Know What You Want First

I asked a REA (Registered Estate Agent), a co-Principal of a medium sized real estate agency, on whether new RENS (Real Estate Negotiators) should join a big firm which employs hundreds of agents or go to work for a small to medium sized company. The Take Home message I got from her was the type of firm you want to join depends on :

Your intended focus (eg New Projects properties or Sub-Sale properties),
if you already has some sales or marketing experience, and
if you are self motivated and willing to pick up things on his own

The most important factor, though, she said, is the quality of your working relationship with your Team Leader (in a big company) or your Principal (in a small or medium sized company).

Whichever company you join, make sure you can fit into the work culture and your supervisor has the time to teach you the basics from A to Z.

In the last analysis, it all comes down to Lady Luck if you can join a real estate company that pays high comms, provides good training opportunities and maybe profitable marketing leads.

Pros and cons of joining a Big company Vs a Small to Medium sized agency.

“It is all luck. The most important person is your leader, whether he/she is willing to teach fr A-Z. Whether you can fit into their environment. Bigger co is better where they have libraries on all subjects related to properties. They may hold more related talks. A newbie can learn faster. If you are hardworking, you could learn all that on your own too even when you are with a small co.

But for a person with some industry knowledge the % Comms is important

Smaller companies don't give much guidance. You might need to attend courses ouside for how to use AI on your own.

More flexibility & principal can change to accommodate. Smaller firms can try to get appointment fr developer for any project that RENs want to sell. Not so for big companies.

If you want to (focus on selling) new projects, you have to look for co with a lot of projects. Some big cos are selling only one developer's projects ie XYZ try to sell projects fr Exsim only.

You have (to) know what you want first.”

Source : WhatsApp messages

The real estate agency industry is one of the few professions where smart young people who don't want to spend a lot of money plus 3 or 4 years studying hard at uni or college can still earn as much money as a doctor, lawyer or accountant.

For example, I know several Team Leaders who are Senior Negotiators that earn RM500,000 a year. I believe they are not uni graduates.

The real estate industry is rather like the stockbroking industry -both can reward well people who can generate a consistent revenue stream for their firm. Of course, a university degree, e.g. a MSc in Real Estate or MBA Real Estate might be helpful in getting into a big company. But your pay will ultimately depend on how successful you are in marketing properties.

4 Steps To Personal Success

After 5 years, according to a senior REA I know, real estate marketing professionals should make between RM10,000 to RM20,000 a month, depending of course on how hard they work. But I think it is quite possible to earn RM200,000 in commission in your first year as a real estate negotiator.

Here’s how to earn RM200,000 as a new REN in 4 easy steps (I will assume you have a likeable personality and am prepared to work really hard):

1 Focus On New Projects Properties

Developers of high end New Project properties generally pay around 5% commission (compared to a maximum of 3% for sub-sale properties) and maybe as much as 10% or more to real estate agents. To earn RM200,000 you will therefore need to find buyers for a New Project property worth at least RM4 mIllion , based on a 5% commission rate.

Is that possible ?

Yes. The REA above also told me one of her team members a senior REN sold 2 units at 8 Conlay to HK /Chinese buyers. She rewarded herself with a new Mercedes Benz car with her Comms and even had spare change left. (Note: At RM3000+ psf, a single 700 sf unit at one of the two YOO8 Branded Serviced Residences @8 Conlay costs a whooping RM2 million. Say the REN got 5% comm (& her firm’s Principals pocket for themselves another 2-5%) for selling two Yoo 8 units for RM4m. She takes home RM200k. That's moolah many lawyers, dentists and junior doctors earn in a year

2 Establish Your Own Brand

Personal branding to differentiate yourself from the competition is more important than ever given there are now more than 30,000 registered real estate professionals out there in Malaysia. (There are probably anoy 30,000 illegal ie unregistered agents). In an age where there is abundant advice on how to buy investment properties from portals, influencers and so called property “gurus”, and free home evaluations from AI like Google’s AI I think the majority of home buyers still want somebody they can trust, look up to, and get advice from.

As a Negotiator with AI skillset, you should be using social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook ads to generate leads for a sales funnel, showcase your professional credentials and industry knowledge and most importantly, to demonstrate you can add value for your clients.

Studies show 90% of buying decisions for most people stems from emotional connections, not logic. So the more human your Personal Brand feels, the higher the likelihood that your target audience will make an emotional decision prompted by you to buy or rent as opposed to an overtly logical one.

You might want to get started on your Personal Branding by checking out my posts, “How To Stand Out And Win Listings” and “Your Own Real Estate website for less than RM600”

3 Use Social Media Marketing Tools

Many real estate agents are using digital marketing strategies to reach out to their existing clients and to get good quality leads from prospects. So why shouldn't you do the same? Begin by writing posts to your Facebook business account or LinkedIn account to get the target market’s attention with a clever hook eg. “Would you like a free valuation of your home?” or “Would you like to own an award winning heritage hotel and restaurant in Penang?” . This is called a sales funnel.

An effective hook tries to create an emotional response in the target audience to take some kind of action. The basic idea is not to overwhelm the client with too much information but to get her to do a simple action. Like click on an email or WhatsApp business account number to get more information.

For examples of effective hooks used in social media marketing see my post at Real Estate Marketing 101 , “Effective LinkedIn Marketing Is Easy” with an example by Knight Frank Malaysia and “”Why every REN should get a LinkedIn profile” with an example by KW Reapfield .

4 Use AI To Find USPs

In the past, experienced real estate agents had the “Knowledge”. By that I mean they had already established a contact list of profitable leads on where to find new listings in a neighborhood. New RENs without the Knowledge were often locked out. In effect, the newbies in the industry are often assigned the “leftover crumbs” , ie less profitable marketing leads, to sell or rent. Established agents could also often draw upon their personal database of property transactions prices and rentals gained from many years working a neighborhood to gain a competitive advantage over new agents.

But now with AI like Google's Gemini, you can bypass your Bank Valuer contacts and DIRECTLY get the AI to out put the latest property price transactions for any property in the Brickz.my database FOC. And as an added bonus ask Gemini AI to do a comparison with comparable properties in the neighborhood! 🤪😂🤔

How To Earn RM200k In Your 1st Year In Real Estate