Slobodan Mihajlovic, Executive Manager at Century 21 – We have system which guarantees partners biggest success at the market

Slobodan Mihajlovic (Photo: Lična arhiva)

At the undeveloped real estate market it used to be a common thing that one flat is sold for a few times. Mid of next year should see the Law on brokerage in turnover and rent of real estate becoming effective. It is expected to govern this field. As of 2009, the world examples of good practice were introduced by Century 21 which operates in 70 countries.

Slobodan Mihajlovic, the Executive Manager at Century 21 Serbia & Montenegro is speaking for eKapija about the way of business of the American company, takeover of their franchise as well as about the real estate market in Serbia.

eKapija: What is the typical Century 21 business principle?

- Century 21 is the biggest world franchise organization for real estate brokerage. Master franchiser, Century 21 Serbia and Montenegro transfers the license rights for usage of the Century 21 brand to agencies. The agencies keep their independence and stay registered as the same legal entities. They keep the same name with adding the Century 21 brand. Joining the large system such as Century 21, the agencies get all business rules, documents, legal advice and marketing support.

eKapija: Do companies and individuals in Serbia have trust in franchise business system?

- Franchise business type in Serbia is still a mystery since people do not know whether it is about a good or a bad thing. Franchise system is widely introduced in the world and is based on the fact that famous brands and methods of work in a field are transferred to partners. Franchise business is a big opportunity for SMEs and people can join with basic knowledge. It is a well-organized system guaranteeing bigger market success to partners.

eKapija: What are the advantages for companies operating under the Century 21 brand name?

- Franchise business is favorable for companies which start from zero or have a small company. Statistics shows that after three years newly set up companies in Serbia mainly go bust. It was proved in the world that if your business is within the franchise system, it survives in 80% of the cases. The more we give you, the better you become, the better you become, the more successful we are.

eKapija: How do you chose companies which will join Century 21?

- Not everyone can join our network. It has to be an agency or an individual who want to have a long-term strategy business. It is important that our partner wants to become an agent working with Century 21 and that he or she is ready to do business in line with the brand rules. It is important to have a good start so that the business adventure does not become travelling across the ocean without a compass but to start doing business in line with some rules and to come to generating profit as soon as possible so that they would be satisfied at the end.

Apart from that, it is very important that we have satisfied clients. People from France, Germany, Russia who want to buy real estate here or clients from Serbia who want to buy or sell real estate abroad contact our people. We are contacted by an agency from the Century 21 network or we contact an agency in a specific country and finish the work without clients traveling.

eKapija: When it comes to business premises in Belgrade, are supply and demand aligned?

- During the past three years, there were numerous migrations of clients from the old part of the city to Novi Beograd when it comes to business premises in Belgrade. I do not get an impression there is a lack of business premises. Perhaps, some agents have only two or three facilities to offer and do not see bigger picture. There are clients whose standards are a bit higher than what the agents have to offer. Foreign companies have some standards from the headquarters and it is possible they will not find adequate premises for themselves at the market.

Some space, primarily in the old part of Belgrade, need renovation and purpose because they do not have parking. The existing fund of office space should be adapted to current demand which rarely happens since it requires investments.

eKapija: How do you estimate the residential real estate market?

- It is estimated that Belgrade now has more than 1000 unsold new flats. The problem of the market when it comes to buyers is credit ability of the young population. If this does not change, the market cannot live.

eKapija: How the Belgrade on water project will affect real estate market in the capital?

- This is big and ambitious project and in the long run, it will have influence. These kinds of projects serve to animate the market and offer products for a specific group or with some purpose. It is still early to speak about content. A condition that these kinds of projects are a generator is to setup the market, to have products per categories and buyers. When real estate sector starts moving, it means everything started moving. Construction is extremely complex activity where more than 30 industrial branches is included. We should have an optimistic view of the future. A large city such as Belgrade needs new products but of course they should comply with the market.

About Century 21

The American Century 21 Real Estate LLC was set up in 1972 and it operates today in almost 70 countries worldwide and has more than 8500 agencies and more than 120.000 agents.

Century 21 Serbija & Montenegro has 10 partners in Serbia and Montenegro. The brand comprises Century 21 Real Consulting, Century 21 Dencic, Century 21 Codex nekretnine, Century 21 Centar, Century 21 Adventis Real Estate.

S.O.