RESPONSE TO BEAVA’s DESIRE TO POLICE REAL ESTATE AGENTS - car-002

 

This document was sent to the Nation 2022

I manage a small business in what seems like a shrinking real estate market (not many are buying these days). In other words, I am the small fish in a big tank with very big fish (let’s call them sharks). I have seen a series of articles that are coming out from BEAVA’s president Mr. Arthur Ramsay and I would like to respond to them.

To summarize, it seems that he wants to protect the industry by using the strong arm of the Government to make it mandatory for all agents to be a member of his organization (BEAVA). As he puts it, agents outside of his organization are giving the industry a bad name with specific examples (Agents that sell properties). I take issue with this argument for the following reasons.

1. Agents do not have any part in the payment process. This is entirely done by attorneys (attorneys ensure the entire process is legally mapped to completion; NOT the agent).  The value an agent brings to the table is the ability to find an able buyer in the shortest time. 

2. I have asked over 100 agents on the island if they know of a single court case involving one of them being taken to court over a payment. No one could say. Even if it was one or two, it is important to note Bajan attorneys are more often taken before the law courts time and time again. Being a member of the BAR Association does not improve one’s performance.

I am wary of giving a few people that sit around a table the power to take the bread out of someone’s mouth for trying to sell a house. What next, are we going to go after car salesmen?

Are there agents that do a poor job? Yes, and my company has worked ONCE with some of them that are members of BEAVA. There are many people in all sectors of business that perform poorly in this country. For ease to do business Barbados is ranked (ref. graphics.wsj.com) approximately 130th country out of 190 in the world. This is not acceptable. We as a country must improve in all our service sectors (Government, Private, Professionals, and labour).

My humble suggestion before more bureaucracy is added to our already poor-performing country:

The best way to deal with poor service providers is to let the market determine who will get their business. You will notice Amazon has a ranking system that allows people to rank both products and suppliers (reviews). The same can be done with all service providers on the island (not only agents).  Have a portal that will allow customers to report on service providers (this is done already in some countries). The portal will be open to everyone to see. What this also does is encourage the service provider to put it right. No one likes their name out there in a bad light.  

When you shine the light on people they will either get right or get out. 


Trevor Sealy – Managing Director 

#BajanEagleCaribbean | #BajanEagle


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