1/15/2013

Developers - how to accredit brokers


QUESTION: Rltr. John, my family owns a real estate development corporation, I am the Chief of Operations, and I supervise an External Broker Coordinator. We develop and sell condominiums. We understand the law (RA 9646) prohibits us (Developers) to directly employ agents who are not Brokers. In case of Salespersons, we also understand that they need to be under the supervision of Brokers. We need as much number of active Brokers to help us sell our projects. How can we effectively recruit or accredit Brokers? Should we stop recruiting Agent wannabe's?

ANSWER: There are more than 20,000 licensed Brokers in the Philippines, but only few are active practitioners. Here is what you will do:

Step 1. Just continue recruiting and training unlicensed agent-wannabes and maintain a good pool of them for assignment to Brokers later on. Train them well so that they will become attractive to Brokers. Train them but don't loose them yet to the public contact until they become PRC- and HLURB-Registered Salespersons under their respective a Brokers.

Step 2. Have your company's Board of Directors issue a Corporate Resolution that all licensed Brokers are automatically accredited to sell your projects, but be specific to state that you will only grant commissions to Active Brokers who will register in your Online Directory. The Resolution must have specific instruction on how to quickly add oneself in your company’s list of Active Brokers -- the process must be very simple. You may organize a Broker's Accreditation cocktail party in your model unit or some sort of a picnic in your clubhouse if it is a subdivision project so Brokers can come and register themselves in your Online Directory in a light mood. Make your Corporate Resolution readable in your website. It would be great (but not necessary) if you can publish it in printed broadsheets. Once you have this Corporate Resolution, inform me so I can publish it in my blog for other Brokers to see.

Step 3. Prepare a Broker-friendly website that protects the proprietary rights of Brokers to their buyers and customers. Make sure that the contact form in your website has ability to make buyer send inquiries directly to Active Brokers in your Online Directory. Smart Brokers don’t like to work with Developers with websites that can steal their customers.

Step 4. Contact the Brokers who are newly added in your Online Directory. Set an appointment to visit them one by one in their respective offices, or you can also meet them in a diner if they have no office.

Step 5. Send your External Broker Coordinator (EBC) and one Salesperson (readily trained but yet to be registered under a Broker's license) to the Broker's office, or invite the Broker to come to your office for the special accreditation process. The job of the EBC is to introduce the Broker and potential Salesperson to each other -- hmmmm basically to pair them up to like each other. The ultimate objective is the signing of the Joint Supervision Agreement (JSA). I myself have my own unique version of JSA. Any Broker and Developer can craft and customize their own JSA to fit their business policies.

Step 6. Give a token of goodwill to the Broker. He/she would appreciate a USB containing the following:

1. Master Deed of the Projects (PDF file),
2. HLURB License to Sell (PDF File),
3. Broker Accreditation Resolution (PDF file),
4. Lay-out of all floors, if Condo (PDF file), subdivision plan (JPG file),
5. Reservation and Contract to Sell Form (PDF file),
6. Pictures (JPG files no more than 150KB size). He would love to post these in his Facebook along with #7 below,
7. Short one paragraph features write-up about the Project (in TXT file), and
8. Pre-approved Accreditation Certificate (PDF file).
9. If you have an Application Form for Brokers to complete, make sure it contains a clause: "The undersigned approving Developer representative certifies that Developer does not recruit real estate agents who does not possess professional license from PRC; and in any event the Developer recruits unlicensed real estate agents, the Real Estate Broker signing this application form is free from any legal liability should Developer is charged, fined, or penalized by the government for violation of Real Estate Service Act of 2009 (RA 9646)".

Lastly, don't forget to give your Broker a nice picture print of your project in A4 frame for hanging on the office wall.

Step 6. Understand the operations of the Brokers. Will the broker attend your project briefing and project site or showroom orientation? Nahhhh. I don't think so, unless you would lure them with a professional fee to come over, listen to the presentation, take pictures of the project, and write a promotional blog about it. Brokers have allocation to absorb twenty (2) Salespersons and they would probably prefer a wide distribution across many Developers. Familiarization and mastery of the project is a function of the Salesperson, not of the Broker. The Broker's primary function is to supervise Salespersons and control the due-diligence process. One way to meet the Brokers outside in a relaxing mood would be in a nice exclusive cocktail party one evening in the show-room would be nice for around twenty Brokers and their respective salespersons who are assigned to handle your project. The PRC/HLURB Registration of the new Salesperson is a nice cause to celebrate.

Step 7. Once you have all the necessary things we (Brokers) need to start selling your project, please feel free to alert me by email so I can take part as one of the accredited Brokers in your company.



If there is anything else important that I forgot to include in this article, or if you experienced a real estate transaction that is anomalous, scam, fraudulent scheme that you want me to document and expose for others to be warned, or if you want to donate to the war chest of real estate consumer rights advocacy, please feel free to email me at JohnPetalcorin@Gmail.Com. If you want to comment about this article, there is a provision for this purpose that you can find below.
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