For those who are considering joining the real estate industry as a real estate agent; PLEASE I urge u to think twice. Especially if you’re leaving a stable salaried job to do this.
Don’t be fooled by the posts of your friend posting their awards & fancy cars and crap on social media and think it’s so easy. It’s not.
Don’t get brainwashed by the managers who are trying to recruit you that it’s such good money and that you can also do it. They earn an overriding commission from their team members so of course the more the merrier. My team manager makes $30-60k a month alone on his team overriding commission; and that’s on top of his own sales. Don’t forget that these people are highly skilled salesmen who can sell ice to eskimos.
The reality is that only the TOP 1-5% of ALL agents make good money & the rest are barely making it. I am not exaggerating. The people in the Top 5% are making all the money.
If you’re not in the Top 5%, u can totally forget about it. There are over 30,000 agents in Singapore- u do the Maths.
In my first 2-3years, I burned through all my hard-earned savings on PropertyGuru credits (I think burned about 5k), various training courses (3k here and 6k there), various apps & misc expenses.
Besides PropertyGuru, there’s also EdgeProp & 99.co- also need to buy credits.
Another 20-30k burned on Facebook & Google Ads.
In this industry, you will burn a lot of money first (easily 20k or more in your first year) before u even make your first cent.
If you do not have at least 12 months of expenses saved PLUS min $20k for all these necessary expenses, don’t even consider it.
That’s not the worst part. Just because u burn money on PropertyGuru, Facebook & Google Ads doesn’t mean u will get genuine leads.
95% of all your leads are time wasters. They don’t respond when u contact them. Msg never reply. Or they will make an appointment with you & then never show up. A lot of people who fill up your lead form on Facebook are just bored and have no genuine intention to sell or buy property. Cold leads from online marketing are almost impossible to close. Most of them are just “look-see only”. I spent over $20k to learn this the hard way. Don’t be like me.
I cannot tell u how many times people have flown my plane. I travel down to the location and waited for an hour & the person never show up.
If you’re a woman, you’ll constantly get harassed by nuisance calls and texts by random male strangers. Because our contact number is readily available online, many men will think it’s okay to take your number and abuse it freely. Pretend to be a buyer interested to buy property, and then after wasting your time for hours, ask if you’re single.
Every day I will get at least one dodgy text or DM from some creepy anonymous male stranger on various platforms. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
This year after deducting expenses, not only did I not make any $$, I lost around $15-20k.
It’s depressing to think that the people working in McD & cleaners actually earn more than me.
The truth is- You’ll HATE the job UNLESS you’re a natural salesman who genuinely loves interacting with people. The keywords are “GENUINELY LOVES”.
I am an introvert, I hate going out, I hate interacting with people in general and I suffer every day in this job.
So please take my advice. Don’t do it. It’s very painful & not as lucrative as many people think.
Most agents make around $50-100k a year? Might as well stick to a regular day job with CPF and benefits.
The real perk is the security of knowing u have a fixed paycheck coming in every month.
The dumbest thing one can do is leave a stable salaried job for this “job” where U actually have to pay money to do things U hate & talk to people u can’t stand, every day going around for viewing after viewing like a free tour guide.
People don’t care about wasting your time, cos you’re just an agent.
Nobody will tell u this because frankly, those who are struggling won’t admit to anyone they’re struggling, and the few who are doing very well won’t understand why you’re struggling.
I just wish somebody had told me this years ago.