Seeff celebrates 60 years

Source: Supplied. Samuel Seeff, chairman of the Seeff property group.

Seeff is the oldest, and most established real estate agency in the country. Speaking at the group’s recent annual conference, Samuel Seeff, chairman of the group, said that few companies in South Africa make it to 60-years, let alone real-estate agencies.

The agency has grown from a small office in Wynberg in Cape Town in 1964 to one of the top real-estate companies in the country. Soon after its first office opened, it branched out to the City Bowl in the same area where it still has an office today, and thereafter to the winelands, Hermanus and countrywide.

Under the leadership of Samuel, the company really took off and expanded. Today, it employs 1,200 agents in 200 branches across SADC, and also in Mauritius and Dubai, and is now looking to expand into Europe.

Seeff has served three generations of property sellers and buyers and has grown from a multi-million rand turnover to a multi-billion rand turnover now. It has been part of the South African property market growth story which has grown into a world-class sector.

Leading innovation and excellence

Seeff is also associated with high-profile sales and some of the highest prices achieved, from breaching the R20m price mark for a house on the Atlantic Seaboard (Cape Town) to making the first two sales over R100m. It is also a pioneer in development sales, selling out several developments and achieving billions of rands in sales.

Innovation has always been a driving force, and the brand is associated with many industry-firsts. It was first to open multiple branches, and launched the first industry body, training and accreditation of agents in the 1960s. In 2010, it launched the first Seta-accredited training academy, and in 1999, pioneered mortgage origination, something which is today integral to all real-estate transactions.

Following the significant impact of the Global Financial Crisis on homeowners, Seeff was the first agency to launch an express sales product (Seeff Express Sales) in 2011 to enable distressed owners to quickly sell their homes and still benefit from bank-assistance programmes.

Seeff is now again the first agency to launch a competition with a R1m prize open to any immovable property owner who chooses Seeff to handle the sale of their property on a sole mandate basis subject to certain terms and conditions available on the Seeff.com website.