Real Estate Agent

AFTER working as a systems analyst and a salaried employee for years, James Tan switched professions – he became a real estate agent and his own boss – and has never looked back since.

“I started as a junior programmer after graduating with a diploma in computer science from Singapore in 1983. Working in this field was crazy. We never slept.’’

A chance encounter with a real estate agent made Tan rethink his career priorities.

Tan has no regrets leaving his job as a systems analyst to become a real estate agent.

“A real estate agent showed me a proposal he had done for a multimillion industrial property and told me the commission he would make out of it. That made me rethink what I was doing. I realised there were better ways to make a living.’’

That was in 1992, Tan made the decision to quit his job and join a major real estate firm as a negotiator and also took up the diploma (Estate Agents) examination.

“I put aside one year to do it. It was a major decision as I was married and had a child to think of.’’

The decision paid off. Tan passed his exams and in his first year made the same amount of money as in his previous job and no longer had to deal with “late nights.’’

Now he is the sole proprietor of his firm, JT Properties, which he set up in 1997.

What qualifications do you need to enter this profession?

Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and the diploma in real estate. If you don’t have the diploma, you are called a negotiator who basically does the same job as an agent but can’t set up an office or sign documents.

I currently have eight negotiators working under my company and I am the only registered real estate agent.

Many people remain as negotiators and don’t sit for the diploma which is quite tough as they don’t have the stamina and perseverance to go through with it. One of my negotiators said she is too old to attempt it!

What does a real estate agent do?

Basically it’s a sales job. An estate agent or company needs to prospect for clients who want to sell, buy or rent property.

When we do find a client, we ask for an exclusive listing arrangement whereby we are the sole agent.

Once we have a listing, we need to market the property, usually through the media. Apart from that, we need to look at our list of clients to see whether any of the properties suit their requirements.

We also do a market comparison of other properties in surrounding areas to determine a fair selling price of a property, if sellers are asking too high a price, that is, 20-30% above the market value, we will ask them to reduce it.

Negotiation skills are very important – the real estate agent is the middleman who has to bridge the gap between the seller and the purchaser.

If you sell something, you get a commission, if the property doesn’t get sold, it’s time down the drain.

Describe a typical day at work.

Normally, we plan ahead of time how to market the property we have on our list. Usually an agent or a negotiator would have 20-30 properties in his profile – this is the optimum number.

Any property sold must be replenished. We use the phone a lot to arrange for appointments and viewing and also to solicit for business.

As head of my company I also have to oversee the negotiators’ portfolio and management of the company. Sometimes, when a property is moving very slowly, I have to analyse the reasons. We also need to continuously prospect for new listings as we sell properties.

What kind of personality do you think suits this career?

You must have a ‘sales mentality’ – confident, persuasive and willing to meet people.

In this job we meet people from all walks of life as we sell all kinds of properties – from medium cost apartments to bungalows and from industrial to commercial properties.

This is a job for a person who doesn’t like to sit in the office and is always on the go, a self-motivated individual. On the average, we show a property at least 10 times before we make a sale. The time period can be anything from a week to three months.

A pleasant personality is also important as well as honesty. A dishonest person won’t go far in this profession. Some agents misrepresent a client by saying that the land area is higher than it is or by not telling the client the real market value of the property.

What's the best part about your job?

Making a sale is the best part. You need to build a base in your career, but sometimes a big break comes along when you are asked to sell a property worth tens of millions of ringgit. It’s not impossible.

I have been involved in a collective sale where we sold commercial properties in Phileo Promenade and Phileo Damansara I and II for the developers – that has been my biggest break. For every real estate agent, that big break will come if you work hard at it.

What's the worst part about your job?

The worst part is having a difficult client. This happens when the owner ups the price or even changes his mind to sell the property. Another downside is if another agent beats you to the sale. You feel terrible if this happens. But this is part of any business – there will always be unscrupulous people.

What is the salary range?

The salary can range from RM300-RM2,000, not including commission. A top agent or negotiator can earn up to RM1mil. The average is above RM60,000 per year.

What are the career prospects in this line?

There are only 1,700 licensed agents in this profession so there is plenty of room for growth.

Although the bulk of business is in the secondary sales market, nowadays more and more developers are asking us to come in to market their properties.