A top realtor says he will not under any circumstances hire part-time realtors, claiming the proposal casts a poor light on the property sector for local and international investors.
George Damianos, president of Damianos Sotheby's International Realty, said it would be impossible to properly serve a client in New Providence on a part-time basis. His firm, routinely dealing in multi-million-dollar transactions, is "very serious about our business, so we would not hire part-time workers".
What's more, Damianos told Guardian Business that he is flat out against the idea altogether.
"I am against it completely. I think it's a reflection on the country and the industry," he said. "Local and foreign investors deserve the service for the large fee we earn. How can you get that service if you have two jobs?"
The comments join strong opposition among leaders in the sector, most recently from Peter Dupuch, the president of ERA Dupuch Real Estate.
Calling the plan "awful", the leading realtor claims the policy change would cheapen the industry. Last week Franon Wilson, the president of the Bahamas Real Estate Association (BREA), announced that effective immediately, individuals in Nassau will no longer have to be employed full-time in real estate to be granted a license. The move is expected to open up The Bahamas' real estate market, he explained.
"We will have to work hard to ensure that all who are granted licenses have equal opportunity to succeed in the real estate market," Wilson said.
However, according to Damianos, the property business is too important to leave to part-time realtors. While the approach might work in the Family Islands, where the market is less active, Nassau requires full-time attention.
"A part-time agent cannot keep pace with what is required. We have systems in place where we are sometimes alerted immediately and must respond within two hours," he told Guardian Business. "If you were working another job, you would be giving up time. It is a confusing situation. To be good at this business you have to pay your dues."
Not everyone in the industry has the same perspective, however. Mario Carey, the president of Mario Carey Realty, said yesterday that he would hire part-time workers. There are many interesting Bahamians in different fields of business, he said, and he pointed to the U.S. as having a similar system in place.
"And they set many of the standards worldwide," he noted.
Standards can be maintained and schedules managed because the part-time agent must first be hired by an actual broker, Carey told Guardian Business. He also found the inability to work part-time discriminatory, in the sense that Bahamians can work two jobs of various descriptions already.
And in the current market, making it in real estate is far from easy. He noted it can take up to four months before a realtor makes his or her first pay check, and the transition from regular salary to commission can be difficult.
Allowing a part-time model can make that transition easier for some candidates.
Rather than see it as a hindrance, Carey said he is looking at it as an opportunity, although he did not reveal his exact strategy as a result of the amendment.
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