CHANGES AT WAKEFIELDS' LOWER SOUTH COAST

Well-known in the property world, Clive Cowan has been a director of Wakefields for many years and Manager at the Lower South Coast branch for the past five. He has now retired as a director of the company and as a manager and just handed over the management baton to long-time South Coast resident and property specialist, Simon Lee. Clive’s not leaving property however, just easing up...

Clive Cowan is a familiar presence on the Lower South Coast property landscape, so much so that it’s difficult to imagine he wasn’t born into it. He began his working life in the motor industry, first in Durban, then in Greytown, where he spent 18 years managing a Ford, then a Toyota motor dealership. But for him, the required management skills weren’t that different, whether a car dealership or property, and once he’d spent a few years working in property sales, that combined experience made him well equipped to manage his first Wakefields branch at Durban Beach. His skills were further employed at other branches like Glenwood and the Bluff, before he moved to Lower South Coast. 

Clive considers the attributes of a successful manager to be about “perseverance, and the ability to attract and keep the right people around you.” But of course, it’s really about growing people, and over the years, Clive – supported by the skills and qualifications gained at Wakefields’ well-respected Academy – has brought numerous salespersons on board, many creating entirely new careers in property…earning well, and loving it.      

Marketing today is a different animal, and Clive knows the terrain: “Although Wakefields reach is from Hibberdene to Port Edward, the towns and villages along the coastline are relatively small. Word of mouth is the most powerful tool. People of the South Coast are more inclined to trust the word of a friend or associate, than anything else.” Clive’s motto has always been, “’Treat your clients honestly and provide top service, and they will pass on the word.’ Similarly for the attorneys, electrical compliance, pest contractors and others we deal with on a day to day basis - they trust and respect our work ethic, so they become our best ambassadors.”         

For any business to not only survive, but thrive, it’s key to move with the times: “Estate agents have had to adapt to a rapidly changing market on the Lower South Coast. The bulk of the business used to be generated by those purchasing for holidays or investment (buy to rent) but this has changed significantly over the past six years or so. The area remains a popular retirement destination, and besides this, the bulk of our buyers are now those who buy to live in their new property. A growing middle class is demanding affordable homes, and the R800 000 to R1.6m is our most active target area.” Clive says there have been a large number of vacant stands on the market: “But there’s been a remarkable surge in sales this year, a clear indication that the public has long-term confidence in the South Coast as an area well worth investing in.”

Clive is handing over the management reigns of the Lower South Coast to Simon Lee, but he’s no intention of leaving the industry in which he’s submerged himself for so many years. He laughs, “I have a keen interest in playing a rather dubious game of bowls…but I’ve no intention of becoming a couch potato!” Clive will be a property broker at the Ramsgate branch, where he says he’ll pursue his great interest in property…but from the other side of the desk.

New manager, Simon Lee, will be in that hot seat, and having been a permanent resident on the South Coast since 1984 - originally in Southbroom, now Ramsgate – he knows the terrain and the people well. A grin, “After 30 years on the coast, I’m only now feeling like I’m classed as local.”

Property has provided him with the scope to utilise all the experience he’s built up over the years in the various aspects of business in which he’s been involved…marrying them with the inherent skills he’s always possessed. “It’s a very liberating thing and very exciting. I’m very comfortable in the property world, and I’m loving the opportunity it affords me to add true value to people’s lives.” he says.

Simon talks about the importance of embracing the digital world, so as to provide the finest service to clients: “Life is in our mobile phones these days, nowhere else, so my challenge is to make Lower South Coast Wakefields’ presence really felt on the mainstream digital platforms out there. This is where our buyers are, and where our sellers need to be seen.” In a nutshell, old-fashioned values rule, but within a modern framework.

Whether buying or selling, he advises clients to make sure they gain proper insight into the current market, supported by credible data from a professional source: “This applies wherever you live, however, one personal comment is why on earth anyone  would want to sell on the Lower South Coast…it’s such a beautiful place!” As a thirty year resident, he’s clearly biased. Simon adds, “Selling property with Wakefields Real Estate brings with it a 79-year unbroken promise of dealing with integrity within the real estate sphere in KwaZulu-Natal. I think that says it all.”