He stressed that real estate agents must act with professional responsibility, being ethical and careful.
SANTO DOMINGO.- According to Bienvenido Paulino, the veteran agent with almost 40 years in the real estate sector, in the current events involving scams, there is a high degree of responsibility among the brokers who go out to sell properties and do not do their job properly.
He said it is up to real estate agents to ensure that real estate transactions are legitimate and transparent, after calling on them to act with caution, protecting their clients, themselves, and the sector.
“I am concerned that we are passing the buck and not each of us taking responsibility for everything that is happening,” Paulino declared when consulted by El Inmobiliario, regarding the “Guepardo” case, for which the Public Prosecutor's Office is charging four people linked to the real estate business, who through the company Novasco Real Estate SRL, allegedly deceived more than 120 people, receiving money for supposedly fake properties.
According to the general manager of Plusval Venta Directa, prior to selling any property or project, each advisor must conduct an investigation to determine the legality of the transaction.
“The problem is that we go out to sell and don’t do our job, and then we blame someone else. The Dominican real estate sector cannot afford to be complicit in what are being called scams, and it is up to us, the real estate advisors, to guarantee that the transaction is legitimate and transparent. In other words, we can’t blame someone else; we are the ones who have to be careful,” Paulino explained.
He added that real estate agents must ensure that building permits have been issued by the relevant authorities. “In other words, we need to be cautious; it’s our professional responsibility,” he emphasized.
He urged real estate agents not to take each other's word for it, even if they say everything is fine. "That's not enough for me; I have to verify things. As an advisor, I must protect the interests of my client.".
He said that in the sector “no one is without sin, we are all responsible for what has happened, but that starts with making sure that what we are offering is legal, let's be transparent,” he insisted.
He explained that the sector's credibility is at stake. Therefore, he urged the real estate community to proceed with caution to protect themselves, their clients, and the real estate sector. "Especially because clients often place their trust in us, so I have to be true to that trust, transparent; in other words, credibility is at stake, and we will only be able to resolve this ethically and carefully," he argued.
More transparent than before
“The night is never darkest until dawn.” With that phrase, Don Bienvo assures that everyone will emerge stronger from the current process and that the sector will recover. “ Now we’re going to have to be more transparent than before, because now we have to sell trust, and trust isn’t earned by simply saying that Paulino is serious; no, I have to build it and earn it again,” he emphasized.
He reiterated that after the regrettable events, real estate agents must act with professional responsibility, being ethical and careful, working within the law, not because someone else says so, but because the documents say so.
It is the time for the law
For Bienvenido Paulino, this is the moment for politicians to focus on presenting and approving the law that will regulate real estate activity in the Dominican Republic. “This is the moment; we want to be regulated. That won't prevent these kinds of things, but it will mitigate them. We will have consequences.”.
In Paulino's opinion, the clients also bear some responsibility, because they too failed to exercise due diligence.
Caution, professional responsibility, transparency, and ethics are the ingredients Paulino advises putting into practice to improve real estate practices in the country. “We are going through a rough patch, but this rough patch will lead us to safer harbor,” he concluded
