MAIN IMAGE: Independent assessor and trainer Jo-Anne Strydom passed away.
Mentor and friend to real estate agents and principals all over South Africa, Jo-Anne Strydom, owner of JAS Realty Training, will be sorely missed.
When the former teacher decided in 1994 to make a career change and become an estate agent, she could hardly have foreseen that 25 years later she would have coached and trained hundreds. As testified by many, Jo-Anne Strydom was always ready to assist anyone who came to her for assistance or advice on property-related matters.
The news of her death at age 52 last Tuesday was received with great shock in the property industry. Condolences towards her husband Frik van Oudtshoorn and their family have since poured in on social media.
Her death is cited as ‘a huge loss for the property industry’ – for many principals and estate agents Jo-Anne was more than just their trainer, she was a mentor, the person who taught them all they know about real estate today.
Condolences poured in on social media upon the news of Jo-Anne Strydom’s death.
She was passionate about the proper training of property professionals. Already in her second year as an estate agent, Jo-Anne began to develop her own training courses. She was training director at IEASA Gauteng North for two years before she became the training manager for a big agency in Centurion. One of only a few independent assessors and moderators, she has been actively involved in the training of estate agents for the past 11 years and she did contract work for most of the leading franchise groups.
Jo-Anne strived continually to stay on top of the latest changes in educational requirements by working closely with the education department of the Estate Agency Affairs Board (EAAB) and the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Services SETA).
A firm believer in the motto that the sky is the limit in real estate so long as you are prepared to work hard and give it your best, for her seeing her former students get ahead in the property profession was most rewarding.
“The best acknowledgement for me, is to see someone, who completed my training, opens her own agency within 2-3 years. Seeing such personal growth gives me reason to continue,” Jo-Anne wrote for a special feature on her as part of Property Professional’s series on Exceptional Women in Property for Women’s Month August 2019.
