It has been another good year for the residential property market. House prices, as measured by the Absa House Price Index, are still growing by more than 10% - way above inflation.

This is, however, a far cry from a high of 35% in October 2005, but homeowners are still realising value in their homes.

For most people, the home is their single largest monthly expense. It is therefore, also the biggest investment decision that most people make.

Despite the significance of this investment, much of the information required to make property decisions has traditionally not been readily available for homeowners. Not any more. REEP has been created to allow you, the homeowner, access to real, objective and quantitative information about your property, and property markets in general.

The information your get from REEP will ensure that you are empowered to make the best decisions regarding your most important asset, your home.

REEP is offering you, our Home Value Report for free. All you need to do is register at www.reep.co.za for your personalised report on every property you own.

Don't hesitate, get the power of REEP into your hands."

Preparation for Christmas in the Congo begins when some group is designated to prepare the annual Christmas pageant.

Christmas day begins with groups of carolers walking to and fro through the village, along the roadway, by the houses of the missionaries, singing the lovely carols known the world around. Often people may be awakened by a group of carolers beginning to converge on the house of worship. They return home to make final preparation as to the clothes one must wear and also as to his offering for the Christmas service.

In today's property game, estate agents need any advantage they can get in order to secure more mandates and to work more efficiently, especially since the residential property sector has become a buyers market and prices are cooling off.

We are living and working in the 'technology age' and in order to cater to this need for competitive advantage, Johannesburg based Application Service Provider (ASP), USP Designs, created CyberAgent, an office management application that has been specifically designed for the real estate industry.

In a first for the South African property market, CyberAgent offers its clients the future of real estate business through their CyberAgent Mobile application. This technology platform provides a pioneering listing and management tool from which properties can be listed in only six minutes. The software also incorporates Internet technology, enabling estate agents to make use of the Internet and website marketing to its fullest potential at a fraction of the normal cost. CyberAgent also provides dynamic websites with customised search facilities.

Operations director Pat Jewell notes that the focus has always been to provide this comprehensive service to estate agencies, of which there are more than 12 000 throughout South Africa. However, since there are currently 64 000 registered estate agents, CyberAgent had to find a solution that can cater for the needs of the individual agents.

"Estate agents are constantly out in the field and do not actually have the time to be in the office and manage their daily tasks. But with the CyberAgent Mobile system this couldn't be simpler. We now take the "office" to the Estate agent"

Working through the means of a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) device, this innovative technology allows individual agents to administer, catalogue and publish properties online without being anywhere near the office, saving them both time and money. All CyberAgent actions are completed in real time meaning everyone has easy access to the latest information. The software is designed to be user friendly, and will run on any handheld device supporting Microsoft CE (Windows Mobile)
An added advantage is that included in CyberAgent Mobile there is a powerful Website Interface catering for those agents without handheld devices, CyberAgent Online. This can run from any laptop or desktop with Internet access
The response to this offering has been phenomenal and a recent road show held in Johannesburg and Cape Town during May this year to showcase the solution has received excellent feedback and has also sparked further interest on a National and International level

There are currently more than 600 agencies using CyberAgent on a national basis and the CyberAgent offering includes free website submissions to all major search engines, free articles in the weekly newsletter with 17 000 subscribers, free SMS facility and also free "Keep me informed" feature.

Key services that CyberAgent offers are to make canvassing easy with the use of data from SAPTG, CyberTrade and the Deeds office to do mail drops, to manage properties and print reports at the click of a button. CyberAgent also enables the estate agency to keep track of sales related commissions, VAT, outstanding payments and more. CyberAgent links with the transfer attorneys, sends and monitors transfers electronically, and more importantly, agencies are able to work offline and only go online when updating their own website that is linked to CyberAgent.

Estate agents who are interested in improving profits and productivity through technology can now catch more than a glimpse of the future, by visiting www.cyberagent.co.za. The site even provides a facility where agents can obtain the system and pay by credit card, but better still, you can try CyberAgent Mobile for yourself, by downloading the trial version and putting it to the test.

Festive greetings to all our software users!

If you would like to know more about the above features and benefits that CyberAgent offer, visit: www.cyberagent.co.za or email: sales@cyberprop.com

For Sale Property:
Eastern Cape Freestate Gauteng Kwazulu Natal Mpumalanga North West Northern Cape Northern Province Western Cape

To Rent Property:
Eastern Cape Gauteng Kwazulu Natal North West Western Cape