History Of Cireba

With the vision of several local real estate agents, all with the desire to unify the industry and create a higher standard of practice in the local real estate business, The Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association was born.

Those original founding members, most of which are still members today were Kent Eldemire of Tropical Real Estate Ltd; Rex Crighton of Crighton Properties Ltd; J.C. Calhoun of Coldwell Banker Cayman Islands Realty and Bobby Bodden of R. C. Bodden Realty Ltd.

The founding members united and realised that sharing available property listings was an extremely smart idea, beneficial for all parties involved including the customer. The members researched other successful jurisdictions and pulled from resources in places like Australia, the US and Canada to see how they had modeled their real estate industry unification and the overall business. After discussions and agreements between the founding members, the Cayman Islands Real Estate Brokers Association (CIREBA) was created.

The establishment of CIREBA meant that each real estate agents listings were made available to all other member agents. This was beneficial as the customers could then see all properties available for sale, and not just their agents own listings. It also meant that customers could consult with one agent, instead of 3 or 4. Additionally, the association established a set of commission rates, which meant all agents were operating on the same rate as other member agents.

The addition of the Multiple Listing System (MLS) took the Association to the next level in 1991. This created an actual inventory of all member’s property listings which is easily accessible to each member of the Association. The MLS is based on the North American System and allows agents to locate any available properties that suit their customer’s requirements very quickly and efficiently.

The Association also created guidelines and implemented a system of checks and balances. These rules and regulations aim to rigidly manage the relationship between the public, member brokers and sales associates. These have become industry standard in the Cayman Islands. Each property transaction completed by member agents are reviewed by CIREBA to ensure all due diligence is followed and that every legal process is completed. This gives clients and agents an extra sense of security with all transactions.

This includes a regulated procedure that encourages the public to report all incidents and complaints from dealing with CIREBA members that they consider not in the best interest of CIREBA, its member companies, agents and of course themselves. CIREBA ensures that all complaints are professionally and promptly adjudicated to not only protect the integrity of CIREBA and its members but also the rights of our clients whether they are buyers or sellers.

Overall the Association has established unwavering stability in the real estate market in the Cayman Islands. The Associations regulatory process and Code of Ethics have all contributed to the development of extremely high standards of real estate practice which are now seen across the Islands. CIREBA further enforces this with agent training courses for new members and on-going training for current members.