Kisah Hidup Seorang Agent Hartanah / Life as Realtor (Part: 2)

Next October will be my 6th year as real estate negotiator. Lama kan? I made numerous closings and yesterday as I was driving home from meeting my co-agency partner I was reflecting how much I learn from this closings.

It is a simple viewing, negotiation, and closing. But it took three Saturdays. 

Saturday 1 - Viewing

My sister called telling me that her friend looking for corner lot or Semi D in Putrajaya with budget of RM1m.

Saturday 2 - Negotiating

Negotiating  took a week for vendor and purchaser to arrived to agreed price.  However, one BIG problem, the price that the owner's indicated earlier was NETT price.

It took us a week to renegotiate to make everybody to be happy

Saturday 3 - Closing

Finally collected deposit. 

What took it so long?  This is interesting part in every work when life get in the way it is up to us to stay calm and stay focus. What I learned being real estate negotiator is that just follow the rules. True, some rules are made to be broken but not all.  As intermediary, all we need is being transparent and making sure you tell the truth and focus to the problem at hand. 

No point to be jumpy and yeah, rezeki is something I can't control. No one can.

My view on Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam

Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam (BBSA), Seksyen U11 is a development developed (and still developing) by Lebar Daun Bhd. Located in greenery of Bukit Cerakah the place is serene, beautiful and it is a good location to live. It is far enough to be a quiet place to live but not too far to be forgotten. 

I live there for seven years, from 2005 until 2012. I made good business deal from selling and renting BBSA. We sold our house but I am still working for property in BBSA. Now allow me to share with you my view of BBSA and hopefully you can make if you are deciding about buying a property here. 

Love it:

1. The place itself. Green, quiet, birds chirping every morning. Imagine driving in wide road with trees left and right. Then there's lake bordering BBSA and Bukit Cerakah. I absolutely love to drive after rainy day. 

2. Neighbourhood. I would say it is 95% Malays and mostly are working people. Also many are not local Shah Alam. 

3. Design - I like every design of BBSA. From Moroccan style for their 2nd phase (Palladium & Salasia) to modern design of Phase 9 (Collaris and Laurus).

4. Investment return - the developer is yet to complete developing BBSA. There is more work to be done for example, commercial area. That's the beauty of it. The place has lots of prospect to grow and it is totally liveable now so the price that you pay surely will be rewarded in short time (taking consideration of  penalty of early settlement & RPGT). 

5. Good rental income - there's always call asking for rental house in BBSA

6.  The Price - this is a checkmate for any property transaction. You can still find property below RM600,000 in BBSA

Hate it :

1. The developer did not really taking advantages of the big lake. They should also build more playground or maybe some picnic area by the lake.   

2. Finishing quality.  When the design is beautiful there is always some work need to be done such as hairline crack, uneven door and buyers must always make full use of the Warranty Period.  That's why buying sub-sale is always better IMO

3. No commercial area. You have to drive to Seksyen 8 to buy groceries etc. It is about 10km away.

4. Break-in. There are some break-in cases. Not many but there's some. The neighbourhood don't have boom gate yet. 

I say make your decision fast and do let me know if you wish to know more about Bukit Bandaraya Shah Alam.

p/s: I sold our house at 35% profit

Hidup & Pilihan

Ni sekadar nak mengomel tentang hidup dan pilihan. Tentang kehidupan kita yang sentiasa dipenuhi dengan pilihan. Semuanya tentang membuat pilihan. Terjaga diwaktu pagi, kena pilih nak katup mata lagi atau bangkit, perut lapar - kena pilih nak tahan atau nak makan. Nak makan apa? Nak minum apa? Nak makan dengan siapa?

Setiap pilihan dalam kehidupan saya yang saya rasa paling simple antara sedar atau tidak akan mempunyai kesan tersendiri. Cuba lihat kembali pilihan yang kita buat 10 tahun atau 10 minit lepas dan kesan terhadap diri kita  dan adakah ia mampu merubah hidup dan pandangan kita tentang kehidupan. 

10 minit tadi saya sangat dahaga. Sebabnya pagi tadi saya memilih untuk tidak minum selepas sarapan. Apa agaknya outcome yang boleh jadi jika saya bawa bekal air selepas membuat pilihan untuk tidak minum selepas makan pagi:

1. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya tak akan sedahaga begini.

2. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya akan berulang ke tandas (masalah bladder pendek hehe)

3. Kalau saya bawa bekal air, saya akan duduk dimana sahaja yang mempunyai wifi tanpa perlu order minuman.

Kalau lihat 10 tahun lepas, harus saya menangis lagi.  Atau mungkin saya akan gembira jika dipandang dari segi yang lain pula. Setiap pilihan yang saya pilih telah membawa saya kesini hari ini. Dari segi career paths, men, friends, clothes, movies and books. All those made me me!

Is there anything that I regret?  I'm human and yes, there are more than a few, let me list it:-

1. Should have quit my job and get in real estate asap

2. Should have bought the gold Mini Cooper that I like in 1995

3. Should have buy gold when it was 30/100g (my mom asked me to but well...)

4. Should have keep my mouth shut when I should 

5. Should have learn languages

6. Should continue and sharpen my writing skill

7. Should and never allowed my self to be this fat. 

8. ...the list goes on.

Now a choice to be made:

What's for dinner?

I am tired

Being a real estate negotiator is not easy. The job is tough, competition is even tougher and sadly the income is not as rewarding as people want you to believe.  Having said that, there is lots of things that I love being real estate negotiator. I love the flexibility and ample time that I have, I love that I can pursue other project. I love meeting people and for that little sacrifice I have a dream to be a license real estate agent someday. 

Becoming a licensed agent is my retirement plan.  I imagine that when I'm in the age where I no longer has energy to go out and show people houses I can delegate to the staff to show that house, when all I want to do is travel the world and kicking off my bucket list I know I have my license to ensure a steady source of income.

So in 2012 I registered myself to Board of Valuers and Estate Agent for the examination to be one. The process to be a licensed agents:

1. Part 1 - 6 papers
2. Part 2 - 5 papers
3. Two years of practical/internship
4. Interview by the examination board.

I didn't put a deadline but if all go smoothly I should be doing my internship by now!

How life has other plan and sometimes what you wish for didn't fall thru.  My heart broke into pieces when I received the result last Monday. I failed (again) Accounting (expected) and Law (surprised).  I thought I did well in Law paper. But Lady Luck is not with me!

For now I want to put aside my dream, put it in box and lock it and put it far away so I won't cry.

p/s  but I do not want to look back and regret for not strive for it. ugh! What to do next is clear. But frankly, I am just tired.