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Estate agents get enough bad press to convince most people to steer clear of this line of work. Yet, despite tough property conditions, there are apparently as many as 5 000 people posing as estate agents in the Western Cape, alone. Most allegedly swindle and rip off buyers and sellers, thus the Institute of Estate Agents has told the public to beware.

So if you couldn’t trust your legitimate estate agent now you have to ask for some sort of ID before doing business with any of them. A spokeswoman for the Estate Agency Affairs Board said they received complaints daily and the IEA is investigating its 27 769 agents across the country to ensure they operating above board. Good luck with that job.

You’ve been warned -always make sure you know who you are dealing with and don’t ever believe a word they say.

He loves me – he loves me not …

Bill Rawson might not be getting into bed with Wendy Machanik after all. The Rawson Group showed some serious interest in taking over what was left of her property company, which is under curatorship, imposed by the Estate Agency Affairs Board as a result of the alleged misuse of trust funds. Rawson was in negotiations when agents walked out of Machanik’s company – leaving not much more than a shell to take over – Rawson lost interest quickly.

Tony Clarke, MD of the Rawson Property Group, says it’s “tragic that the agents in that company now find themselves debarred from earning a living as their Fidelity Fund Certificates have not been reissued”. He claimed no inside information on the affair but does say, rather oddly that if “indiscretions” had occurred they would probably have been due to the tough conditions which all SA agencies had experienced over the last two years. Oh, ok that’s fine then. Times are tough, we do what we can to survive, it doesn’t matter whose money we use. The court case has been postponed.

Rawson reported good results for last year despite the tough property conditions. Buying WMP would have suited their current expansion programme.

Building a castle on skid row

We know about the huge gap that exists between the rich and the poor but no one has ever built a castle in Khayelitsha. However, Americans are not as sensitive as we are and one wealthy woman has gone and built a castle on skid row in Albuquerque. The castle is surrounded by a 3m high wall, which hides a pool, courtyard garden, guest home and a huge main home with four turrets each rising 16m into the air.

The owner Gertrude Zachary will use the property to showcase her collection of religious art, stained glass windows and antique arched doors. The home, across from a shuttered restaurant and lying adjacent to a parking lot of a busy and loud bar, is the only apparent residence in the rundown neighbourhood. She apparently likes the downtown feel, as long as the walls are high enough.

In a slightly better area, but much more modest abode, lives Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest billionaire in the world. He seems to prefer low key properties, as opposed to the Bill Gates and Steve Jobs whose luxury homes are still the talk of the town.

Zuckerberg is not as media friendly as the media would like. I don’t even think he’s seen the movie about himself, The Social Network, but he relented slightly to the one person no one can say no to, Oprah. He showed the talk show queen around his pad, a rental, only to move shortly after to his new digs. So where does a 26-year-old billionaire live…well here. Trust me it’s disappointing.

I suppose when you spend a reported 16 hours a day at work, yip those billions don’t come easy, home is a place to sleep and eat and not much else. Security is tight though.

Source: RealEstateWeb