If you are considering a career in real estate, this article is for you.Being a property agent or realtor (as it is called in USA) is considered a lucrative career in Singapore.
Real estate agency in Singapore is a self-regulated industry. The government agency tasked to be the watchdog is Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore. Then there are two major real estate organizations that aim to represent the roughly 8000-strong real estate agent population.
On one hand, there is the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) and on the other, the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers (SISV).
Property firms are not required to join either of the associations. They are left mostly on their own to set their own rules and business policies.
So, collectively, property agency bosses set the tone for the industry. They set their own procedures for someone who is interested to join their company. Many of these bosses simply copy each other.
At this moment, there is no compulsory requirement for obtaining the CEHA (Common Exam for Housing Agents) qualification. It is good to get it, but it is not compulsory. Our advice for newcomers is to obtain some practical experience first, so that you can better appreciate the depth of the theory when you go for CEHA.
There are mainly 3 types of property firms you can join in Singapore.
1. The first is the Salary + Commission model. Big international property firms practise this. Because of their international brand name, they can recruit and select fresh graduates for their team an pay high salaries plus a cut of pooled commission/bonus. The property marketing executive enjoys employee perks, office amenities, etc. However, the corporate culture is not for everybody, especially for the average real estate agent. Most entrepreneurial agents have little tolerance for office politics, hierarchy and employee roles.
2. Traditional 50/50 model. Traditionally, most property agencies are small outfits with a handful of agents who work as a team. They work on company leads and referrals. In return, the company pay their agents a percentage of the sales commission received (typically not more than 50%). Unfortunately, there are very few of such companies left due to high turnover. Many agents treat such companies as "learning school". Then when they gain experience and confidence, they will leave such companies for others that pay a higher commission.
3. Mass market model. Many property agencies formed in the 90's fall under this model. These firms like to boast of how big there are, in terms of number of agents of course. The usual modus operandi is to have flashy recruitment ads to sell the career. Then attract as many people as possible to attend their compulsory in-house training. There is very flaky selection criteria. Many of these firms lure newcomers by saying that the course fee (which averages $500) is refundable, upon the candidate achieving his/her X$ in sales. Many of such property firms pay a starting commission level of 60-70%. Then as the salesperson matures, this commission level goes up to 90-95%. Such property firms can be huge and impersonal. There is very little teamwork and everybody is on their own. Most business is generated from the HDB market, hence the term "mass market model". The tacky thing about such companies is that they like to give themselves superlative accolades like "Top Gun" and "Million Dollar Awards", etc. There also seems to be an over-emphasis here on how much money they earned, instead of professionalism.
Big On Space is a different set-up altogether. It is a new generation company that is built on an online business model.
We are a cross between a property agency (because we have the broker licence) , an investment company and a business consultant. We look for projects and conceptualize them as investment deals to make money for our investor clients. In this sense, we are like property investment consultants.
As such, we keep our team size small and work with bankers, lawyers and financial investment professionals.
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