Training and certification program fills the educational gap for the Kingdom's appraisers and other property practitioners

REAL estate companies are being urged to send staff to short-course training programs in real estate investment and appraisal to strengthen their professional skills and with the aim to qualify for membership in the Asean Valuation Association, a Ministry of Economy and Finance official has told Prime Location.

An Investment Strategy and Property Valuation Method workshop is scheduled for November 3-4 for a fee of US$70, according to Mao Pov, deputy chief of the real estate division of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The course will be led by trainers from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as the host ministry, the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, and taxation department officials, he said, with participants receiving a certificate of completion.

"We are holding the short course to train our Cambodian realtors and law firms about real estate investment strategy and appraisal methods because we do not have a real estate school," said Mao Pov.

The fee for the course would be waived for a limited number of government employees and students who register for the course, he added.

The overall purpose of the course, Mao Pov noted, was to achieve qualification for membership in the Asean Valuation Association (AVA), as well as comply with continuing professional education requirements established for the real estate sector.

Even though the course is too short ... it will bring more knowledge to our local real estate brokers.

"For the people who earn a living im the sector who don't have a bachelor's degree, we have to determine that they have joined in ministry workshops or training courses concerning to real estate or have other equivalent certification so we can issue a recognised certificate for them," Mao Pov  said.

Announcement No 142 of February 13, 2007, has required all real estate brokers and companies to apply for realty service certificates and real estate appraisal certificates from the ministry, valid for a one-year term.  Applicants need to be 21 years of age or older and hold a bachelor's degree in a business field.

To comply, he said, most licensed real estate companies have cooperated with foreign experts in the field.

Sung Bonna, president of Bonna Realty Group and of the National Real Estate Valuation Association of Cambodia, said he was happy about the short course because it filled a need until the Kingdom could establish a real estate school.

"Even though the course is new and it is too short, it will bring more knowledge and experience to our local real estate brokers and companies," Sung Bonna said.

Chan Sophal, president of Cambodian Economic Association, called it a good course  for a country that falls behind neighbours like Thailand and Vietnam in developing its real estate sector.