Leapfrog Property Group, which has 50 offices and 340 qualified agents nationwide, has moved into a new phase of its development says managing director Bruce Swain.
 
The key elements of this process – which coincides with the fourth anniversary of Leapfrog’s start-up in mid-2007 – are: 

• the opening of new franchises in Limpopo and Free State
• the establishment of another franchise in the Western Cape, where the company is already well established
• a planned roll-out into KZN which, the group believes, holds tremendous post-recession potential, and
• a major drive on technology development – not least in the arena of electronic marketing and communication.

The first step into Limpopo Province was the opening of a franchise in Polokwane, where, based on official data on transfers, homes valued at close to R300-million were sold last year says Bruce.
 
“Now that Polokwane is up and running, we will be establishing franchises in Ellisras and Tzaneen under the umbrella of the same franchise principals – thus providing a Leapfrog footprint across the Province’s most economically active areas,” he adds.
 
Leapfrog’s new franchise in the Western Cape is in Hermanus. “What is gratifying about this new venture is that it not only gives us a firm foothold in the Overberg region but also that it is a ‘conversion’ to Leapfrog from another real estate brand,” says Bruce. The Free State franchise is based in Bloemfontein and will be the catalyst for future expansion of the Leapfrog brand in the province and adjoining Northern Cape, says Bruce.
 
Leapfrog was founded by its chairman Jan le Roux, former CEO of the PA group, where he created a platform on which small estate agencies could join forces in co-operative ventures. “Since its inception, Leapfrog has challenged the status quo of the homes market and continues to do things differently,” says Bruce.
 
“For instance, we were not only the first national empowered real estate group in South Africa but also the only company to have created wealth-building opportunities for our agents – by way of share investment schemes, recruitment annuity income and other incentives.
 
“This has enabled us to attract quality franchisees and agents to the group – people who have enabled Leapfrog to grow in a recession that forced many other market players to downsize,” Bruce concludes.