Sink or Swim

More than a year ago, the House of Representatives and the Senate signed a new law that sent real estate developers, marketing companies and real estate practitioners into a frenzy. The new law was actually two decades old and was first filed by a gentleman from South Luzon. Rep. Nograles and Senator Enrile signed the law and eventually got into the hands of PGMA and became what we now call as the Republic Act 9646 or the Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines effective June 29, 2009.

What makes RESA very special or shall we call almost controversial? In terms of economics, the law will directly and indirectly affect a P150B industry composed of real estate agents, developers with in-house marketing and other allied real estate services. While the law is geared towards the professionalizing of the real estate service profession through the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the industry actually has thrived and flourished even without the intervention of the PRC. A good number of real estate practitioners have earned millions of pesos even though they were unlicensed as individuals, riding on to the license of the big developers and marketing companies which were secured from the Department of Trade and Industry and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board. Many developers have sat pretty and comfortable with their in-house agents who showed exemplary performance and loyalty in pushing the sale of their own projects.

Most real estate marketing companies, not brokerage companies, have developed and trained high grade and top caliber salesmen out of their recruits who came from all walks of life - from the plain housewives to drivers to teachers to doctors and other you-name-it-and-they-have-it professions. I personally know a lot of people who rose from the ranks and became senior executives and they have not even reached the tertiary education. Some are not even high school graduates and they have all become millionaires.

The passage of the law has actually placed many individuals and companies in a "sink or swim" attitude. The law has put a minimum educational attainment requirement for the practice of real estate service - at least second year college. This has compromised the performance of many salesmen whose educational attainment is below the minimum as set by the law. They feared losing their jobs or income source which they have so dutifully loved and nurtured. Many will be going underground for fear of being prosecuted. Real estate companies, both developers and marketers, have grown wary and cautious. As a result, their sales production also dropped significantly. But for those who are more defiant, they continued doing their ware as if RESA doesn't exist. They are waiting until such time that someone files a complaint with the PRC. But until then, they will try to save their dwindling sales production.

Our company has chosen to comply. The law may be harsh but it's the law. As a result, we will hold the honor to be the first company to finish a comprehensive review on real estate service course based on the new law as accredited by the PRC. The Philippine Association of Real Estate Brokers (PAREB) sponsored our review classes. It is quite remarkable to see a lot of agents, from young ones to young once, attending the review classes. Our group is of mixed profile from accountants to lawyers to engineers to teachers and doctors. The best thing that happened to this review class is the coming to life of an old saying by Aristotle - "Learning is a never-ending process."

In the end, RESA will be implemented in its full force and this exercise is an early vehicle for us to comply and not be bothered by issues and concerns in the future. The best part is that I became part of the first ever class that is compliant with the law. We will go down in history as the first batch to take the licensure board exams for brokers given byPRC. Now, to pass it is another matter. We will see soon...