Top Habits of Industry Gurus

These property industry gurus have seen it all. They have been there to reap the benefits of a good market and managed to find success during a bad one. There must be a certain habit or personal philosophy that they have stuck by to continually triumph in the industry. Here are what they had to say:









 Mr Francis Tan, Vice-President, SLP Scotia


“For those who know me, they will realise that I am a very positive person. I always try to see the goodness and positive side of everything. This is important because many a-time, agents will encounter difficulties in closing deals. Maintaining a positive outlook will keep you hanging in there, and before you know it, deals will start coming in, and you will reap the rewards of staying positive.

Another important habit would be to maintain discipline. The nature of the real estate industry is such that agents have flexible work hours. What the agent does with the time and how much effort he puts into the job will determine the success or failure of his business. What this means is to spend time being productive, engaging with and surrounding themselves with positive people who can value-add to his outlook and knowledge of the market.

Agents will also have to constantly look to leverage on technology. The market has changed drastically and there are many different ways an agent can market a listing, be it via the internet or mobile apps – the possibilities are endless. Using myself as a case study, I am glad I was open-minded enough to engage PropertyGuru when it was in its infancy and managed to get a lot of calls out the portal. So, I feel it is imperative for an agent to be forward-looking and stay ahead of the curve in the technology front.”









 Mr Roy Chong, Master Trainer, Life Mastery Academy


“After being in the industry for so many years, one very key factor that helped me along the way would be passion. I always believe that you have to love what you are doing to be successful. Regardless of the market situation, as long as the passion is there, business will be brisk.”









 Mr Eugene Lim, KEO of ERA Realty


“In general, as property agents, we work a lot with people. As such, the most important skill to have would be people skills. At the end of the day, you are working with them to solve their housing needs, so being approachable and friendly is key in today’s business.


Having said that, having people skills alone, is not enough. Buyers and sellers today are very sophisticated. They are very knowledgeable and so, agents in today’s market have to build up their knowledge – knowledge of how things are done. What this means would be that, since we are engaged to provide a service of buying and selling houses, our knowledge of procedures and how to work things in sequence and in proper order is utterly important.


Also, we should definitely not pick up or do things illegally. The whole idea here is that buyers and sellers look for a smooth transition in the process of buying and selling properties. It is how we provide a good experience to customers, buyers and sellers alike, which will get the agent more referrals and repeat businesses.”