Business News of Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Source: GNA

Broker calls for professionalism in estate industry

A real estate broker has called for more professionalism among players in the real estate industry in order to gain public confidence.

Mr Richard Gyawu-Mensah, Chief Estate Broker of Windzor Realty said real estate agents in Ghana had lost the confidence of most of the public because of some bad experiences meted out to them.

He appealed to his colleagues in the industry to participate in more training events in order to improve their services to the public.

Mr Gyawu-Mensah made the appeal in Accra at a training session organized by property expert, Lamudi, dubbed “Agent Education Series”; which touched on maximizing sales through online channels.

He said transparency was key to success in the real estate sector and urged his fellow real estate agents to desist from any behaviour that could compromise their integrity in the future.

Mr Akash Boateng, the Chief Executive Officer of Windzor Realty, said customer service was also key to success in the industry.

“If you have exclusive property, you have to show more faith by checking up at the house belonging to the property owner to find out if anyone has come to enquire.

Alternatively, bringing house-hunters over to the property would also stand you in good stead with the landlord,” he said.

The Managing Director of Lamudi Ghana, Akua Nyame-Mensah, said most of the complaints that came from users on Lamudi bordered on transparency, with a high number of complaints.

“Lamudi is concerned with increased transparency and it is for this reason that we have rigorous checks associated with property listings. House-hunters are deeply concerned with location of properties, however, agents rarely provide it on Lamudi,” she noted.

The MD thus called on real estate agents to provide as many photos of their properties and advised them to provide location and prices of properties in order to increase the chances of getting leads.

The next edition of the Agent Education Series will take place on November 20, 2014 and December 11, 2014.