who is quite serious, quite committed, and just means that they're on our website. And that means that they are, they're also searchable. So we encourage everybody to check our website, which is IESA.org.za. And also the estate agency or Facebook, that the actual agent has a Fidelity Fund certificate. And that is critical because they pay that fund, that fund covers a client for fraud. If there's any fraud, then that Fidelity Fund covers that client to claim for a fraud case, for that example. And I was actually about to ask you a follow-up that you've answered quite well around the importance of that Fidelity Fund. You might be dealing with a particular estate agent who's part of an agency and they unfortunately commit fraud. We know that sometimes, unfortunately, there are a few rotten apples. It doesn't mean that the whole agency is necessarily like that. And so you want to make sure that you're working with somebody where in the event where you unfortunately deal with one of the rotten apples, you're going to be able to essentially have cover because you know that you're working with people who are effectively credible. And then what would then be the second thing? So we've now covered our basis. We know that they're registered estate agent, that they've got a Fidelity Fund certificate. What do we then have to still ask for a estate agent? So I think the next thing, if you're a seller, would be if you were selling your house, you would want to ask and discuss what your house is worth. So maybe that's too preemptive at the moment. But essentially, they would give you a market analysis, a comparative market analysis and compare sales in the area. And they would give you a good breakdown of what they do. And that's pretty much my next question. What is this going to cost me? What fees? Firstly, the fees. And then also what mandates section? Break it down to what is happening? What are the trends? What can you expect? And make sure it's full disclosure that you have everything you're fully aware of what it's going to cost you up front. And I think when we're dealing with an estate agent, because I've dealt with numerous new, or isn't able to give you a really good estimate where it comes to, we'll say the value of your property, what can we do? Because I think sometimes, especially as when we're dealing with estate agents, from often a lot of sellers, it's your first time selling, not many people deal with the sell side. When it comes to property, we sometimes get accustomed to the buying side, but certainly slightly less on the sell side. And when you're both interviewing that estate agent, you're not getting a good sense of, okay, this is the value and these are the different data sets that they use to get to it. How can we almost best vet that they are giving us credible information? And in the event where they're not particularly coming up with great insight, what's our alternative? Well, I think that's a good question because there's a couple of angles to that. Firstly, the estate agents are not giving you evaluation on your property. So that's actually quite a critical point. I was having that conversation earlier where evaluate, evaluate values of property. But in the estate agent will, as you said, have that information to hand. And I think it's a good question. And the question I would be asking is, so tell me about the recent sales that you've made in my area. Because that is that pertains one to the value. And secondly, to the actual fact that they're experiencing your area, where they local area expertise stands. So that's quite important. And you may want to get a couple of agents in and ask them all that and feel where you can sort of, who I should say you're more comfortable dealing with. And it has actually gone so nicely to one of the questions our viewers are asking. We are, of course, taking your questions and comments this evening as we look at 10 questions to ask your real estate agent. And I want to find out from your home what kind of questions have you previously asked estate agents that you have dealt with, that you found very helpful and useful in your own home ownership journey. We have Umar Getsi Matsosso on Instagram saying, can I ask about the value increase in the neighborhood of my prospective property? And this could also, of course, even be for now the buyer, right? Because you're potentially looking at buying this property. Is that a question that they can ask their estate agent around the general trend in terms of value in that particular neighborhood? That's a really good question. Because when an estate agent does what we call a comparative market analysis, there's three angles to it. The first angle is what has sold and transferred in the deeds office, which would have been quite some time ago. And what is actually is on the market, because if there's 300 properties in your street, then clearly your property is going to be one of many. And the other one is what is actually recently sold. So and the trend there lies there. So they would actually be able to speak to the agent and look at that they would a good agent would want to sit with you and go through those things. If they want to throw one sheet of paper at you through the letterbox and they don't really want to have a conversation, then it means to me that they're not passionate about property. And in my world, people are actually passionate about property. So they're more than happy to speak to you about it. And if you are selling a three-bedroom house and you want to be looking at three-bedroom house comparables, or you discuss the comparables, you know, there are always anomalies. But in general, if you're selling a three-bedroom house or a two-bedroom flat, you want to look at comparables and why do they differ? Because we've always had this joke that sometimes across the road, it's got a different value, different neighborhood, different area, different perceived value. So you need to go through all of those and speak to someone who you feel understand. And that's such an important one. I am this evening in conversation with Annette Evans, who's a general manager at the Institute of the State Agents of South Africa. We're looking at 10 questions to ask your real estate agent. I want us to go for a quick break. And when we come back, we're going to go through more of those questions. We're going to see who the lucky winner of that 1,500 rounds that is in the money bag is this evening. I hope you're watching and will of course be able to claim their prize. So let's see who the winner is. And this evening's winner is Umkiza Makati. That is Umkiza Makati is the lucky winner that is potentially going to be walking away with that 1,500 rounds. I hope that they are watching us live and of course will be able to claim their prize. So Umkiza Makati, if you are watching, do make sure that you drop us a message down here below and of course claim that 1,500 rounds that is in the money bag. And this evening, I am talking to Annette Evans. We're looking at questions to ask your estate agent. And of course, I'm asking you at home, what have been some of the questions that you've asked your estate agent that have really helped you make better property decisions. And this could be whether you're looking to buy a property or when you were looking to sell. And some of the questions and that the views at home that you're sharing with us, we've got Howard Makatsani saying, one of the questions that is asked is, what's the average price per square meter in the area and the estate? And that's a really great question. And I find that that's also a particularly great question for coming from investors. So property investors always want to, you want to get the lowest amount per square meter as possible. So really getting a good sense of the property that you have versus other properties and the cost per square meter is so important. Another one here coming through from Lindy's, that is the reason why potential sellers need to look out for professional estate agents who are registered with the EAAB. And that's to what Annette was saying earlier that you really want to be working with people who are adequately accredited because you don't want to find yourself having any issues along the way. So that is one of those important ones. We've got to see where Douma saying, yeah, my aunt's agent was supposed to sell my aunt's house only to find he was renting it out. Wish I knew all these questions a year ago. I mean, I'd even be interested to find out how that even happened, right. I mean, how, how that even happens. I mean, I have so many questions just based on that comment because this is not, this is not that thing that can easily happen. And I guess one of the ways it could potentially happen is your aunt is in a different part of, you know, town, so they're not necessarily living there. And you've given this estate agent a mandate and they then listed up for rental and they are pocketing the money while, you know, the property is not selling, unfortunately. And so if sometimes, let's say it takes even up to eight months for that property to get a seller who then like signs on for that whole eight months, they've been renting it out and pocketing that money. And I guess it would be very difficult for your aunt to have known if she's, you know, out of town and doesn't live, you know, in that particular town, because of course they wouldn't have access to the place. But I would have so many questions. I mean, utility, you know, how are utilities being paid unless everything is just prepaid? But, you know, and to go back to the questions, what are some of the other questions that we need to be asking our estate agents? Yeah, I think that the biggest thing is to also ensure that you can get the best price for your property. Sit with the estate agents and say, okay, this is, you know, it's a Tuesday evening, you're welcome to my home, you've come around, walk around the house and ask it and discuss, is there any way I can improve the value of my home? Because I know, for example, we all kind of know that you get in different countries all over the world, they do what's called home staging. But they do it for a reason, because they almost take away all your personal stuff, all your clutter, they neutralize it, they put in, you know, up to date furniture, and they say, okay, here's the property. So maybe they get people to vacate their property before they're actually putting it on the market. But in reality, if it's just you and me and we're going to live in there until we've actually sold the property, then the best thing to do is neutralize your property, make, come in from the street and see how how neutral you can make it and how appealing you can make it. They call it the curb appeal. And the other thing is then if you if you plan to spend any money, then you look at kitchens and bathrooms, for example. And there's a lot you can do, you know, for example, if every room in the house is a different color, what often somebody will say was just painted or white and think about it like you're going to walk in here and you want to blank canvas for somebody. And that may cost you a few thousand round, but it may get you a few 10,000s of rounds. And a good estate agent would be able to advise you of that. We've got a great question here coming from Usbunis on Facebook asking, how can the agent assist if I bought a house and later the siblings are fighting and harassing me as a buyer in the property? I know we get this quite a lot sometimes in properties in the township where you've bought the property and you bought it from the rightful owners. So, suppose the owner was, you know, the parent or even the, you know, the grandparent. So, you've rightfully bought it from the rightful owner and yet still getting harassed by siblings who perhaps still weren't claimed to the property for some reason. Is there anything an estate agent would be able to help with in that regard or, you know, should they be looking at other avenues to, you know, best resolve this for them? I think that it would be difficult for necessarily for an estate agent to step in and help. But what they could do is obtain all the legal documentation that was drawn up and maybe advise on arbitration. So, what I would suggest why the agent could possibly help is get hold of the transferring attorney, call a meeting with a local community, somebody who could arbitrate. And then, you know, if it's in a community scheme, then the C-SOS is there and they're very helpful. And the community, just repeat to it, it is, it's a community scheme onboard service. So, for any of your listeners, if they're living in a scheme and there's any issues whatsoever, there is part of the levy goes towards the community C-SOS, we call it, and any dispute can be taken to them. That's one way. And then the arbitration and get all the documentation together to show that they haven't, and, you know, they've lawfully transferred that property and then address any issues and see where they can perhaps address them. I hope that is going to, you know, how soon as I know how stressful that can be, especially because you've now bought your paying, you know, bond or if you've bought cash and you want to be able to enjoy the property that you're staying in. So, definitely do look into, you know, the best ways that you can resolve that for yourself. And then Annette, what would be then the next set of questions that we need to explore asking our estate agent? Yes, I think the issue of the mandate is a big issue. When I say issue, I don't mean a negative issue. It's a big fact. So, you have what's called a sole mandate and there is where one agency is responsible for marketing and selling that property. Everything essentially and how to explain it in a summary is that everything has to then go through that one agent for that particular amount of time. You get a dual mandate where two agencies would perhaps get involved and then you get what's called an open mandate. So, I think it's really important that people understand what they're signing. If they're not sure, it's a good time to ask. Don't sign first and ask later. That's always, I get a lot of queries from people and they say, but I've signed this, now I need to understand what does it mean. Or then I say, it's too late. You've signed it and you need to understand and when those properties are being marketed, then it has to be followed through on that particular. So, that's important that they ask. Please explain the mandate to me and negotiate the fees and basically those points at that time. And that's such an important, I think, principle to adopt. The don't sign and ask later first ask and I think it goes beyond just the mandate. I think anything that requires you to sign, whether it's property related, you're looking to buy, you're looking to sell, you're looking to rent or you're a tenant, do not sign then ask later. First, rather ask, be very clear about everything from the get go, then only do you sign because you don't want to get yourself in a situation where you're signing things that you absolutely do not understand. And then what would be the next question we absolutely have to ask on state agents when it comes to our home ownership journey? How long do you think it's going to take to sell the property? Realistically. So, you can make plans and then you can understand and the big thing is we call it price counseling. So, we always joke and you say you could sell your house for a million more, but it's going to take time to get to that price. Well, not in this market, right? I think not so much in this market. I think the perks from the buyer side about this market is that they're spoke for choice and they're able to drive down costs to a certain degree. So, I think this is an interesting market that we're finding ourselves in. And I think it's great for buyers who are serious about buying and it's also great for sellers who are realistic about what their property will sell for because we have serious buyers who are willing to sign on the dotted line and buy that property. Absolutely. And on that exact point you just made, another very important question is when you've signed, you've signed. If people make the mistake of saying, well, on Monday I bought one property on Wednesday, I bought another property and they both offers got accepted. You've entered into a binding contract. So, don't do it likely because you can't just make offers and then hope that one of them gets accepted. You've got to make sure that you know that they could both be accepted. So, that's really, really important. We've got a question coming through here on our Facebook page, coming from Uli Nisi, asking if you could just do a quick explainer what the exclusive sole mandate is when you're talking about mandates, whether it's an open mandate, a sole mandate. So, if you can just explain an exclusive sole mandate, what do you mean by that? Yes. Obviously, everybody's got slightly different wording. So, they would need to make sure that they fully understand. But if sole and exclusive, it means that only that particular agency would be able to market the property. So, in other words, and this is why it's quite important is if you, when you sign that, it has a timeframe. So, it must be realistic. You can't give five-year sole mandate and then not do anything on the property. The whole point of having a sole mandate is that they are going to be actively selling and do their absolute base to sell your property. So, you give them a couple of months or so and then thereafter, you must be in a position or you are able to then open it up or bring another agent in. So, it means if they put sole mandate that if they have property on their books, any other agency has to bring that person through their books. So, it means that, and sometimes it's a wonderful tool because they will spend, they will go all out to put your property on the market and splash it everywhere and it can be sold quite quickly because they are spending the money and the time and the effort and energy into getting that property as much exposure as possible rather than it being diluted between a few agencies. So, you've got to think what, you know, talk to the agents and see what they recommend, talk to a couple and see what they recommend. We've got a comment here coming through from Uttar Pramukh Bhujia on Facebook saying one advice I have though for estate agents and sellers is please take professional pictures and tidy your house. A disordered house on the website is already a turn off to buyers and that is such a big, big, big one because sometimes, sometimes the pictures are professional and they look amazing but the house is just so untidy, you know, the bed is unmade and you'd even think, did you not know that this is the day where your estate agent is coming in to take pictures so at the very least tidy up the place. I always make sure that, you know, my helper comes through and cleans the place if for example it's still furnished in the event where it's vacant, everything must be clean and of course tidy so that all the pictures give you a really great representation of what it looks like because that clutter does distract the person who's viewing a property on privateproperty.co.zd so you do want to make sure that you get that as right as possible. Yeah and utilise it as well and walk through your property a few times and just see what catches your eye. And I think as we close off the last sort of two questions that you have for us that we should be asking our estate agent. I think it's about affordability, checking what the process of finances are. If you're renting it's the same thing, you need to be able to afford what you're getting and ask them upfront what costs are going to be incurred, that's really important. And then also for example the conditions, once the conditions have been fulfilled you need to understand how long is the process of transfer so that you understand when you need the finances and ask them to explain every little cost to you. And that's actually just such an important one because I think that the transfer process I recently pointed out the properties dealt with this one and I think I was quite fortunate because the estate agent and even the attorneys were on the ball in explaining what the delays were and how long I think one of the buyers that was interested in one of my properties they had a flisk subsidy and so they're explaining that typically when it's a flisk buyer these are the additional, I think it was an additional two weeks or three weeks that it would add on to the general cycle and so we can budget up until this amount and at every step I was quite clear of okay this is the delay, this is how long it's going to be and by the time the matter came up for prep and it registered I was not shocked so I think it's so important to just expectation manage people at home because we don't do this on a day-to-day basis so we also want to make sure that we are kept abreast and don't end up getting too anxious because it's not like buying a car where it's it's quick and easy you know in a day you can already have that car, have a change of ownership so it's a completely different ball game and it's before I let you go any final tip for our viewers at home when it comes to dealing or working with an estate agent? I think that yeah understanding when your rights and responsibilities asking them to explain your rights and responsibilities so for example if you have a bond you need to cancel it you need to give three months bond cancellation so a good letting them refer you to a good convincing attorney they obviously have it could recommend a few and then the seller themselves makes that decision but the buyer themselves will then be liable for most of the costs so it'll be nice to get a referral on both sides the seller always chooses the should always choose the convincing attorney and they need to cancel the bond and the buyer will be dealing with that convincing attorney and they need to understand the costs up front so they they all will be liaising with the transferring attorney that's that's quite critical I feel well Annette we're going to leave it there this evening thank you so much for joining us on the show thank you and thank you for hosting it it's been an awesome evening thank you so much and that is Annette Evans who is the general manager at the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa bringing an end to this evening's edition of the private property part cost with my son Usaman Thomas Kumalo looks like we have another roll over unfortunately um Kiza Makati did not claim that 1500 rand so tomorrow we're going to have 2000 rands in the money bag I hope whoever his name gets pulled out of the hat is watching us live and will be claiming that price well that's it for myself and the rest of the team of course catch Umbalino with the farming podcast at 8 p.m I'll be back on your screens tomorrow evening at 7 p.m until then hoping you're staying home and staying safe