“Go-getter,” she corrected me and I cringed as I realised the connotations associated with the two nouns. Judy, his left and right-hand woman, duly obliged, but unceremoniously abbreviated the day-in-the-life idea to a mere interview.
“Go-getter,” she corrected me and I cringed as I realised the connotations associated with the two nouns. Judy, his left and right-hand woman, duly obliged, but unceremoniously abbreviated the day-in-the-life idea to a mere interview.
A week later, I was sitting in Jaco’s luxury high-rise beachfront apartment overlooking the turquoise waters of Algoa Bay.
Upon my arrival, his muffled voice emanated from beyond the closed door. He opened and gestured me to enter, cellphone clutched between head and right shoulder.
That gave me a moment to survey the interior, which was a mixture of modern and old. Family photographs mingled with noticeably expensive, contemporary furnishings.
Dressed in an off-white linen suit and slops, he looked stylish yet casual. He would later tell me that you have to dress the part in this industry.
“You deal with people from both sides of the spectrum and you need to make a connection with each one,” he would later educate me. “It is important that the first-time home buyer feels as comfortable with you as the company executive.”
“Sorry, my phone is my office,” he apologises after terminating the call. “Coffee?” I accepted. “The thing (he points at the cellphone that now lay on the kitchen counter) starts ringing at seven and never stops until I make it,” he says with a painful expression. “I’ll put it on silent while we’re busy.”
Coffee in hand, we move to the lounge, which opens onto the fifth-floor balcony and an idyllic view of the beachfront and harbour.
Jaco, now 26, gave his first baby steps in the industry when he opened the doors of JRE, short for Jaco Rademeyer Estates, in mid-2004. “Those were the doors of my Chico,” he smiles, openly reliving those first days. “Today I call it the Chico Year. I had no office, no experience, no nothing. Only my Chico and a will to succeed.”
So he did, being named the Institute of Estate Agents’ Rookie of the Year in 2005 and Agent of the Year the following. Last year, at the Nedbank Property Professional Awards in Cape Town, he was the only agent from the Eastern Cape to be honoured among the country’s sixteen finest.
Although Jaco studied law (University of Stellenbosch), property has always been his first love. “I understood that it would stand me in good stead in my future career. The two fields are so intertwined, it’s scary.”
He specialised in contract law, completing his LLB in Belgium as an exchange student. “I articled under Harry Lampbrecht doing transfers until it came out of my ears. That was an important step in my development.
“The Chico Year,” he goes on, “is where it all started,” as his phone (now silent) lights up once again. He dismisses it with a glance. “I can recall an occasion when I begged my dad for his Mercedes to show a businessman around town. I instinctively knew people associated with success.
“I had to establish myself, but first I had to break down a brick wall of perception. I was young, not really an estate agent and not really a lawyer. I was often shown the door.
“To be honest, I was clueless. I had no agency experience, so I didn’t know what was expected of me. What I had, was a passion for property – especially the aesthetics. I see the potential in a place when others simply can’t.
“I am a matchmaker. I match people to their perfect properties and vice versa. You have to put yourself in the client’s shoes to try to understand what he wants, not what you want for him.
“Marketing is also key. It is a simple equation really: the better your marketing skills, the more stock, which equates to better matchmaking potential and therefore sales.
“And of course flair; that ability to express your personality in your job. People like that. That’s why they came to you in the first place. We’re the number one commodity in this business, our own personal brands, and people associate with a brand.”
Jaco believes investing in property is about common sense and a good dose of basic instinct. “There is a right price for any area, but you have to follow your gut too. For example, I paid way over market value for my business premises, so much so that the bank’s valuer warned me. It was my first property investment and probably the best one I’ll ever make.”
He believes the top agents will be separated from the mediocre ones this year. “It is definitely a more challenging market and you have to be more creative.”
His passions include entertaining and cooking. “I love watching cooking programmes and downloading the recipes. I simply have to try them, but I often make too much and my cleaning lady ends up taking most of it home. She hasn’t complained yet, so I suppose I have some talent,” he says, smiling at his own joke.
“I love having people around me, but therein lies my weakness. I suffer from approval addiction. Sometimes I will lie awake trying to figure out how I can help someone, even if I know I can’t.”
Jaco is adamant that his future lies in the Eastern Cape. “I’m looking at expanding my business interests, but I’ve lost my heart here.”
With the interview nearing completion, I ask how he starts his day. He points at my chair. “I move that onto the balcony and read the paper with a cup of coffee. The phone stays inside. That is the only me-time of my day.”
With that, he picks up the phone and shows me the screen – twenty-seven missed calls! My day-in-the-life story did not pan out the way I expected, but that gives me as good an idea as any.