More property agents in SG quitting the industry to become......

[LedZeppelin]

More property agents quitting the industry

Property Guru
January 11, 2016

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) October-to-December licence renewal period saw several property agencies lose many of their real estate agents, reported The Business Times.

In fact, 22 of Singapores 30 biggest agencies are now left with fewer agents than last month, with HSR International and ECG Property registering the biggest drop in percentage terms.

The CEAs aggregated statistics on the number of salespersons and agencies will be released later this month or in early-February.

Meanwhile, ERA Realty and PropNex Realty are still the two biggest agencies even after their agent numbers dropped by 6.6 percent and 8.9 percent to 5,947 and 5,506 agents respectively.

A distant third is Huttons Asia, which witnessed its agent numbers fall 10.7 percent to less than 3,000.

Nonetheless, some firms grew their agent pool. These include Onehome Property (started in 2014 by former ECG Property agents), OrangeTee.com, Century 21 (Asia-Pacific) Realty (part of the Century 21 franchise network and former UPG International), and Real Centre International.

According to Arthur Zhang, Key Executive Officer of Onehome Property, the multi-fold increase in agent strength from 20 last year to 197 agents this month is due to the service support provided by the company to its agents via digital platforms, in-house telemarketing as well as a customer service team which liaises with tenants and landlords.

We offer free-of-charge handyman services for all landlords and tenants who conduct their transaction through us. This helps all parties, as our agents are not inundated with maintenance-related issues, and landlords and tenants get quicker and easier access to maintenance and minor repair services, he said.

OrangeTee Managing Director Steven Tan revealed that his company takes advantage of communication and information technology in order to recruit new agents, while investing in branding and training to retain existing agents. OrangeTees agent pool increased by 5.3 percent from last month to 2,328 this month.

Meanwhile, HSR International and ECG Property lost the most number of agents at 25.3 percent and 30.8 percent month-on-month respectively to 578 and 146 this month.

While the city-state possibly has one of the biggest number of agents, the CEA noted that one-third of these registered agents have other jobs, of which a third is inactive in estate agency work.

However, the current external environment is unsupportive of property agents planning to get out of the industry, said Ku Swee Yong, Chief Executive Officer of the Century 21 Singapore franchise and the Key Executive Officer of International Property Advisor.

In the 2009 down-cycle, some agents could find jobs in tourism when integrated resorts came onstream, but now, there are not many options for them to move on to, he said.

Fortunately, on-demand private-car hire services Uber and Grabcar have become welcome platforms to see these people through, he added.

 

[LedZeppelin]

Dafabet busted!

Singaporean nabbed in Vietnam for running online gambling ring

A screenshot from a Vietnamese news clip showing police raiding Mr Lawrence Wong's apartment.

Photo: YouTube/HOÀNG BAO THÚC

Elizabeth Law
Thursday, Dec 24, 2015

The parents of a Singaporean man arrested in Vietnam had no idea about his arrest, or his alleged links with an online gambling website.

Mr Lawrence Wong Boon Leong, 35, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, reported Vietnamese news website Thanh Nien News.

Three Vietnamese nationals - Nguyen Thu Kim Cuc, 29, Nguyen Van Nam, 33, and Vo Dang Thanh Trung, 31 - were also nabbed in connection with the same website, police said.

Police believe Mr Wong is in charge of the Vietnamese arm of a multinational online gambling operation with servers based in the Philippines.

Gamblers are believed to have spent about US$44.35 million (S$62.4 million) on the site.

A video clip from the state-run ANTV, which specialises in crime and security, showed Mr Wong in handcuffs while Vietnamese police raided his apartment, seizing several documents, mobile phones and a laptop as evidence.

Gambling is illegal in Vietnam except within the casinos, which only admit foreigners. Those breaking the law face a lengthy jail term and a heavy fine, reported Thanh Nien News.

When The New Paper visited his parents' flat in Jurong West yesterday, they were shocked to find out that their son had been arrested.

Shown a picture of Mr Wong, his father Wong Keng Wah confirmed his son's identity.

"My wife and I thought he had been working for a company in Vietnam, we didn't know that he was involved in this thing," said the older Mr Wong, a retiree in his 60s.

Mrs Wong said her son, the eldest of four children, had told his parents via WhatsApp over the weekend that he was coming home on Christmas Eve.

"He asked me to cook him dinner, because he wanted to come home for dinner. He said he was coming home tomorrow," a visibly shocked Mrs Wong told TNP yesterday in Mandarin.

POLY DIPLOMA

She said her son had a diploma from a local polytechnic and had previously worked as a real estate agent in Singapore.

But the property business was bad and on the advice of friends, he went on to operate a mookata (Thai-style barbecue steamboat) restaurant.

That too, did not do well and his losses ran into the hundreds of thousands, his mother said, adding that her son sold his marital home in Commonwealth and moved back in with his parents.

She added that this caused much friction between Mr Lawrence Wong and his wife of five years.

According to business records, Mr Wong is still listed as a director and shareholder in Yummy Thai Mookata, a company that was started in February 2014 and is still in operation.

In June this year, he was also made a director of Orion Wave Marketing.

This was also the same time that he said business opportunities had opened up in Vietnam, his mother told TNP.

Telling his parents that he was being sent there by a company, Mr Wong packed his bags and has been living in Ho Chi Minh City since.

The last time he visited Singapore was in October for a cousin's wedding, his mother said.

"He never spoke about what he did there. Every time we asked him how was work, he would say 'okay'," Mrs Wong said.

"If we had known he was going into an illegal business, of course we would stop him. Which parent would want their kid to get into trouble?"

The Wongs are now in touch with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to do what they can for their son.

Said Mrs Wong: "We don't have much money to help him pay the fine if there's one. But I'm just hoping they (MFA) can help to bring my son back."

He never spoke about what he did there. Every time we asked him how was work, he would say 'okay'.

 

[johnny333]

What's wrong with online gambling

Other than the fact that governments don't get a cut of the profits I don't see why it would be wrong.

 

[krafty]

property agents who can't survive are stoopid. the smarter ones already in foreign property market.

 

[Ambulance]

property agents who can't survive are stoopid. the smarter ones already in foreign property market.

oi hotbot ah zua lee yia eh tio police clearance si mi join the aw arm si boh

 

[congo9]

Being a property agent add no value to real economy, except to hype up the price of a property

 

[krafty]

property agents who can't survive are stoopid. the smarter ones already in foreign property market.

i am leaving sinkieland...:o

 

[no_faith]

i am leaving sinkieland...:o

U log in sala nick to reply issit?

 

[no_faith]

Singaporean nabbed in Vietnam for running online gambling ring

Whats wrong? It is a profitable biz. U dont earn other ppl also go earn. If u can take the risk why not?

 

[lifeafter41]

i am leaving sinkieland...:o

Hi Kraft, when you leaving for auusieland?. Got a job there already?.

 

[Rogue Trader]

Ngiam dong how had warned about sinkies overcrowding property sales instead of acquiring skilled jobs. Now these people are out of jobs and out of options.

 

[krafty]

Hi Kraft, when you leaving for auusieland?. Got a job there already?.

hi bro, i am in aussie land alrdy, down here, economy also soft. it's worst in western aust.
for time being, i just bite the bullet and scrape thru without a job.

 

[blueRad]

I known a few property agents that turned anti PAP due to falling property prices.

 

[Rogue Trader]

I known a few property agents that turned anti PAP due to falling property prices.

These fuckers are crybabies. I'm sure they voted Pap last year. Property agents made their pile from the FT policy, driving home prices beyond ordinary young sinkies. Now with the cooling measures stopping a man-made catastrophe from happening, thay complain what?

 

[Ambulance]

hi bro, i am in aussie land alrdy, down here, economy also soft. it's worst in western aust.
for time being, i just bite the bullet and scrape thru without a job.

halo mai bin tua hor ki zho lum tua bian ho tan hor

 

[lifeafter41]

hi bro, i am in aussie land alrdy, down here, economy also soft. it's worst in western aust.
for time being, i just bite the bullet and scrape thru without a job.

Western Australia?. Are you in Perth or Albany, what's your plan over there.
Not sure how long you can scrape through without a job, as things are pretty expensive in Aussie too.

 

[lifeafter41]

More property agents quitting the industry

Property Guru
January 11, 2016

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) October-to-December licence renewal period saw several property agencies lose many of their real estate agents, reported The Business Times.

In fact, 22 of Singapores 30 biggest agencies are now left with fewer agents than last month, with HSR International and ECG Property registering the biggest drop in percentage terms.

The CEAs aggregated statistics on the number of salespersons and agencies will be released later this month or in early-February.

Meanwhile, ERA Realty and PropNex Realty are still the two biggest agencies even after their agent numbers dropped by 6.6 percent and 8.9 percent to 5,947 and 5,506 agents respectively.

A distant third is Huttons Asia, which witnessed its agent numbers fall 10.7 percent to less than 3,000.

Nonetheless, some firms grew their agent pool. These include Onehome Property (started in 2014 by former ECG Property agents), OrangeTee.com, Century 21 (Asia-Pacific) Realty (part of the Century 21 franchise network and former UPG International), and Real Centre International.

According to Arthur Zhang, Key Executive Officer of Onehome Property, the multi-fold increase in agent strength from 20 last year to 197 agents this month is due to the service support provided by the company to its agents via digital platforms, in-house telemarketing as well as a customer service team which liaises with tenants and landlords.

We offer free-of-charge handyman services for all landlords and tenants who conduct their transaction through us. This helps all parties, as our agents are not inundated with maintenance-related issues, and landlords and tenants get quicker and easier access to maintenance and minor repair services, he said.

OrangeTee Managing Director Steven Tan revealed that his company takes advantage of communication and information technology in order to recruit new agents, while investing in branding and training to retain existing agents. OrangeTees agent pool increased by 5.3 percent from last month to 2,328 this month.

Meanwhile, HSR International and ECG Property lost the most number of agents at 25.3 percent and 30.8 percent month-on-month respectively to 578 and 146 this month.

While the city-state possibly has one of the biggest number of agents, the CEA noted that one-third of these registered agents have other jobs, of which a third is inactive in estate agency work.

However, the current external environment is unsupportive of property agents planning to get out of the industry, said Ku Swee Yong, Chief Executive Officer of the Century 21 Singapore franchise and the Key Executive Officer of International Property Advisor.

In the 2009 down-cycle, some agents could find jobs in tourism when integrated resorts came onstream, but now, there are not many options for them to move on to, he said.

Fortunately, on-demand private-car hire services Uber and Grabcar have become welcome platforms to see these people through, he added.

Spoke to a couple of agents that is doing those selling at the heartlands hawker centers, pushing out those condos, tough was the word.....understand most are surviving on the rental markets, as for buy and sell, chances very low was the word.....I guess it's pretty tough out there now for these agents.

 

[winnipegjets]

Never thought highly of real estate or insurance agents. Why?

 

[krafty]

Western Australia?. Are you in Perth or Albany, what's your plan over there.
Not sure how long you can scrape through without a job, as things are pretty expensive in Aussie too.

actually, i am in melbourne. my friend staying in perth told me that such is such.

 

[xebay11]

property agents who can't survive are stoopid. the smarter ones already in foreign property market.

You can't make money selling foreign property, how many sinkies can afford? Statistically the market is only available for top 5% of the population, out of the top 5%, maybe only 10% buy foreign property and out of this maybe only 10% buy from Singapore agents, the rest like me, go overseas to buy direct. So don't be stupid and anyhow say things you know nothing about.