The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has announced a new training roadmap to boost the capabilities and professionalism of real estate agency leaders and salespersons.
Separately, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) has also introduced a new electronic resale checklist, which could mean less hassle for those hoping to buy or sell their flats.
CEA’s new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Training Roadmap takes effect from October 1.
Under the existing CPD scheme, Key Executive Officers (KEOs) and salespersons are required to clock in six credit hours of mandatory training a year to renew their licence and registration.
The training must consist of at least three credit hours of core subjects.
However, under the new training framework, core CPD courses are grouped into three categories — professional ethics (Estate Agents Act and Regulations); law and government policies related to estate agency work; and practice-related knowledge and issues.
And KEOs and salespersons have to attend at least one core CPD course under each of the three categories over three CPD cycles or a three-year period.
Each cycle spans one year, from October 1 in the current year to September 30 in the following year.
CEA said it currently has checks in place to ensure trainers are qualified and have the necessary expertise.
But it felt that more needed to be done to address the diverse learning needs of the industry, and to encourage a culture of constant learning.
CEA said the CPD courses in each category are also now pegged at three levels of expertise to match the needs of salespersons of different experience levels or at different stages of their careers.
It will also highlight recommended and special interest courses, and the training roadmap will be reviewed yearly and updated when necessary.
Some industry players said the new initiatives will benefit both agents and clients.
Chris Koh, director of Chris International, said: “For the estate agent, he becomes more knowledgeable, he now has a whole spectrum of things that he studies and can go out there and serve the client better.
“For the client, I guess he will feel that agents today are more educated and not just in one area, so he may pose more questions to the salesperson, and the salesperson will be able to answer it.
“I personally think it’s a good roadmap to guide everyone, from leaders of the agencies to the salesperson.”
Meanwhile, HDB‘s new electronic resale checklist introduced on Thursday, was previously only available in hard copy.
The resale checklist was first introduced in 2008, and is meant to highlight important policies and procedures that buyers and sellers need to know before agreeing to a resale transaction.
The checklist must be completed before one exercises the Option to Purchase.
Now, the electronic checklist is expected to take only 15 minutes to complete.
Mr Koh said: “It’ll be a lot more productive. The old practice that we’re practicing now is to print out a checklist, to sit down with the seller, go through the checklist, and then the next day submit it online into the HDB system.
“Now, if the seller wants to look at this checklist first, it’s online for him to see.”
The hardcopy of the resale checklist will be discontinued on December 1.
Source : Channel NewsAsia – 24 Oct 2013