EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. WILLIERM PROPERTIES LTD.
REAL ESTATE AGENCY
Real estate or realty refers to immovable property such as houses, buildings and land. This real estate agency or realtor specialises in the buying, development and selling of real estate, as well as property valuing. Willierm Properties will primarily purchase land in a prime location, build and then sell the property for a profit; or acquire built-up land, develop the property and then sell it for a profit. Some of the properties will be retained for rental income.
According to Global Property Guide, Botswana still presents a lucrative real estate market because the country is politically stable; has moderate to high rental yields and low to moderate income taxes.Income and capital gains by companies are charged a 22% flat corporate tax rate as of 01 July 2011. However, income-generating expenses are deductible when calculating the taxable income.The property and rental prices in Gaborone, as of 2010, are rising at an alarming rate due to lack of supply of serviced land and land shortages in general. This presents the perfect opportunity for a realtor, especially when it comes to buying and developing under-valued property.With that established, the most important objective to consider now is business survival.
The realty market in Botswana is currently capitalised by a few realty agents including the popular ones: Seeff properties, Pam Golding, Willy Kathurima and Sam Associates. Most of these have been around for about 5 years now and have obviously developed a stable supplier and customer base. However, 5 years is not a very long time, so it is still possible for a new real estate agency to enter the market without struggling too much to compete for customers, i.e. there are few barriers to entry in the real estate industry. This presents a good advantage for Willierm Properties to be established.
Also, most of these competitors are targeting the low and middle-income earners. These (customers) often give the businesses a hard time when as a lot of them usually have problems when they have to pay their rents or any dues they owe. Willierm Properties’ main objective is quality over quantity, meaning the target market is the high-income earning customers who do not mind paying extra money for exceptional quality business. The properties traded by Willierm Properties are suited for people who earn a lot of money as they capitalise in luxury, hence expensive. The main idea is that high-earning consumers will not give the agency a problem when it comes to settling dues as agreed.
STRENGTHS-The business is conveniently located next to the offices of the high-earning target customers in Fairgrounds. This makes it easy for the customers to drop-in during their short breaks and come do business with us. This also gives us a competitive edge as most of our competitors are located far from prime areas.
WEAKNESSES- The business is a new establishment so it is going to be difficult to find customers as they do not trust the business as yet. This means some of the customers may be unwilling to do business with the agency as they are not yet sure if it is reliable, genuine or if it