Many brand-new recruits in the hope of making a quick buck from the current boom.

The continuing boom in home prices is proving profitable not only for property sellers and speculators, but also for property agents.

Many brand-new recruits with no previous experience are now jumping into the market in the hope of making a quick buck from the current boom.

This has led to property agencies around the island beefing up their army of agents, with some doubling the number of recruits from a year ago.

DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, for instance, has signed up nearly 500 new agents since January - twice that in the same period last year.

It now has 2,500 agents in its resale division, said Mr Thomas Lee, the unit’s executive vice-president.

Another agency, OrangeTee, said agent numbers have gone up by a third to about 1,200 now.

‘Today, we average 50 or 60 new agents a month, compared with 30 or 40 last year,’ said Mr Steven Tan, the executive director of OrangeTee’s residential division.

Knight Frank, on the other hand, has almost doubled its entire agent force.

It took on 300 agents over the last year, bringing its total team to slightly over 650, said Dr Tan Tee Khoon, the director of Knight Frank’s associates division.

Not all of the firm’s recent hires are new to the industry.

Many are former agents who eased out of home sales during the property downturn, but who are now back in business as active agents - which often means closing at least one deal a year.

With the property market going at full steam, it has become a lot easier to broker a deal now than two or three years ago, said Mr Marcus Chu, senior vice-president of ERA Singapore, who oversees the firm’s agent recruitment.

‘Right now, properties are easier and cheaper to sell,’ he said.

Growing buyer demand means that agents now take a shorter time to sell a property, so they can spend less on marketing it.

ERA’s agent numbers have grown by about 20 per cent over the last year, Mr Chu added.

They now weigh in at more than 5,000 registered agents and more than 2,000 active ones.

Its new hires come from diverse and sometimes unexpected backgrounds.

Apart from the usual retirees, salespeople and administrative staff, ERA counts among its new agents a former hairstylist and a former civil servant.

An increasing number of white-collar professionals are also taking to real estate, said Dr Tan of Knight Frank.

‘We have a good number of mid-career professionals joining us from IT, marketing, insurance and even a couple of former lawyers.’

Another agency, PropNex, has taken on teachers, accountants, and even an actor, said Mr Eric Cheng, its senior division director.

The firm, which added more than 1,000 new agents in the last five months, recorded a 40 per cent jump in sign-ups compared with the same period last year.

PropNex is also recruiting more staff with university degrees. The number of agents with a degree has risen 15 per cent in the first four months of this year over last year, it said.

The agency also said its agents’ success rate has increased. One out of every three new agents can close a deal in their first month on the job, compared with one out of every six previously.

Mr Cheng recounted the story of a 23-year-old polytechnic graduate who earned a $137,000 commission on a single sale in her second month. He has also seen agents make more than $1 million in commission a year.

But most agencies warned that new agents should not expect to make huge profits immediately.

‘We tell totally brand-new agents with no experience that from six months to a year, they may have to live off their savings,’ said Dr Tan. ‘This is to caution them against this lofty, illusory idea that because they are in real estate, they make big money straight away.’

Added Mr Cheng: ‘I always say that if you want to be serious in real estate, you must have $10,000 in your bank to fuel the first three to six months.’

Source: The Straits Times, 01 June 2007