While it is true that people are not leaping into property investment with anything like the same confidence that they showed in 2006/2007, estate agents who cannot find buyers right now probably have only themselves to blame, says Rawson Properties Chairman, Bill Rawson.

“I have to keep telling agents that the big money is still there and is still looking for a niche - it has not evaporated. In addition, a whole range of good buys in all areas is still available.”

Agents who blame the tougher conditions for slow sales, said Rawson, have almost certainly lost sight of the basic truth that buyers of any product - but especially property - have to be cared for, looked after and given ongoing service.

“In today’s market there is no room for the passive or reactive agent: today’s buyer is more analytical and rational, less swayed by enthusiasm, more critical than ever before and quite possibly averse to many forms of technical communication and marketing. He needs to deal with a proactive agent if he is going to make a decision.”

Property buying, said Rawson, is always a personal, one-on-one experience. The agent who relies on customers coming to him as a result of advertisements and online communication, effective though these often are, will be disappointed.

“The good agent has an ability to achieve a one-on-one personal relationship with the client and to make him feel that he is really special.”

Just how poor some agents’ service has become, said Rawson, was brought home to him by a colleague who visited 16 show houses recently over a weekend.

“Not only did he receive a lukewarm reception at several of the houses, but later only one agent took the trouble to follow up with a phone call. Not surprisingly, he has not yet bought.”

Asked where he sees the good opportunities in the property sector to which he has on several occasions referred, Rawson said that two homes, one in the Waterfront and one in Claremont, had both recently sold well in excess of the prices paid for them in the boom times of 2007. In his own group, he said, Western Cape agents in Brackenfell, Table View, Parklands and all the southern suburbs that are within reach of UCT and the main schools have recently had excellent runs. In Gauteng there had been very satisfactory performances in Glen Vista and the fast expanding areas of Midrand and Northriding.

At least two factors, added Rawson, will make property more attractive investments in the coming months. The first, he said, is that development stock is coming onto the market at a very slow pace, which means that existing stock will increase in value.

The second, equally relevant factor, is that bond rates are unlikely to rise and, as he sees it, could indeed fall further. Coupled to the new willingness by the banks to lend, this will result in increased demand for residential property, which in turn will push up values.

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