Kopi for estate agents ?

 

As estate agents, we are supposed to do

PROPERTIES only ... and earn our fees

from such products .

So when this press release appeared,

I was truly surprised ....

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/ni-hsin-signs-brand-partnership-deal-estate-agent-group

As the main guardian angel for the 

Real Estate Agency fraternity in this country,

MIEA has always been the Guiding Light

that upholds professionalism for agents.

BUT the announcement gave me a

wrong signal indeed.

Some agents that have read the announcement

joked that perhaps someday .... they can also

buy under-garments ... as such products are 

the daily needs of estate agents !!

Nevertheless, being a Coffee Addict,

I still don't know where to buy my

Kopi Ali Jantan Kaw-Kaw ....

What the Mark .....

WOW, what a crazy morning ... !!

Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were

all down since midnite .

Not only that, it even appears their API system

is not responding, meaning the thousands of

Facebook related products on the market just

stopped working.

But, no worries ... there are other massive online

websites stuffed with incredibly valuable data you

can use right now to improve your business.

Pinterest and Etsy!

Using Pinterest and Etsy, you can figure out the

top trending searches, best selling products, and

top performing businesses helping you understand

how to improve your own business.

BUT thats not the purpose of this post.

Rather its about how our daily lives were STOPPED

when FB, IG and WA are down ....

These social media platforms are now 

so ingrained into us .... that just a slight hiccup 

will give us a Headache ....and if its down for

many Hours .... then we get Mad ....

Imagine a life WITHOUT

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp  ....

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 .

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 ....