Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - Dec/Jan 2018 | Page 26
TECHNOLOGY
A Balancing Act
The Role of Estate Agents In Tech
BY MONIQUE DU TOIT
MARCEL DU TOIT
Marcél is co-founder and CEO
of Leadhome. He is interested
in the intersection where tech-
nology and customer service
meets, with a specific focus
on proptech. Prior to starting
Leadhome, Marcél was a
vice-president in mergers & ac-
quisitions at Deutsche Bank. He
holds a masters degree in
Management & Finance from
the University of Oxford, and
a bachelors degree from the
University of Stellenbosch.
“L
ike most industries impacted
by disruptive technologies,
I believe we’ll see a massive
reduction in the number of estate agents
operating in South Africa. The best
agents will continue to thrive and do
extremely well financially, and the rest
will become redundant,” says Marcel du
Toit, CEO of Leadhome.
A hybrid between traditional estate
agencies and online property platforms,
Leadhome aims to change the way we
buy and sell property. “I think the prop-
erty industry will fundamentally change
over the next few years,” he states. Key
changes to be expected, says Du Toit,
include the way in which the tradi-
tional franchise estate agency operates:
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“The current asking commission of
5%-8% is unsustainable, and only this
high because of the inherent costs built
into that business model - after all, the
franchisor, franchisee, and estate agent
all have to get paid from the commis-
sion of each sale, which is what drives
these unjustifiably high commissions.”
Furthermore, unnecessary expenses
such as branded cars, luxuri