|
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Gov’t urged: Stop illegal real estate agents
By Aurelia l. Castro
Sun.Star Correspondent
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) were called on to control the operation of illegal real estate agents, with the developers asked to cooperate as well.
There must be a concerted effort from the different parties concerned, said Zosimo Cano, vice president for Asian Pacific Realty and Brokerage Corp. and chairman of the National Alliance of Filipino Businessmen board of trustees.
“The developers should utilize only licensed brokers. Licensed brokers, for their part, should employ only licensed salesmen. Those who are currently having unlicensed salesmen should have them licensed now,” Cano told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
A licensed real estate broker negotiates between the buyer and seller of real estate. While some brokers do their jobs without any other associate, there are brokers who have subordinates called salesmen who make the sales.
Colorum or illegal real estate agents are brokers, salesmen or institutions that are not licensed by the DTI to sell properties.
DTI Cebu Provincial Office Trade and Industry Regulatory Division chief Zaide Bation admitted that it is hard for the agency to control the proliferation of unlicensed salesmen.
“How are we supposed to know the actual transactions of those unlicensed salesmen? Unless somebody complains, it would be hard to track them down,” Bation said.
The licenses for brokers and salesmen are good for three years.
According to the DTI Cebu’s records, there are 302 licensed brokers, 16 salesmen and three realtors associations registered in Cebu province for the period 2004-2006; while 53 brokers and four salesmen are licensed for 2005 to 2007.
DTI conducts the brokers and salesmen licensing exams twice a year.
For one to apply for a broker’s license, he has to be at least 21 years old and have at least 144 units in college, or at least 72 units in college and four years of experience in brokerage, and pass the exam, among other basic requirements.
The educational requirements for licensed salesmen are lower.
“He only has to be a high school graduate and pass the exam,” Bation said.
“I’m on the side of the licensed brokers and salesmen, and I believe this profession should be properly regulated. But I also understand why there are many colorum salesmen,” Cano said.
Cano, also an officer of the Mactan-Mandaue Bridge Cities Realtors Board, explained that for salesmen to be licensed, they have to be under a licensed broker. If they don’t know any broker that they can work for, then they can’t apply for a license.
“On the side of the developers who have unlicensed in-house salesmen, they (developers) resort to having unlicensed salesmen because the number of licensed brokers is few. They can’t wait for the licensed brokers to make sales for them, if others, like unlicensed salesmen, are available to do the job,” Cano said.
Joseph Edward Obando, assistant sales manager of Commonwealth Estate Inc. (CEI), said CEI deals only with licensed brokers.
“We have our own accredited brokers who have salesmen. But it’s
already beyond our concern if their (brokers) salesmen are licensed or not because, after all, it’s only the broker who will negotiate with us directly,” he said.
(June 16, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
