"Professionalizing" real estate developers

Indubitably, the real estate industry in Cebu is booming both in residential and vertical developments. According to property experts, there is in fact a shortage of housing in the province says Anthony “Tonton” Leuterio, president of Philippine Allied Chamber of Real Estate Brokers and Licensed Salesmen (Philacre). The once lackluster industry is now enjoying the patronage of both locals and foreigners as Cebu becomes more and more interesting in both business and leisure. 

We owe it to the local government for making Cebu a peaceful and investor-friendly region; the developers who see Cebu’s potential and through it all, the men and women behind the developers who, in their behalf, represent in all honesty the properties being sold to the buying public.

Sometime ago, we covered in this column the advocacy to professionalize the people who sell inventories for both developers and private persons. The intent was to separate the grains from the chaff in order to boost the confidence of buyers that they are dealing with persons who are authorized and recognized by the government to practice real estate brokerage and agency. And it came to pass. Republic Act (R.A.) 9646 otherwise known as the Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines (commonly referred to as the Resa Law) was passed and signed into law in 2009.

Under the Resa Law, brokers and agents will no longer be under the jurisdiction Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) but with the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC). Thanks to Philacre, it had been very instrumental for spreading far and wide “the what’s” related to transition from the DTI to the PRC with the seminars and lectures it spearheaded. According to Tonton, “The Resa Law is a good law but can only go so far if the people concerned will not get involved themselves. Professionalizing the industry is a long shot because the property sector is booming. This means that there will be more people who will join the pool to sell the growing inventories of developers. We (at Philacre) will relentlessly pursue our drive to professionalize the practice thru our seminars and forums. It is also our goal to unite and ally with other real estate organizations to work out with programs to improve our profession to be able to give the kind of service our buyers deserve.

It is good to know that something is being done on this part of the property chain. If the Resa Law is there to weed out the tares from the wheat, is there a law that separates the good developers from the bad ones? Unfortunately, there is none. It is disheartening to note that there are developers who dodge their promises not only to their buyers but also to their brokers or agents.

Property agents should be wary about developers who cannot give their full incentives or commissions. I’ve heard many stories about this all the time even up to now. If for just a little amount a developer cannot pay or delays the commission of its brokers or agents, that developer is likely to do the same to its buyers. Realty companies should boycott and spread among its colleagues the dangers of representing a developer who cannot live up to its commitment to their agents.

I would like to reiterate that real estate selling entails investment on the part of the agency. Not too many developers know that their agents spend time and money to sell their property online and offline. They pay for their internet connection, spend from out of their pockets gas or fare to visit the project site or exhibit, make or send calls/text messages to clients and most of all their personal effort and skill.

To make a sale sometimes takes months of legworking and promotion and sometimes the deal does not take off for a whole lot of reasons. Amidst all these, there are developers who do not seem to value the efforts of the people who represent them. Worse is that, these callous developers make pawns of these agents to sell their posh subdivisions and vertical projects that do not meet up to their deadlines and specifications. The realty company and the agents then become the frontliners to deal with irate customers. Unlike call center agents, brokers and salesmen don’t get paid for being humiliated in person and on the phone for the mess of the developers.

I think it is also about time for real estate organizations to advocate a law that will also “professionalize” or at least make real estate developers act like professionals. The law should be envisioned to give severe disincentive to developers who do not only skirt their responsibilities to their buyers but also to the agencies that represent them. These developers are a disgrace to the industry and to the real estate profession as a whole. For the sake of their profession, real estate organizations must now act and do something to separate the bad eggs from the good ones.

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