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Article to commemorate Milieu 2000 Real Estate and Letting Founded in 1993.
My sincere thanks to everybody that supported us over the last 25 years, we appreciate the support deeply.
In June 1990 I was dismissed, 6 months earlier from my compulsory National Service due to the changing of the political system in the country. I was already accepted at Dohne agricultural research station to do my practical year to qualify as a land use planner, but now I had 6 months I didn't plan for.
Jeffreys Bay was very popular at the time as holiday destination, property development was booming. I considered this together with the fact that the area has a big diversity in natural beauty with 5 of the 7 vegetation types one can find on earth. The only one not prevalent is rain forests and deserts but from semi desert right through to forest exist.
As far as industry is concerned the area have a large diversity as well with the main activities being dairy, deciduous fruit, citrus, vegetable, stock farming, mohair, game, fishing, calamari, motor industry, property development and retirement. Most of these industries have a major export component that earns valuable foreign capital.
All these factors offer business opportunities for people who want to come and settle here. After considering all this I decided to try my hand at property for the six months I had available before resuming my studies. I promised myself to always apply good healthy business principles and to walk the extra mile for my clients.
In the beginning I had to literally apply the principle of walking the extra mile canvassing property by foot. It went exceptionally well and I realised that property present a great future for me, full of potential.
In 1993 I was the co-founder of Milieu 2000 Real Estate. Hard work and dedication was rewarded and we could purchase our own premises in 1995 where we traded until 2012, where after we purchased a premise at Fountains Business Park .
Over the years we have gathered valuable experience and regular successful sales were done in all the various sectors of the market namely residential, commercial, industrial, businesses, developments and agricultural property. We also do letting in all the sectors.
One of the greatest rewards is when an existing client refers a new client to us , this means a lot and it's one of the basic principles that made the business succeed for so many years.
In gratitude for the support we receive from the community we have always supported and contributed to the community where possible.
An estate agent finances himself, he searches for buyers and sellers, he does all the marketing at risk and out of his own pocket. He never gets paid for hours spent or failure, only for successful result and then only after registration in arrears.
This principle of only getting rewarded for success is very rare but to me it was always logical because I grew up with farming where it was the only way, you are dependent on nature, your fellow man and a higher power.
Every day you learn from your clients who have new approaches and ideas from all corners of the earth with different culture, religion and lifestyles. This is a real privilege. The universal threat through all cultures is respect, if there is mutual respect it is a healthy platform for doing business, without it, it is senseless.
In my travels over the world to market property, I realised that South Africans have the competence to deal with anyone on any level. I believe that we underestimate our abilities but it's better to have quiet confidence than to make a big noise without any substance.
Success to me is not just financial gain but to know that you have made a positive difference in a transaction, to win people's confidence and to make what is believe impossible possible. Some for our biggest successes have come from selling creative ideas of how property usage can be optimized.
Marketing changed when the internet and website were introduced, we worked hard to understand the dynamics of web marketing and took milieu2000.com to the number one rating for "Jeffrey’s Bay property".
Some of the Highlights over the last 25 years that show our skills in the various property sectors are more than 1,000 successful sales, which include:
Commercial premises sales to International surf company
Super Tubes Beachfront home record sale to international billionaire Hotelier
Game Farm biggest sale in area
Business sale Caltex petrol station
Leasing to International construction company.
We strive to improve every day for the benefit of all parties concerned.