Feature
Most middlemen are now embracing the use of online portals and training. The problem of finding to-let homes in a city like Douala is daunting, more so with the perennial problem of dubious middlemen.
Braving the arduous task of going around neighbourhoods looking for a home to rent is left to those with pressing needs. To-let residences may seem hard to come by at the time of urgent need, especially when a landlord or lady mounts pressure on the tenant with a quick notice.
Under the circumstance, many care less to find out which of the middlemen to deal with, their character or even traceability which count for a credible and comfortable deal.
For some time, Douala has consistently recorded many wrongs in the sector, with middlemen standing out clearly as kingpins in the duping drama.
Situations such as a lady swindled of FCFA 50,000 as fee by a middleman to locate a flat for her in Douala’s “big boss” quarter, Bonapriso, and a company staff who suffered hardship and frustration over a month being stranded by a middleman he had entrusted FCFA 350,000 to be shown a villa to-let in Bonapriso, which was never found speak for themselves.
After a failed deal it is often hard to get in touch with them. “I have been calling his telephone numbers to no avail for about a week now. Rather I hear the voice: ‘The number you have dialled is unreachable,’ suggesting his phone contacts have been changed,” he said. Many are victims who have been forced to cohabit in choky conditions, unadvised for families.
The gradual but steady penetration of the internet and mobile phone with the present transition to 3G+ technology has not only ushered in the operation of most businesses online for better visibility and improved turnover but also assures the public in need of to-let houses, rooms of some security.
Most middlemen has grabbed the opportunity and are operating online portals, or have put up pictures of homes, offices, sheds, etc on websites run by popular online portals like www.lamudi.cm. This is good news to many city dwellers who are assured of some secure deal. They can easily trace the middlemen should the latter mess up.
Another is that Lamudi has since this year been holding weekly training sessions with the over 200 middlemen represented on its website on the techniques of sales, honesty with clients as key for sustainability and patronage.
Raymond says it is a fun because I got a flat in Bonanjo last week through a portal. “I paid the middleman after I have made my choice online and I was sure I could get back to the proprietor of the portal in Akwa if the middleman does not satisfy me or vamooses.”
