Real Estate Business Update!

I passed my RES (Real Estate Salesperson) exam last August and obtained my license last October. Was full time RES for 4months and turned part time since March. It kinda became a side hustle, albeit quite an expensive one.

Just want to give some updates on how am I doing so far as I received quite a few DMs on interest in becoming a realtor and taking up the RES exam.

The only smooth sailing part of my realtor journey was my exam as I managed to ace it with minimal effort. I attribute it entirely to luck.

1. In terms of $$$ which I am sure something that most people are interested in, I have spent a total of around 9k SGD since the start of my realtor journey. I have only managed to close a single deal that has 13k SGD commission. All in all, it is still positive. However, if you considered the total number of hours put into it, it's not worth it at all. The disclaimer here is, I am only working on new launches, I dont do rentals nor resale. Thus, for a new RES who does everything, perhaps the net return will be much higher. I am a little more selective and lazy in that sense.

2. I kinda chose the worst period of time to become a RES amidst the rising interest rates environment. Things are really quite ugly on the ground. Just for perspective, during the good old times from 2020 to early 2022, cost of a facebook marketing lead can be as low as 5 dollars. Currently, you can count your blessing if a single lead cost you 30 dollars on average. So that's 6 times more. If you are a new RES, it will be extremely taxing on your wallet and can be super demoralising. Whereas for the old birds who had made a few pots of gold during the boom period have the ability to slug it out during the down turn.

I had a conversation with a seasoned realtor. He said that he had 25 appointments for 1 of the recent new launch project and 0 closing. I had 1 appointment and bearing in mind I was spending an average of 1 k SGD per month on advertising. God knows how much he spent on advertising to get 25 appointments! It's all statistics, more appointments, higher chances to close a deal

However, luck plays a big part as well. Some people close with a single appointment. Unfortunate not me.

3. I was focusing on CCR projects and had 1 really firm lead who wanted a particular project but the launch was shelved because of the 60% ABSD announcement. I was hoping to convert that and use the commission to finance for the long term. unfortunately, 计划赶不上变化. Thus, I have shift my focus to the longer term.

4. Without sounding like a sore loser, perhaps I am just not good enough? haha.

5. Will I give up on this venture? If I didnt have my current full time job to finance it, i might have just given up on it and became part of the statistics of newbie realtors who didnt survive more than a year, and be contented with a FIRE life. Thus, I am glad that I made the decision to take up a new role that still complements my personal T&Cs!