In a move that reflects the very essence of what the Rainbow Nation stands for, the Leapfrog Property Group is expanding its already extensive Western Cape franchise  footprint to Hermanus and surrounding areas.
 
Cultural and social diversity, economic equality, and the spirit of Ubuntu have all come together in the forging of the new venture, in which the principals – all long-standing Hermanus residents – are a Coloured former postman, a Black taxi owner (both of whom are fully qualified estate agents) and a retired White attorney.
 
Hillmar Ross, Petros Dumse and Riaan van Zyl (the present principal owner of Durr Estates in Onrus River) will open the doors of Leapfrog Hermanus at the beginning of June – with an initial core team of five fully qualified agents, two trainee agents and strong support staff.
 
Their Leapfrog office will be located in the same premises at Onrus River, just 5km from Hermanus, from where they will be centrally positioned to serve all of the suburbs, neighbourhoods and townships of the greater Hermanus area
 
“This new Hermanus franchise is the latest step in a national strategy to build a Leapfrog operating network that spans every key sector of the residential property market in South Africa,” says Bruce Swain, the Cape Town-based managing director of the Leapfrog Property group.
 
“What is gratifying about this new venture is that it is a ‘conversion’ to Leapfrog from another real estate brand,” says Bruce.
 
For Hillmar and Petros, who were raised in the local townships of Mount Pleasant and  Zwelihle respectively, the Leapfrog venture is a dream come true in that it presents wider operating vistas and opportunities for them as entrepreneurs.
 
“For instance, Leapfrog’s high level of BEE compliance and Black ownership will qualify us to provide services in the Western Cape’s local gap market – the first time a private real estate agency has been positioned to participate in Government community housing projects in the Hermanus area,” says Hillmar.
 
(Gap housing is the market segment that caters for people such as teachers and police officers, who earn between R3 000 and R10 000 a month – too little to participate in the private property market, yet too much to qualify for State assistance).
 
“Helping to take the previously disadvantaged into the housing market as first time buyers will add an exciting new dimension to our activities, which, until now, have been primarily focused on marketing private sector homes in and around Hermanus – which we will, of course continue to do,” says Hillmar.
 
His first exposure to home sales came in 2005 when, as a bicycle-pedalling postman, he ‘moonlighted’ by distributing flyers and drops for Riaan’s estate agency while doing his mail delivery rounds.
 
“I got the taste for property then and have never looked back!” he says.