Special Feature
From retirement career to top realtor
By Jane Ee
/ EdgeProp Excellence Awards 2022 |
Jane Ee of PropNex Realty receiving the Top Transactor Award for Landed Property from Shermie Tee, EdgeProp Singapore vice president, agency sales and training
When Jane Ee joined the property industry as an agent four years ago, she had intended for it to become her retirement career. Ee joined the industry after leaving her role as a senior lecturer, and after spending 32 years in the education industry. According to her, being a property agent would allow her to pursue her interest in property and to use her time wisely now that she had plenty of it.
However, Ee soon found out that she was a trusted agent by many. The senior associate division director of PropNex shares that the commission earned in the past four years in real estate is the equivalent of her income in 32 years as a teacher, lecturer, and subsequently senior lecturer.
“My first year was actually a slow one, particularly after the July 2018 government cooling measures. At that time, my commission earned only equalled my annual income as a senior lecturer. But the rest of the three years picked up very quickly,” she says. “At this point in time, I am more relaxed, and more established. I don’t have to source for new information as much like I did when I was a new agent. People approach me now and I know how to get new listings quickly too.”
All about time and effort
Ee, who is one of six agents who have clinched the highest number of transactions in the landed property segment by an individual real estate salesperson at the EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards (EPEA) in 2022, attributes her success to her involvement in all sorts of landed transactions.
“I serve all landed segments — whether it’s landed properties with low or high values, leasehold or freehold properties, or cluster landed. I work on rentals, too,” she says.
Ee does not choose her transactions either; she takes whatever falls on her plate. For instance, if a seller approaches her to sell their property with a high asking price, Ee would accept the challenge, even if her seniors advise her otherwise.
Likewise, if she encounters a client who is keen on a particular property that is going at above the market price, Ee does not write the transaction off immediately. Instead, she will go for the viewing and try to negotiate a price that is closer to her buyer’s budget.
“Sometimes you don’t know if the transaction will happen or not, but if you try your best, you never know what’ll happen,” Ee shares. Her tenacity had paid off more than once, with one of the most memorable transactions in her career — involving a seller looking to sell his place way above market value and a direct buyer giving a real low offer — being carried out successfully, after various attempts at negotiating, with three occasions of near-burst.
Ee also credits her success to the time and effort she puts in with every one of her clients and her mentees.
For instance, she was working till past midnight the night before our interview in September, just to ensure that a particular transaction for one of her clients went smoothly.
“My keeping long hours is not for the income. It’s only because I promised this particular client that I’d work on their request, and I wanted to get it done well and on time for them,” she says, adding that this is a habit she picked up as a teacher. “At the time, what drove me in my career was seeing my students doing well and knowing that I was working in their best interests.”
In this industry, Ee has applied the same working spirit, including mentoring her team of 18. “With my team in particular, my main focus is for them to do well, better than me even. They all have a much longer runway than me, since I am now 61 years old. It is my aspiration that each and every one of my team members models after my success formulae and surpasses my record,” she says.
Reflecting on her retirement plans, Ee recognises that she should be taking it easy at this stage of her life. “People like me should be doing nothing and enjoying their life after retirement. But what is enjoying life? To me, it is being able to groom people to do well, spending time with them and seeing my mentees doing well,” she shares.
“With my clients, seeing them grow their property portfolio, buying the best type of property they can afford, helping my sellers sell at the best price in the current market… I enjoy doing these too,” she adds. “I know that I’ll keep doing my best for everyone around me. This is also enjoying life, in making a difference in the lives of people who come in contact with me.”
Putting herself in her clients’ shoes
Looking back, Ee attributes most of her success stories to the priorities she puts in her listings.
When she receives requests from viewers for one of her clients’ properties, she tries to meet at their preferred timing whenever possible.
“Being able to accommodate my clients’ schedules most of the time is a flexibility I offer them. This is something that my clients appreciate. After all, everyone is busy,” says Ee.
Similarly, when it comes to negotiating for her client, she is not one to give up easily.
What helps is Ee’s way of putting herself in her clients’ shoes.
“Even during difficult cases, I’ll always tell myself to do my best for my client; after all, he or she likes the property enough to make an offer for it,” she shares. “Likewise, as a seller, his or her ultimate goal would be to achieve the best price for his or her property.”
“Even if there are direct buyers where I have to liaise between both parties, I’ll try to do my best for them, so both parties end up walking away happy,” she adds.
In addition, Ee makes it a point to be responsive to her clients’ requests whenever she can. Again, this stemmed from her days as an engineering lecturer where students would text her to ask if their solutions were correct at the last minute, before their exams the next day.
Likewise, her clients are welcome to contact her any time if need be.
Efforts do pay off
In her first year, while she was trying to establish herself as an agent, Ee did the legwork by meeting up with as many potential clients as possible, including friends.
However, she believes that her approach to selling, and only at her clients’ pace, is important.
As she gradually builds her network of clients, team members and bankers, with the volume, Ee is now able to obtain property valuations for her clients in 30 minutes. For small transactions, for example, room or flat rentals, Ee is able to close within the same day, with all viewings conducted within an hour.
Due to her speed, Ee now gets clients through word of mouth, and they include her friends who have asked her to value their properties and/or rent their rooms/apartments.
As further proof of her can-do attitude, Ee reveals that she is a tagger of 55 projects; and she will be receiving her top tagger award for the month of August.
She will also receive an award as one of the top managers within PropNex for August. This award recognises managers based on their team’s commissions brought in for the month.
Humility is one of the things Ee believes in, especially when it comes to her clients. “As long as you made that mistake, you have to apologise,” she says.
In addition, she sees her clients and fellow agents as friends. “I believe in serving people around me wholeheartedly, and I don’t believe that spending time with a buyer, seller, agent, or anyone, should amount to a transaction,” she says. “I regard each and every one of the people I meet as a friend. I think that’s what has really helped me to enjoy my work in this industry.”
For more information:
Contact Jane Ee l 96355293
PropNex Realty Pte. Ltd.
CEA No.: R059987I
Top Transactor is a Sponsored Series in recognition of Real Estate Salespersons who have achieved the highest number of transactions, based on information from CEA’s Public Register and data.gov.sg between July 2021 and June 2022 that was extracted on 10 August 2022.
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