To become a property agent, you will need to minimally do or pay for the following:
Real Estate Salesperson (RES) Course - est. $650 to $850
RES Examinations - $417.30 (2 papers)
Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance - est. $170
RES License Fee - $230 (apply H1 of the year) or $115 (apply H2 of the year)
The course fees differ among course providers, but generally you can claim for Skillfuture and UTAP which may offset most of the fees for you.
For the exams, there are 2 papers which you will need to pass and the 1st time that you take, it will be at $417.30 in total for both papers. If you failed 1 of the papers, you can retake just that paper at $235.40. You can refer to the Council of Estate Agents (CEA) website (https://www.cea.gov.sg/professionals/salesperso...).
PI insurance and your RES license fee will normally be paid together to the agency which you are signing up with. The total cost should be around $400 if you are getting your license within 1st half (H1) of the year. The licensing fee is determined by CEA, and you can refer to https://www.cea.gov.sg/professionals/salesperso... for more information.
These are just the basic fees that you will need. Minimally prepare to spend $1500 (before any subsidy or claims) if everything went smoothly and you pass it in 1 try. Certain agencies may also require you to attend their course or introduction courses before you begin and normally these incur additional fees too.
Once you get started, there are also other operating fees for marketing & advertising, transportation, entertainment and your annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses which are mandatory for your license renewal. Your renewal will also incur the cost for PI insurance and license fee.
Therefore, my most helpful tip that I can share is that cashflow and budgeting is essential for a property agent. You will incur huge cost, but with potential for high income (the ceiling's the limit). Remember: High income is never a guarantee. Cost is a must but it can be managed.
A couple more tips before I end this super long post:
Perseverence is key. You will have peak and lull periods in terms of income and activities. Sometimes it is driven by the market, sometimes it is pure luck, and sometimes it is just you having a life or facing life. The only way is to remember to persevere and the sun may come back again.
Client management. You need to have good PR or CS skills. Without it, you will definitely suffer because the role of the agent is no longer just buying and selling (although sometimes clients still require just that). You will need to manage their expectations and sometimes their emotions because property involves big money which means higher emotions at times. They also may have unrealistic expectations due to misinformation or not understand the market. So you will need to learn how to manage that.
Emotional and stress management. This is for yourself. It can get stressful, especially with unstable income flow. Deals may not go through at the last minute. Screw ups happens. Meeting nasty or weird people. These are all part of the job, and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. So you have to keep yourself sane.
Constant upgrading. This is true because in 2015 to 2017, video marketing was not that hot and all you see for video marketing is literally slideshows. During that same period, social media marketing (exception of Google Ads) is also minimal. Yet, now you see video marketing everywhere and it seems like property agents are just flooding social media with ads. Times changed, and maybe these will be outdated too. So you will need to keep exploring and learning.
Stay on the side of the law. Property agents are regulated mainly by the Estate Agents Act and it confers powers to CEA to regulate through other regulations and a disciplinary committee. Sometimes, there are things which are done that are borderlining on the edge of the law or in the grey area. Sometimes it is blatantly a breach. You need to know what you can and cannot do and decide if you want to risk your career just to earn those quick bucks. What others may do, may not be what you need to do. Many times agents get into trouble because of other agents as they get jealous or were affected by another agent's barely allowed methodology.
I hope the above gives you a very truthful insight to the industry and don't rush into joining the agency with only a rosy perspective of the industry. It is hard work and money don't come without doing anything.
To become a property agent, you will need to minimally do or pay for the following:
Real Estate Salesperson (RES) Course - est. $650 to $850
RES Examinations - $417.30 (2 papers)
Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance - est. $170
RES License Fee - $230 (apply H1 of the year) or $115 (apply H2 of the year)
The course fees differ among course providers, but generally you can claim for Skillfuture and UTAP which may offset most of the fees for you.
For the exams, there are 2 papers which you will need to pass and the 1st time that you take, it will be at $417.30 in total for both papers. If you failed 1 of the papers, you can retake just that paper at $235.40. You can refer to the Council of Estate Agents (CEA) website (https://www.cea.gov.sg/professionals/salesperso...).
PI insurance and your RES license fee will normally be paid together to the agency which you are signing up with. The total cost should be around $400 if you are getting your license within 1st half (H1) of the year. The licensing fee is determined by CEA, and you can refer to https://www.cea.gov.sg/professionals/salesperso... for more information.
These are just the basic fees that you will need. Minimally prepare to spend $1500 (before any subsidy or claims) if everything went smoothly and you pass it in 1 try. Certain agencies may also require you to attend their course or introduction courses before you begin and normally these incur additional fees too.
Once you get started, there are also other operating fees for marketing & advertising, transportation, entertainment and your annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses which are mandatory for your license renewal. Your renewal will also incur the cost for PI insurance and license fee.
Therefore, my most helpful tip that I can share is that cashflow and budgeting is essential for a property agent. You will incur huge cost, but with potential for high income (the ceiling's the limit). Remember: High income is never a guarantee. Cost is a must but it can be managed.
A couple more tips before I end this super long post:
Perseverence is key. You will have peak and lull periods in terms of income and activities. Sometimes it is driven by the market, sometimes it is pure luck, and sometimes it is just you having a life or facing life. The only way is to remember to persevere and the sun may come back again.
Client management. You need to have good PR or CS skills. Without it, you will definitely suffer because the role of the agent is no longer just buying and selling (although sometimes clients still require just that). You will need to manage their expectations and sometimes their emotions because property involves big money which means higher emotions at times. They also may have unrealistic expectations due to misinformation or not understand the market. So you will need to learn how to manage that.
Emotional and stress management. This is for yourself. It can get stressful, especially with unstable income flow. Deals may not go through at the last minute. Screw ups happens. Meeting nasty or weird people. These are all part of the job, and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. So you have to keep yourself sane.
Constant upgrading. This is true because in 2015 to 2017, video marketing was not that hot and all you see for video marketing is literally slideshows. During that same period, social media marketing (exception of Google Ads) is also minimal. Yet, now you see video marketing everywhere and it seems like property agents are just flooding social media with ads. Times changed, and maybe these will be outdated too. So you will need to keep exploring and learning.
Stay on the side of the law. Property agents are regulated mainly by the Estate Agents Act and it confers powers to CEA to regulate through other regulations and a disciplinary committee. Sometimes, there are things which are done that are borderlining on the edge of the law or in the grey area. Sometimes it is blatantly a breach. You need to know what you can and cannot do and decide if you want to risk your career just to earn those quick bucks. What others may do, may not be what you need to do. Many times agents get into trouble because of other agents as they get jealous or were affected by another agent's barely allowed methodology.
I hope the above gives you a very truthful insight to the industry and don't rush into joining the agency with only a rosy perspective of the industry. It is hard work and money don't come without doing anything.