In real estate, the amount of effort put into the work is the amount of results returned.
The sky is the limit when it comes to success in real estate
By Yanika Liew
With property always in high demand, the real estate sector sees no shortage of work. Agents and negotiators deal not just in the buying and selling of properties but also in human relationships and connections.
According to Maxland Real Estate Agency probationary estate agent Royston Lau, the benefits of the real estate sector are abundant. It is a business that can generate good revenue with low capital investment, unlike other businesses where you need to have an office or retail space for daily operations, which may incur renovation costs, rental, staff wages and other expenses.
“Besides being a sales representative earning for living, we also able to understand the property market better and benefit in our own property investment too,” Foreward Realty project director Lim Kak Yi said.
According to Firdaus & Associates Group of Companies founder and group managing director Datuk Firdaus Musa, being part of the real estate agency business opens up a plethora of knowledge, networking, marketing, sales, teamwork, training and commitment with the sole purpose of assisting purchasers or tenants in achieving their property goals and to render the best service to the sellers or landlords in disposing or renting the property
With that, Lim noted that the most attractive part of the real estate sector is that results are measurable. The amount of effort put into the work is the amount of results returned.
“Be-your-own-boss for me is that I can plan my routine based on my pace, be it faster or slower as long as I achieve the target that I set for myself. Meanwhile, be-your-own-boss sounds nice, but we need to have good discipline and be eager to succeed in this sector,” Lim cautioned.
The business of the real estate sector allows its workers to participate in wealth generation, capital appreciation and revenue income investment as compared to other income generation in terms of shares or business, Firdaus said.
“Anytime is a good time to start. There are always buyers in the market, it is just a matter of the right price depending on the demand of the particular property,” Lau said.
Joining the real estate sector had not initially been Lau’s goal. He never knew the real estate business was such a lucrative option until he saw a friend making good money in the sector. At the same time, he had been encouraged by a friend to attend a recruitment talk organised by a real estate firm to understand more about the business. He joined right after listening.
“[You] get to know all levels of people, you may get to work with a company CEO (chief executive officer), a celebrity,” Lau said.
For Firdaus, he had known he wanted to be an agent ever since he was introduced to his father’s friend, a broker selling houses in Johor Bahru. Watching his demeanour and how he approached buyers in convincing a good purchase is what drove Firdaus into the real estate sector, particularly in agency work.
He enrolled to further his studies in Urban Real Estate Management at Kingston University, United Kingdom, worked in a property consultancy firm, earned his registration with the Board and set up Firdaus & Associates Property Professionals.
“In the real estate agency work, in the earlier years, what surprised me was with a bit of knowledge, some basic strategy, I could close a deal within a month or less and I would suddenly earn more than my other fixed salaried friends. It was all dependent on that little effort put in and even if there were no efforts, I was then paid a salary which was decent,” Firdaus said.
“There was no ambition in earning a huge sum of money as I was comfortable as I was. Now, It’s a fast-growing industry with everyone jumping into the bandwagon to earn more than the extra income earned. And the real estate agency people are a different kind of animal in terms of networking, aggressiveness in marketing and sales, exposure and knowledge, the sophistication in the real estate process from the A to Z and the work hard play hard lifestyle of these new gens,” he added.
The sky was the limit with real estate agents, Lau agreed.
However, with the benefits of flexible working hours, came the need for self-discipline and hard work, to ensure that agents do not become lazy and complacent.
Agents must be able to work independently, especially in sub-sales. Most of the time, a listing will be handled by an individual agent, the agent must take the initiative to plan and market the property effectively.
The reality of the market was that not all the property can be sold in a short period of time, Lau noted that the agent must have the persistence to continue to market the property until it is closed.
“The person must be able to work full time and be able to perform the viewing at any reasonable time, no part-time agent will be successful in this sector,” he said.
“Spend more time communicating with clients to obtain good listing and close the deal at the appropriate time rather than always attending unnecessary motivation classes or keep providing info to clients which couldn’t transform into a deal closing,” he added.
“What surprised me was that with a bit of knowledge, some basic strategy, I could close a deal within a month or less,” Firdaus said.
“Anytime is a good time to start,” Lau said.
“We need to have good discipline and be eager to succeed in this sector,” Lim cautioned.
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