Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Sales
Source: Jamaica Gleaner, Susan Gordon, February 2, 2007
JN exits
Jamaica National Building Society (JNBS) has wound up its real
estate subsidiary, completing the lockdown on Wednesday, but has
redeployed staff to other jobs in and outside the group.
JN Real Estate Company Limited (JNREC),
run by Jacqueline Peat-Smith, was the casualty of a decision by
JNBS bosses for the mortgage company to return to core business.
"For strategic purposes,
especially since our mortgages are fed by real estate, it was
suggested by the parent company that we operate in harmonisation
with the real estate companies rather than competing with
them," said assistant general manager Llewelyn Bailey. No
other subsidiary is affected.
Bailey said some staff and
operating space of the 25-year-old company were channelled into
other areas of the group, and that the building society, Jamaica's
leading private mortgage lender, incurred no losses as a result of
the closure.
Of the 17 employees, 15 are being
absorbed elsewhere in the JN group and two are retiring.
JNREC General Manager Jacqueline
Peat-Smith has also been offered a new post.
"She has been offered an
overseas position in New York, but failing her acceptance of that
we still start of with an initial contract arrangement in
Jamaica," said Bailey.
"She is an asset, and we
want to retain her."
The company's 650 property listings
are being referred to other realtors.
JN Real Estate was formed in
1982 after JNBS decided to go after what it considered a lucrative
market - its members then, especially those living overseas, were
seeking to purchase properties in Jamaica and needed agents.
JNREC offered property sales,
purchases, rentals and property valuations services in three
locations islandwide, with the head office posted at 26 Trafalgar
Road, New Kingston.
Bailey said that although the
subsidiary was established to complement the building society,
"we realised we were straying from our core business and we
were not in it for profit."
Not disclosing how much JN Real
Estate contributed to the group, the assistant GM said only that
the business was sustaining itself. In 2004/05, according to the
building society's annual report, JNREC contributed $1.2 million
to group results. That figure, however, was down from the $1.8
million profit the year prior.
"When we met we looked to
see if the business had to be subsidised," said Bailey, who
sat on the JNREC's board.
"It was doing well enough to
sustain itself, but if the main criteria would be to contribute a
profit, it would not satisfy that."
JNBS opted for closure over
selling the business, saying it would not want the activities of
the new owners to be associated with its former parent.
It continues to issue letters to
clients about the lockdown, and is making referrals to other
realtors on an ad hoc basis.
We haven't fully worked that out
yet," said Bailey, adding that JN Real Estate already had a
co-broker relationship with some of the real estate companies but
was still refining its list for referrals, with permission from
its clients.
JNBS will be housing house its
audit department and other divisions in the space used for the
real estate company.
The 15 sales staff of JN Real
Estate has already been absorbed by other real estate companies,
while the other eight employees are being deployed to other areas
of the building society.
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