The wilderness of Real Estate Agency

 

Doing estate agency 

is like being in a ZOO with creepy creatures

lurking everywhere all over.

They are parasites, leeches, vultures, 

crocodiles, piranhas, anacondas, tigers,

draculas, , toyols & pontianaks.

All they do is .... 

suck your Agency Commission ...!!

Have you ever come across deals that involved 

the payment of the so-called 10%-15% 

Referral Fee/ Introduction Fee ?

Most likely you do ... 

BUT if you move up the value chain

you will surely encounter ghostly apparitions 

with much bigger aspirations & ambitions.

For example, many years ago, a lady Vampire

( not an estate agent but from a professional body )

called me about a major deal that I was handling.

She said she has a buyer, and she wants HALF 

of my agency fee of RM800K.  So i asked her ... 

if this deal goes through, will you be handling the

project for your client ?

And she replied YES.

So i asked again... 

this project has about 4,000 units.

Assuming a fee of RM3,000 per unit, 

your total Professional Fees is RM12 Million.

So Madam .... can you also share HALF with me ?

Straight away she jumped back .... 

NO... NO ....TAK BOLEH ....

our professional body say we are not allowed 

to share with estate agents .....

JILAKER  betul jadi Estate Agent .... 

you expect agents to share half with you 

.... but you cannot share yours ... 

A deal of RM43.9 Milllion that needs a Replay

 

This happened about 9 years ago

when I was working on this RM43.9M deal

in Sungei Petani

The one-percent Earnest Cheque was done.

BUT the owner did not want to accept it ....

For there was a pending court case on the land,

and he told us to wait until the case is settled.

After 2 years of waiting, my client got tired

and I then got them another piece of land.

Fast forward to today, the owner said he won

the court case and it is now available for sale !!

BUT after 9 long years, he has now increased

the price to about RM70 Million ....

So I have to go back to the drawing board again.

Let's see if I can do a REPLAY once more....

==========================================

SHOP Of the Day ==>  https://c.lazada.com.my/t/c.YTFsC0

==========================================

Specializing in Estate Agency ?

 

The estate agency biz is now in

a state of upheaval & disruption.

New players who got their E-licence

had grand plans for their agency ....

but after less than a year, they find it

hard to cope and decide to close shop.

In the past 2 years, many sole-prop

and small-sized firms also gave up and'

parked their licence elsewhere ....

Branches of big-time firms also

closed down and their entire team 

migrated to other new-age players

If you are doing the Mom & Pop properties

e.g selling houses, renting condos & shops, etc

you will be attacked from many fronts.

You will be Cannibalized.

You will be Marginalized

You will be Digitalized

You will be Vulturized

To avert all these relentless assault,

here's the solution ---  SPECIALIZE !!

When you specialize in a specific niche,

you become an expert & an authority.

Customers come to you & seek you

INSTEAD of you going to them.

Just imagine you being a specialist doctor

like a Heart Surgeon, a Neuro Surgeon or

an Orthopaedic Surgeon ... while everyone

else is the neighborhood clinic GP.....

You will then have your own private playground

to play with ... and hey, have you heard of any 

specialist doctors going bust ???

What a Hot One

 

What can 1.25%  of RM167 Million

do to  your personal  bank account .... ?

BUT too bad ... I missed this deal .... !!!

3 days after my contact passed the details to me,

the representative of the famous Goh Brothers of PG

submitted their earnest cheque to the owner .... 

to develop the SOHO SUITES @ KLCC.

( if you want to know more about the 

Goh brothers of Penang .... go ask your 

award-winning Team Leader .... )

This is what I would call a Perfect Site.

Well not exactly perfect ... but 9 out of 10 points

( less out 1 point because it does NOT 

fronts the KLCC directly )

Otherwise its a real winner since :

---  has D.O for a twin Office/Service Apartments blocks

---  freehold

---  flat terrain

---  rectangle shape

---  last few vacant plots around KLCC

If only the info was given to me 2 weeks earlier,

then I would have an even chance of doing the deal .

Moral of the story ---  for HOT LOCATIONS 

you got to very ride fast ... like the Hottie 

otherwise your bank account 

would be reduced by RM2m ...

Feng Shui in estate agency

 

As estate agents, it is important for us to equip

ourselves with some basics of  Feng Shui

This is because somehow ... somewhere... someday

we will encounter buyers & tenants who are believers

in the auspiciousness of the property.

The Chinese are major proponents of Feng Shui.

And there are thousands of books written on this

ancient subject.,,, from beginner level to 

Grandmaster with hundreds of Dos & Donts ...

To the Malays, it is Tajul Muluk.

Ilmu Tajul is the most commonly used name 

for the Malay system of geomancy, 

comprising metaphysical and geomantic principles 

considered when siting or designing buildings 

to improve and maintain well-being. 

It was traditionally practiced by shamans 

(dukun or bomoh) and architects from Malaysia 

and Indonesia

Today tajul muluk is considered a 

superstitious relic of the past

For the Indians, it is Vastu Shastra.

It means the Science of Architecture .... 

encompassing the principles of design, 

layout, measurements, ground preparation, 

space arrangement and spatial geometry

The designs are intended to 

integrate architecture with nature,

the relative functions of various parts of 

the structure, and ancient beliefs utilizing 

geometric patterns (yantra), symmetry 

and directional alignments

I dont think any of your NCC speakers tell you 

anything about the Art of Feng Shui 

in estate agency

Now that I've passed on some Good Luck to you

its time for you to buy me a cappuccino  ....

No FREE lunch in Estate Agency

 

A newbie Real Estate Negotiator

sent me this some time ago and asked me

whether this is TRUE ?

Because if its genuine ,

then this rookie REN will want  to 

QUIT her existing agency ....

From the picture above, 

the first thing that pops up in my mind is

GUARANTEED INCOME for 3 months !!

This is certainly mind-boggling indeed.

How is it possible to offer a Guarantee

when everyone in the real estate agency biz

knows that COMMISSION INCOME only

comes from the completed transaction.

No deal .... means NO Income.

Its as simple as that ...

There is no such thing as a FREE LUNCH

in the real estate agency industry.

DO NOT be blinded by Greed !!

If its too good to be True ....

then it certainly cannot be True.

So be warned.

Money does not drop from nowhere.

YOU need to work for it .... 

How to do Site Visit in Lockdown ?

The lockdown has already started

and is in progress in various stages,

depending on which State you are in.

And to most real estate agents, 

this is certainly BAD NEWS indeed !!

Why ?

Because they find it impossible to go site visit,

and to do the preliminary survey and reccee

of the property and its surroundings.

BUT dont worry .... there is a solution to this !!

Just use Google Streetview and Google Satellite ....

So what is Google Streetview ?

And what is Google Satellite ?

Google Streetview are actually videos/photos 

of the properties ( land or building ) that are shot

and recorded by the 360 degrees visual equipments

perched ontop of the Google Streetview Car.

Of and on, you may have seen such cars on the road

and on the highway, and wondering what is this type

of car used for ?

This car would go to a certain location, travel along the

main road, the side road, the accessible road, the highway

and expressway, etc and take photos & videos of that

location.

BUT of course, these cars do not go surveying everyday.

Probably once every few years to do some updates,

especially for locations that are experiencing very

rapid development.

The same goes for Google Satellites views.

Way high up in the sky are Hundreds of Satellites

that belong to various countries and different

companies that are orbitting and circling round the earth.

What these satellites do is to take photos and videos

of various locations on the earth. And thus we are able

to view our sites with the help of Google Satellite.

To help you understand better on how a property agent

can make full use of the function of  Google Streetview 

and Google Satellite, I have created this video

Now that you understand how it works, 

I wish to highlight that you should always

look at the Bottom of the computer screen

which says ... Map data 2021.

This means that the photo was recorded in 2021

by either the Google Car or the Google Satellite.

In short, it is the LATEST data available.

Of course, sometimes it may be Old Data,

and it say year 2020 .... thus you must be careful

of this as certain signboards of shops or buildings

may be NO Longer there as they have already

closed down or have shifted elsewhere.

ALSO take note that Streetview can only show

the outside view of the property. For example

you can only see the External of the Condominium

and for Gated & Guarded projects, the Google Car

is NOT allowed to enter the project to record.

But overall, both are very useful Tools for any

property agent, especially during this pandemic.

It certainly helps you to do your market survey

much earlier Before even having to go for the

actual site visit.

Thus it will also help you to save on your time,

your petrol, your highway toll and your parking

charges since these tools can help you decide

whether its worth going for site visit or not.

How to cope in Bad Times

Actually i did not want to write about this.

Because the pandemic has caused so much

hardships to everyone, that every day i only

come across Bad News !!

There is nothing positive to read about anymore.

People are scrambling for food, awaiting humanitarian

aids, hand-outs and freebies from the government , 

the NGOs, and the kind public.

Jobs were lost. Salaries were cut. Movement were

restricted. Everyone has to stay at home. So how to

survive then ?

And today is another record-breaking day in

Malaysia because the Covid-19 cases spiked up to

7,654 cases !!

Since the pandemic Movement Control restrictions 

started about 16 months ago, tens of thousand of

real estate agents were also affected.

This is because site visits and viewing of properties

were curtailed, and many property agents resorted

to Online Viewing via photos and videos .

BUT there is only so much that one can do

with doing presentations online !!

Let's be real .

Buying and renting property is a physical thing.

You need to offer a real PHYSICAL Experience

to both the buyer and tenant.

For example a manufacturer who wants to lease

a factory with 150,000 sq ft built-up space, would

want to inspect the property .... to walk around ....

to see the external parking space and turning angles

for their lorries and containers ... the ceiling height

and the eaves height ... the floor loading ... all the

loading docks ... the condition of the Mechanical 

and Electrical installations, etc.

You can't expect him to sign a lease for RM200,000

without doing an actual site inspection !!

Of course, if you are just selling NEW project launch

for a 1-room SOHO service apartment unit say

somewhere nearby Kota Warisan or Rawang or 

Cheras ... then it is quite possible to close a sale.

WHY ?

Because the showunit is standardised with fixed

template. So you dont need any spectacular video

shooting skill as the developer would already have

given you most of the Marketing Kit and tools.

Also the Booking Fee is usually RM300 to RM1,000.

Some even as low as ZERO booking fee .

AND so all the newbie Real Estate Negotiators 

start posting their joyous moment in social media,

proclaiming a Sale .... a done deal ....

BUT being rookies and fresh to the world of

real estate agency, they dont realise that in any

property transaction .... you need 3 parties to tango.

Seller & Buyer & Banker.

In the current pandemic-devastated economy,

bankers have done 2 things  --- very choosy on your

source of income ( type of job or business ) and

slashing down on the Loan Margin.

So what happens is that the initial excitement of the

newbie agent now turn to sadness .... because the buyer

could not get the bank loan he wanted and the purchase

gets aborted.

In fact for those agents who are handling sales launch 

of new projects ( SOHO, SOVO, Rumawip/Residensi, 

Rumah SelangorKu, etc ) are now in bad shape as the

succesful cases have gone down to 40% to 50% !!

Also because of the loss of income for the past 16 months,

many prospective buyers have also resorted to borrowing

more from their Personal Loans, spending more on their

credit cards, etc.

So what happens is that this INCREASED their total

monthly expenditures, meaning their DSR or their 

Debt-Service-Ratio has now increased.

Thus their loan eligibility is also reduced !!

Feedback from those agents who are doing project

marketing is that it is very difficult to collect their

commissions now .... because the developers have

delayed their payment !!

Thus it is very hard for the agent to survive without

any cash flow coming in ....

Considering all of the above, one can safely say that

it looks good to read in Facebook of other agents 

closing this sale and that sale ... but looks are deceiving.

Be realistic.

Just go do what is Do-able.

Otherwise just go take a rest ...

Can Estate Agents do M & A deals ?

M & A .... what's that ?

Most real estate agents would not know

what is the meaning of M & A !!

Well, it means Mergers & Acquisitions ...

In practice, it simply means when a Big Firm

ACQUIRES or buys over a smaller firm.

And this smaller firm or the Target Company

can either be their Competitor or perhaps in

a related business or a supporting business 

that can add value to the supply chain.

Sometimes, when 2 different companies are of

almost  equal strength ( in terms of market share,

market capitalization, sales revenue, profitability )

then it makes sense for them to join/combine

their strength ... so as to become BIGGER !!

And this is the concept of MERGER.

Before I went into the Property biz,

I wanted to be a Merchant Banker

( now known as Investment Banker )

.... but that was over 25 years ago ....

For i was fascinated by the corporate deals

done in Wall Street ... those hugh mega deals

via Mergers & Acquisitions that were done

using junk bonds and financial derivatives

But the problem was that my degree is in

property ... and to work in merchant banking,

you need degrees related to corporate law,

finance, accounting or 

Back then, this country also does not have

the likes of global consulting firms like Bain,

Mckinsey, and Boston Consulting Group

So my hope of going into the world of high'

finance remained a far-fetched dream ....

I have bought many books related to Wall Street

and the Corporate Raiders of America.

But sadly, all of them remained un-opened

and un-read .... and many are still in their

original plastic wrappers !!

Any regrets ?

25 years have since passed ... 

I have about 100 of these books.

So when will I ever have the time 

to read them all .... ???

Can Real Estate Agents work WITHOUT internet connection ?

 

Actually the title of this post should be

--  can real estate agents work without FAST

internet connection ?

For over 15 years, i have been using the most basic

internet broadband package called Streamyx

by Telekom Malaysia.

Streamyx was introduced in the early days of

the Internet era in my country. The speed is very slow,

so slow that to upload a 10 minutes video it would take

almost an hour to complete !!

You can say that the Streamyx broadband service

belongs to the dinosaur era ....

I am a property agent ... a real estate agent.

So it is important for me to have access to very fast

internet connection for the purpose of surfing news

related to Property & Real Estate, downloading data, 

uploading videos, Zooming , listening to webinars,

live streaming as well for my Social Media Marketing 

and Online Branding too.

But luck was not on my side when i applied to upgrade

my Broadband Subscription Package to a higher and

faster speed.

Either there is a physical obstacle blocking the cabling,

( in my case its the branches of the tall trees along

the path of the cable alignment ) or there is NO more 

vacant ports at the junction box ( meaning i need to

wait until an existing user terminates the subscription ) !!

You can read more about my predicament in this video

https://youtu.be/vJLkwEED-_0 

Of course, there are other options ... mainly those

Mobile Broadband. Plus also other service providers

and telcos like Maxis, DIGI, Celcom, etc

But as the coverage for such mobile connection is

quite un-reliable, subscribing to a Fixed-Line connection

is still the best.

Imagine if you are online doing something which is

very important and critical BUT suddenly the line

connection goes off ... OR when you are doing an

online payment but suddenly the line gets cut off ?

Thus i had to other choice but to wait and wait and wait

.... for my turn to be able to enjoy my upgraded Unifi 

for my home ....

And finally after over 15 years

the never-ending wait is over .... my agony ended !!

Now i can ramp up my Real Estate Agency work .

The Expat Condominium Rental Market

25 years ago when I was new to Real Estate Agency,

I was doing a lot of condominium rental cases for 

expatriates , particularly expats from Japan who

were transferred to work in Kuala Lumpur.

Most of them were in the Oil & Gas Industry,

with the senior expats based in Kuala Lumpur

while the engineering staff are based offshore

in Sabah and Sarawak for oil & gas exploration works.

Some of these Japanese expats are also in the

construction industry, doing projects like the KLCC,

road construction, dam construction and building of

hugh factories.

As an estate agent that specialized in the rental market,

I was able to secure a lot of rental tenancy deals for them.

My area of focus was the condominiums located in the

Embassy Row of Jalan Ampang/ U Thant/Ampang Hilir

and Lingkungan U Thant.

Rentals rates for a fully-furnished 3-bedroom unit are

in the range of RM6,000 - RM7,000.

I also cover the Mont Kiara location, whereby the

rental rates are cheaper ranging from RM3,000 - RM4,000

which suit the budget of the junior engineers.

Back then, there were only about 10 different condo projects

in the vicinity of Ampang, with about 6 in Mont Kiara 

plus several more in Bangsar and Damansara Heights.

The economy was booming then. Thus overall it has been a

very profitable ride for me in servicing the Nippon-san .

Can estate agents Work From Home ?

Can an Estate Agent Work from Home ?

And especially so during this pandemic ?

Well .... that's what most property agents

are always aiming for !!

Tens of thousands of ordinary people

are now working from home ... AND

some are enjoying a substantial income .

In fact it is everyone's dream 

to be able to work from the comfort of home,

and generate an income as well.

For this current pandemic has created a

New Norm .... whereby movements and

physical contacts are restricted, and very

strict Standard Operating Procedures

have to be followed.

Thus it is easy to mention

working-from-home. But the reality

is that its easier said than done.

Because an an estate agent that caters for

the Sub-sale or Secondary Property Market,

it is imperative to have a physical presence.

From farming the GTA ( Geographical Target Area ) 

to obtain listings, then doing Market Survey/Research,

followed by  Property Viewing and placing banners

and signboards .... all these require a physical

human presence .

These are the basic duties or scope of work

that any professional real estate agent need to do.

Imagine asking the interested party to do 

everything virtually online ....

Of course, some agents will choose the easy way out

by asking the Property Owner to just send over some

photos of the property ( or perhaps a video ) .

And some lazy agents will just tell the Prospect

to visit the property on their own .... giving excuses

like being not free on that day and time .... 

Considering the above, it is clear cut that 

working from home is still a NO-NO 

for any real estate agent .

There has to be a fine line between

working from home .... and working at the

site itself .... as well as minimizing the dangers

posed by the pandemic.

While the priority is to close the deal,

the estate agent has also got to look at the

spirit and essence of doing the deal.

Whats works for one agent does not mean

it will also work for everyone else ....

Best Estate Agent in Malaysia

Do you know that when you have Stage 4
breast cancer, as well as a baby in your tummy,
even the best oncologist is in a dilemma to
help you ?

This is what happened to Cheryl Lim,

who is one of the best estate agent that

specializes in the sale and rent of condominiums

in the upmarket enclave of Mont Kiara,

Bangsar and Damansara Heights in 

Kuala Lumpur.

In fact, her clients are mainly foreigners

and expatriates who have no qualms 

about giving positive reviews of her

service and competency.

So much so that some senior estate agents

consider her as among the Best Estate Agent

in the country !!

This is the heart-breaking story of a mother
in Malaysia who only found out that she
had Stage 4 breast cancer when she was
about 7 months pregnant.

She consulted the top oncologist in Kuala Lumpur,
as well as the best cancer hospitals in Singapore,
but to no avail.

If she were to start chemotherapy straight away,
the impact and side effects would be too great
for the baby to bear. .... and this would eventually
lead to the death of the unborn.

But if she were not to do anything, and just
wait for another month or so .... then the baby
would still be born alive ..... but the outcome
would be the mother will only have days to live.

There was no respite indeed.

Its just like being the devil and hell.
Either she stays alive or the baby.

For weeks and months, 

she had to endure this mental agony.

She could not work,

she could not think straight,

and her life was topsy-turvy.

Faced with this predicament, she elected to die
so that her baby could live to see the world.

Such a sad ending

to a very promising property agent ....