CEBU CITY – Some 500 professional real estate salespersons from all over the Visayas will convene here on Thursday, May 11, for the first Visayas Real Estate Leadership Summit.
Hosted by the Accredited Real Estate Salespersons in the Philippines Inc. (ACRES Philippines), the summit, which will be held at Radisson Blu Hotel-Cebu, will tackle several issues affecting real estate service practice.
One of the issues that the summit will tackle is the organization’s plan to intensify the fight against unlicensed developers, brokers, and sales agents.
A similar summit that was attended by industry experts, real estate service professionals, and government regulators was held in Mindanao last week.
“The gathering of all professional real estate salespersons is meant to show our strong campaign against this unlawful practice, support government regulators, and at the same time an invitation, especially for the unlicensed sales agents to become licensed sales practitioners,” said ACRES Philippines.
According to the organization, unlicensed sales agents are victimizing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
Through the summit, professional real estate salespersons will have an opportunity to unite and take a stronger stance against this illegal practice and protect the OFWs, who are the no. 1 market of the real estate sector, the group said.
The group pointed out that OFW remittances account for eight to 12 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. OFWs mostly invest their hard-earned money in the property market. In 2022, money sent home by OFWs grew 3.6 percent to $36.14 billion.
The summit also aims to strengthen and foster better partnerships between real estate brokers and salespersons to address evolving needs of the market in this post-pandemic business climate.
ACRES Philippines said it believed that real estate salespersons also need strong industry backing as they are the ones at the forefront of actively selling real estate properties across the country.
“Eighty percent of real estate sales come from them,” the organization said.
ACRES Philippines has invited the first Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service chairman, Dr. Eduardo Ong, seasoned management and real estate consultant, educator, and licensed real estate professional, as one of the speakers of the Visayas summit.
Ong, who is also a dean and professor of BS Real Estate at Lyceum of Alabang, will also be joined by officials and representatives from the Department of Human Settlements and Urban Development (DHSUD), Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG).
Founded in 2021 and registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, ACRES Philippines is the country’s first and largest organization of accredited real estate salespersons seeking to work harmoniously and collaboratively with professionals in the real estate service, regulatory agencies, real estate organizations, property companies, policymakers, and advocacy groups.
