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Property Profile Wings over Margate
Dina Porteous is an institution along KZN’s south coast – mention her name, and she’s known most everywhere. But it’s not just about her property dealings; it’s also about her roll-up-your-sleeves approach to reviving – and sustaining – a valued way of life on a stretch of coast where she herself grew up and is now raising her own family. Dina has a finger in every pie, many of them related to community issues, ways of shifting people’s perceptions of Margate and the south coast, and orchestrating a return to that glorious, laid-back coastal lifestyle for families and retirees that used to be the norm there. She’s also deeply involved in numerous structures within her industry. Dina’s a self-proclaimed ‘softie’, which is why her dreams of becoming a doctor gave way to other career options. ‘I soon discovered I’m far too much of an emotional toffee,’ she laughs. And the property link? Easy. Like all police force employees, Dina was given access to an excellent bond subsidy, so at the age of 21 she purchased her first apartment in Pretoria. ‘That’s when and how I learned the value of property. I bought the apartment, fixed it up, and sold it for a great profit,’ she says. The writing was on the wall. Dina bought and sold two further properties in Johannesburg before packing herself, and her profit, into a car and heading home. She had the start-up capital to open her own real-estate agency.‘When I opened my doors, the area was flooded with agents, and I recall the comments as people passed the shop window: “Oh, no. Not another one!”’ As Dina embedded herself in the area, she recognised her target market to be holidaymakers from Gauteng, and that operating as an independent was not going to give her access to potential clients. She grins. ‘I remember seeing some of Pam Golding’s marketing material and thinking, “I’ll give her a ring to see how we can collaborate.”’ A bigger grin. ‘Amazing how less fearless one is when young!’ Dina phoned Pam and explained, as best she could, how she’d like to be associated with her brand, but not at the expense of relinquishing her dream of owning her own business. ‘Pam’s an amazing woman, and needless to say, she came to Margate to see how we could accommodate each other. Not long after that, I bought the first franchise…’ Dina soon realised that most agents in the area concentrated on residential properties, and she spotted a niche in the new development market. ‘I took full advantage of the opportunities in the area, and sold land to Group Five, Condev, and Stocks and Stocks, to name a few.Today, we still hold an 85% market share in all new development in the area. And to ensure the sustainability of a coastal real-estate agency that has such strong seasonal trends,it was a logical step to involve ourselves in holiday accommodation and sectional-title administration.’ Dina and her husband Stephen work hand in glove. ‘He specialises in commercial and industrial, as well as packaging developments for developers, which we then sell, and I focus on residential.’ She describes herself as somebody who loves to see the bigger picture, literally and figuratively. ‘I think that’s why I’m so strangely attracted to flying. We own a plane, which allows us to enjoy the privilege of living on the coast while having easy access to major cities. It’s also an invaluable tool to show developers that bigger picture when we’re selling development land.’ She has signed up to renew her lapsed helicopter licence by 2010. Dina’s blunt about market conditions on the south coast: ‘Given the nature of leisure properties, this coastal market has been very hard hit by the recession.’ But she hasn’t rolled over. ‘We balanced it out by assisting our clients through the increased income obtainable from holiday accommodation, a situation that arose because of the rise in the domestic holiday market. This also helped to prevent forced sales and protect property values in general. Currently, much like the rest of the market, we’ve seen an increase in sales – mainly cash. However, we’re mindful of the fact that we won’t experience the same market conditions as in 2006 for at least another few years.’ Asking Dina what she does in her spare time will always elicit the response, ‘Time with my family’. She has two young daughters, Storm (10) and Chance (8), who, she says ‘complete my life’. Apart from being a franchisee, she also represents the real-estate industry on the Services Seta structures, provincially and nationally. She’s a real-estate assessor and facilitator, and is currently en route to becoming a Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) facilitator to assist industries to develop their own curricula for skills development. ‘I’m also the KZN chairperson of the Services Sector Employers Association and the chairperson of the Trade Committee of BCSA [Business Coalition SA], which has representation at the BUSA [Business Unity SA] Trade Committee.’ Nope, she’s not finished yet. On 17 December this year, she’ll be graduating with a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management through UCT. Enough said? Dina’s susceptible to whatever opportunities come her way, and she’s a firm believer in having no single mentor, but rather an openness to learning something from every person who crosses her path. But one truism will always stay with her… ‘Gary Player’s words: The harder you work, the luckier you get.’
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