From police officer to valuer | Bonga Dingane shares his story

Why is a career in property valuations better than others? We speak to valuers who have made significant career changes to become a property valuer. Among these is Bonga Dingane who was a SAPS Police Sergeant in his previous career, and today is valuing for Appraisal Corporation CC. We ask him about his decision to change careers, and what skills he brings from his previous occupation.

What career were you pursuing prior to being a property valuer?

I was a Police Officer (Sergeant), working for the South African Police Services and I was stationed at Goodwood SAPS.

At what age did you decide to change careers and become a property valuer, and why?

Whoever said “an old dog can’t learn new tricks” still has a lot of work to do in convincing me about that. I was 36 years old when I decided to become a Property valuer.

I always wanted to do something associated with property, but I never saw myself as a salesman, therefore couldn’t be an estate agent. Property valuations was more appealing to me.

Any regrets?

Despite all those day-to-day challenges I have faced and am still facing, I do not regret the decision I made on becoming a Property valuer, not even a second.  I guess I owe that to an incredible boss that I have (Mr Saul Du Toit) who took a risk of employing (on a permanent basis) someone who did not only lack experience in property valuations, but had never worked in the property industry before. He introduced and handed me over to an amazing, selfless, ever-willing-to-help and highly knowledgeable team of Appraisal Corporation.  They have made my property valuations journey very easy and exciting.

In what way has your prior career or learnings benefitted you as a valuer today?

My SAPS career was predominantly investigation duties. This has helped me with the investigation of the properties for valuation as well as comparison purposes, and it also helped me in knowing and understanding the different neighbourhoods.

What do you think your 13-year-old self would say to you today if you could tell them that you had become a property valuer?

A 13-years-old self would ask “What the hell is that?”. This is because, at that age, I never knew there was a career in property valuations.

Any advice for young people looking to pursue a career in property valuations?

As interesting as the property valuations profession is, I would encourage them to pursue the career and to start with it as early as they possible can.