Readers’ Q&A With Patrick Liew, CEO of HSR

Patrick truly is an amazing interviewee. After our video interview, he said he’d love to answer questions from my blog readers too. I told him, sure, I’d gather those questions. After some time, he even sent me a reminder to forward the questions to him! And so I did! Tell me where else I can find an interviewee like that, who is so giving, and enthusiastic about sharing?

Here’s the Q&A:

1) Question From Reader “H” (who prefers to remain anonymous): 

“I am single, in late 20s, and I aim to own a house by 2013. For my style, I prefer a studio apartment, preferably near town. But the price of the private housing is rising. My current salary is close to $3k per month and is expected to grow around 4% per year.

I have 2 questions:
1. Do studio apartments have a good market for resale, say 3-5 years after purchase, when I decide to move in to HDB or condo after marriage?
2. How much will these studio apartments cost by 2013? How much cash/ CPF do I need to accumulate by then for this housing? Is it advisable based on my current financial status? (I have close to $30k of CPF and liquid cash. Secondary source of income is through investment which is expected to be 5~9% p.a.).”

In my humble opinion, it is hard to make a general statement about the ‘Studio’ segment of the property market. There are many other specific information needed to make a better-informed decision.

For example, Studios can be ‘mainstream’ or ‘shoebox’ units. They can be from the low, medium, or high end segment. In addition, they can be purchased from the primary or secondary (resale) market.

There are a few key factors to help you make a wiser decision.

1. Purpose. Why do you want to own a Studio? For example, is it for use as a living space or as an investment asset?

The principle is simple. If you don’t know what you want in your life, no property investment will satisfy you.

2. Profiling. What is your risk-reward appetite?

The principle is simple. Don’t fall in love with the property, fall in love with the numbers.

For example, can you afford the property? Can you support the future cashflow? How secure are your current and future career and financial positions?

To do a proper analysis, you need to use your head, not your heart, to make an objective, balanced and pragmatic decision.

3. Performance. Do you have the K.A.S.H (knowledge, attitude, skills and habits) to invest wisely in property?

The principle is simple – Most consumers have transacted an average of about five properties in their lives. In other words, they may not have the experience and expertise to make a sound judgement.

Prior to making a decision, you may wish to further your real estate education or even sign up for a real estate agent’s course so as to know the tips and traps of property investment.

4. Passion. In the final analysis, life is for living. Will the property help you to enjoy your life and live it to the fullest?

The principle is simple – The property investment must serve you, and not the other way around.

Life is short and there is no dress rehearsal.  Please acquire a property so that it will help to add value to your life.

5. Priority. Is property investment the most important thing to do?

The principle is simple – The property investment decision must be made in an objective, balanced and pragmatic way. It is a decision that will influence and affect other decisions.

Acquiring a property is not the only thing to do in life. There are other decisions and actions that may be just as important, if not more important. It is a decision that has to be seen in proper perspective and from a holistic point of view.

I wish you the best returns for your property investment. It includes both financial as well as non-financial returns.

2) Question From Reader Jimmy:

How much did luck (versus hard work) play a part in your success? What roles did your mentors play in getting you into the property line?

2a. I believe that working hard and working smart are two sides of the same coin and you cannot succeed in life without any one of them.

I have a simple formula called APEX that I adopted almost from the beginning of my working life. Let me share it with you. In a nut shell,

A – Attitude. Success is an adopted attitude. Without a positive perspective, you will never achieve positive results.

P – Planning. I believe every task starts and ends with planning. You need a plan to ensure that you achieve win-win results. Through the plan, you can better galvanise human and other resources. You can systemize the operation, and enhance the synergy and alignment of all the resources so as to optimise your productivity.

The plan must be iterative. In other words, you need to review it constantly so as to improve upon it.

When the task is completed, there should be a plan to ensure that the learning experience becomes a platform for further achievements.

E – Execution. What stands between planning and achievement is execution. Execution is likened to a highway that will take you from where you are to where you want to go in life.

The key to execution is leverage. According to Buckminister Fuller, “Leverage is doing ever more with ever less”. It is taking massive action to do the right thing and in the right way so as to achieve the right results.

X – Excel. In HSR, we have a saying, ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing with passion and excellence. Passion means you need to love what you do. Excellence means you do it to the best of your abilities.

You need to constantly review every experience and action to see how you can go farther and faster in life.

2b.  First, I must say that I have many mentors in my life and I continue to look out for even more mentors. I have mentors in every major area of my life.

I believe success leaves footprints. If I follow the footsteps of successful people I will achieve the same or better results in an easier, better and faster way.

My mentors may not have directly influenced my decision to be in the real estate business. However, they have contributed to my life and prepared me for my real estate calling. Their valuable lessons and feedback have helped me to enhance my success rate.

As they say, “When I stand on the shoulders of giants, I can see clearer and farther to my desired destination.”

3) Question From Reader Perry:

How does HSR training help in the process of prospecting affluent clients? Can new agents really start off serving the affluent market? 

HSR is arguably the market leader in real estate agents’ training. We have more trainers, training programmes, and training resources than most companies.

In total, we have conducted more than 500 man-hours of training last year. You can hardly find another company that is so committed in helping agents to achieve success in our industry.

By doing so, we laid a strong foundation for our agents to succeed in every major market segment, including the affluent market.

HSR started our company serving high net worth individuals at the top end of the market. Since then, we have been active in marketing luxury properties in prestigious locations. In addition, we are also active in selling global properties. As a result, we are in the best position to help agents expand their business in the high end of the property market.

4) Question From Reader Clarence:

How do you convey love to others? What are the most effective ways to do so?

We must first recognize that our Creator has created us with love, and to love Him and others. Love is inside each and every one of us. We need to be mindful of it and live it out in our life. In addition, we need to continue to strengthen our capacity and ability to love.

The paradoxical truth is that the more we extend our love to others, the more love we will have. And the better we will become in sharing the blessing of love with others.

To love others, we need to learn how to love ourselves. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot love others effectively. It will also be harder for others to love us.

For example, when was the last time we tell ourselves sincerely, tangibly and generously that we love ourselves?

Are we grateful and thankful for every part of our being? How do we appreciate ourselves by looking after every major area of our lives, such as improving our health, fitness and energy level?

While we are loving ourselves, we should at the same time extend our love to others. It is a part of the same process of having more love in our life. By firing both engines of love, we enhance our love quotient.

To love others, it starts with our mind. The seeds of love that we sow in our mind will help us to reap the fruits of love in our life. The external act of love is very often a reflection of the landscape of love in our internal being.

So, do we want to love others in a deeper way? Can we learn to see good in others? Are we willing to intensify our love for them? Even when we are disappointed by the responses to our love, do we believe it can make us stronger and more resilient in spreading love to others?

We can begin by extending small acts of kindness and graciousness to the people around us. A pat on the back, a word of appreciation, a small present, a short little note to encourage another person – all these actions can mean a lot to others. According to research in the field of positive psychology, it can also increase our happiness.

To progress, we can seek out like-minded people who believe in promoting love. You can find many of them in religious, charity and grassroots organisations. By putting our flames of love together, we can blaze a trail together.

Truly, ‘What the world needs now is LOVE…’

Grace… is overwhelmed. 

Seriously, Patrick practises what he preaches. How else did he participate in that video interview and still answered these questions from blog readers? And all for no payment at all. Gosh! Patrick’s such a gem. I believe I owe him a lunch now.

What say you, Patrick?

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Interview with Patrick Liew

Patrick Liew (pictured with Grace)

CEO of HSR Property Group 

Patrick calls himself an “accidental entrepreneur” and a “servant leader in the real estate world”. Find out why Patrick, who wanted to be a social worker at 17, went into the real estate industry. In the first video, Patrick also shares about the 4 freedoms, how he became an accomplished speaker, Success Habits he follows throughout the day, and how we can wake up to an amazing and wonderful day every day.

This first video is over 10 minutes in length. I could have uploaded only snippets of this interview, showing you just the highlights. However, Patrick has provided so many nuggets of wisdom and I’d like to share all of them with you because you deserve nothing less.

So, before you watch the video, grab a cup of coffee, then sit back and enjoy:

Still have some coffee left? There’s a 2nd, shorter video, no less awesome though.

This next video is a separate one which will tell you how Patrick became known as a “Love Evangelist” and what he did to build a whole company on Love. He also shares about self-love and how we can “practise the art and the skill of loving others”:

Indeed,

“The best way to live our life is to live our life for others. The more we reach out to bless other lives, the richer our lives will become.” – Patrick Liew

Grace says:

You’ve heard Patrick share about Junior Achievement(www.ja.org.sg) which teaches life skills to school children, so if you’re keen on joining me in volunteering, head over to the website and fill in your contact details.

The interview with Patrick was a most serene one. Patrick just has this aura of peace and calmness about him. But when he took me around his company and office, he had a spring in his step and he was just filled with pride and excitement at all he was sharing with me – whether it was about the awards the company has won, their commendable efforts at installing recycling bins on the premises, or about their community outreach efforts.

Here you see a card that was handmade by Ms Anna Joseph, one of the elderly participants of the HSR Elderly Community Outreach Programme.

At the back of the card is her photo and name:

Proceeds go towards helping the elderly so if you can, drop by the HSR office to purchase the cards.

I believe the plan for the HSR office was for it to be a self-contained hub for the agents, complete with massage services, a childcare centre, KTV area, the works. I was very impressed by how HSR strives to provide a loving environment for staff, agents, as well as the elderly community.

Here’s something you may not know about Patrick: He’s into Kickboxing & Gymnastics. Yup!

Finally, I’d like to thank Patrick. It was my joy, honor and privilege to interview you. And thank you, David, for the awesome videos.

Interview with Kelvin Fong

Kelvin Fong

Group District Director (PropNex), CEO & Chief Trainer of Zest Academy Pte Ltd

1) What differentiates the top producers in real estate from the mediocre ones, who struggle with sales?

A successful and reliable top producer looks after the interests of his client. He will always put himself in the seller’s or buyer’s position before giving them the right advice. When in their position, he plans carefully before making any decisions. A normal agent’s first thought when meeting up with the client is that of closing the deal while the top producers will want to win the trust of their client first rather than closing the deal immediately.

Firstly, the agent should determine what type of client he is serving - investing or buying for own stay? If he is serving clients requiring properties for own stay, the agent should understand the needs of the buyer and work towards meeting the client’s request and make sure he gets something at a good price, i.e give them your own opinion as if you are the buyer yourself. If the agent is dealing with investors, he should understand what they are looking for, whether the property is meant for capital gain or purely yield. For example, for first time investors, the agent should help them maximize their cash flow by turning over their portfolio rather than just holding on to one unit without realizing any profit. If investors do not sell when the property appreciates, they will be stuck with just one property and will not be able to increase their capital. This will prevent them from buying a better asset and multiplying their asset base.

Property is a cyclical asset and there will always be ups and downs. Thus it is important to sell at the right time and re-enter the market when the price comes down. We saw this during the peak in 2007, which was followed by the downturn in January 2009. And currently prices have gone back to reach the 2007 peak levels again. In general, most agents will be asking their clients to sell because the market situation may not be that rosy and we may have reached another peak, so it makes sense to lock in their capital gains. As for top producers, they will advise them to switch their portfolio to increase their capital to look for better deals that will appreciate more when the market improves further.

Investors are looking for agents with good product knowledge and who are able to do a comparative price analysis of the project and understand the price history too. A top producer will look at the surrounding projects to determine the right one for you, advise on risks you may face should the market go against you, and help you to do a financial calculation to ensure you have holding power in such a scenario.

No agent should tell an investor that the project or unit is sure to make money as anything can happen and nothing is guaranteed. Top producers tell their clients not to speculate but to invest and be prepared to hold if the market drops. To find the right agent, look at the classified ads or surf property websites. A top producer will be able to discuss the investment merits of the project and not just be an information provider. He will also share information about the surrounding projects and should be familiar with any units that were recently sold even before the caveat is lodged with the URA.

2) Your team is called the Powerful Negotiators. What goes through your mind when a client says “no” (perhaps more than once) during your negotiation?

My team name Powerful Negotiators does not imply that in every deal, we are able to close the deal. There are times that we could not close it, due to pricing or the time given for the owner to move in/ out of the place. What is most important is to have patience with them and understand their reasons for saying “no” to us.

If it is due to price, we should try our best to work with the buyer/ seller to get the price that they want, if the price for them is good after we have analyzed the recent transacted prices and the last peak price through our graphical chart, we should use it to share with them why they must sell/ buy the property.

All sellers want to sell at the highest price but no one knows when exactly it’s highest, therefore we need to use graphical charts that show the pricing to convince the sellers. All buyers want the cheapest price too but we can never determine when is the right time, therefore we need to advise them to take the long term view and not to speculate. In Singapore, as long as we can hold for the long term, all properties will appreciate due to inflation and being a small country, our land is scarce which gives us the greatest advantage of investing here. As a good agent, we should not advise our clients to buy or sell if it does not benefit them. We must always have their interests at heart. When you have gained your client’s trust, they will always be with you, but when trust is gone, there will not be any more deals forever.

3) Some buyers believe in sourcing for their own property without the help of agents, perhaps due to prior bad experiences. How would you convince them to do business with you?

Most of the time, all the bad experiences are due to mis-communication and meeting those agents who are very pushy without giving their client some time to think before committing. If I meet such clients, I would like to find out the reasons for not working with agents, so that I can share with them my personal opinions on those issues, and most importantly, to listen and understand the reasons for their unhappiness.

Subsequently, I will ask them to give us a chance to serve them, ultimately they do not pay us anything if there is no deal at all, but to give us a chance to work with them. Using our sincerity, time will tell and I will continue to follow up with them and keep them updated about those properties that they are keen to buy. If the buyers can feel the sincerity, they will continue to work with the agent.

4) Who/What would you credit for your success? 

My achievements today, the credit should go to my wife, Janet Lim, as without her support in managing the sales for me, I might not be able to concentrate fully on building my team wholeheartedly. With the same goal in mind, we have managed to be the No. 1 TOP Producer and Team Leader for the year 2009 & 2010 in PropNex. I have a group of dedicated team leaders that have helped me to build the team together too. Our achievement today is also due to the group culture of willingness to share and team work.

I believe everyone needs to work hard to achieve our goals, but most importantly, one needs to have the right techniques and systems to achieve success. Being focused and staying positive has helped me achieve my current results.

5) What is a typical day like in the life of Kelvin Fong?

A typical day in my life starts as early as 8am. My day will be spent either conducting training or meeting up with agents and helping them to achieve their goals. In the day, I can easily meet up with three to four agents and help them with their queries. When I am not meeting anyone, I will be doing some planning for new strategies to bring the team’s sales to the next level. At night, most of the time I will be doing my work that has yet to be completed.

Now, my life has just seen the beginning of a new chapter in my career as I have started Zest Academy Group with my team leaders, Dominic Lee, Bobby Sng and Cijay Tew. One of our core courses “Millionaires Realtor System (MRS)”, has as its aim to share the techniques and systems that we have acquired in the private property market that have helped us achieve our million dollar sales to all real estate salespersons from different agencies. The other objective for me is to help many of our counterparts to convert themselves from being a normal salesperson to having an Investor Salesperson mindset. Once they have such a mindset, their sales will definitely increase and they will also know how to become an investor too in future.

We have also created a new course “Millionaires Property System (MPS)” for the investors too. This course is to help investors identify the right property, and to invest correctly based on graphical charts to determine the potential upside and the risk involved.

As for me, the reason why I am setting up this academy is because I want to acquire new skills and get to know more people and learn the whole process of running a business and to share my knowledge with all salespersons and investors.

Grace says: I think Kelvin is someone who has achieved a lot and who remains humble. I think that’s what I respect most about him and my other interviewees who have been so keen in sharing their knowledge, their secrets and their philosophies.

I have been in the real estate line before (something you didn’t know about me, right? Now you do! Haha!) and have come across many rogue agents. For this blog, I’ll be doing my best to find the best people in the industry and feature them here. You can be sure I’ve either met them personally or have consulted friends who know these agents.

I think Kelvin works very hard. And that inspires me to work even harder and find more awesome interviewees. So stay tuned! I have an exciting line-up of interviewees for you.  :D

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Come back soon for the next awesome interview!~

Interview with Dennis Wee (II)

Dear Readers,

Here’s Question 5 for y’all:

Q5: Many training companies claim to teach laymen how to invest in properties with “little or no money”. What’s your take on this, and what advice do you have for local property investors in 2011 and beyond? 

Not to condemn them, but I believe these people learn from the Americans or some seminars. In other countries, that can be done. It is what Robert Kiyosaki teaches. He is one of my mentors but I argued with him that ours is a different scenario.

The rulings in Singapore are different. When you use other people’s names to buy properties, it is a risk you must be willing to take.

In Vietnam, for example, you can buy a property under someone else’s name. They are likely to take your money and run away with it. In Singapore, this cannot happen. The Singapore government is so strict that I doubt this can happen here. I don’t think it is feasible.

However, these trainers are my friends too. So all I can say is – BE CAREFUL!

If you ask me about landbanking, I’ll tell you to be careful too.

I cannot stop these people from organizing courses, which are not cheap as well! So do your own homework and exercise caution. Ask yourself whether it is feasible.

There is a difference between investing and speculating. Investors do not care whether the market goes up or down, whether there are curbs or not. They have the fiscal power to hold and maintain.
Speculators, on the other hand, have no such holding power.
Look at Singapore. The government is a businessman, making the country so good for being the place you work, live and play in.

As for the next generation of government, I don’t know what’s going to happen. But in the meantime, the property market will just keep going up!

Our population is growing and more than one-third of that comprises the foreigners and PRs.

[Advice to investors?]

Buy low and sell high then downgrade to an HDB unit.

Choose a couple of properties with good rental yield and the money will come in sooner or later.

Choose your district wisely.
I bought a Changi Green condo at its 1995/6 peak and until today, it has not reached the price I paid for it.

LOCATION is tremendously important.
Go for districts 9, 10 and 11. Properties here appreciate faster.

Interview with Dennis Wee

Dennis Wee

Founder, Dennis Wee Group

Q1: Why did you choose to enter the real estate industry and what do you love most about the work you do?

I didn’t choose the industry. I was retrenched in 1986. I applied to be a taxi driver but I didn’t speak Mandarin so I was denied a licence. My friend suggested that I consider the real estate industry but I gave him a blank stare. I went for an interview to be an offshore surveyor and thought I could give it a shot.

I called my ex-boss and he said “learn again, don’t quit”. However, I wanted to resign because I felt a sales job was not for me. It is a plus that real estate is a ‘product’ that is always there, in good and bad times.

I was searching for my destiny. And always learning. Which is why President Nathan gave me the Lifelong Learning award.

You just have to keep doing more and more. Don’t be like the ducks…

About dreams

There are 3 groups of people.

1)    Dreamers

2)    Do-ers

3)    Ducks

It is dangerous to be a dreamer, who only dreams, dreams and dreams again but there is no action.

However, a dreamer can become a do-er.

Dreamers can also become ducks. Those who can only ‘quack’, gather together and ‘quack’ some more, without taking any action. They don’t want to work hard but they want to be rich.

The do-ers are those who do, and do, and do. They work and work and work. Therefore, they are rewarded. Do-ers need not be dreamers. They realize that if they work harder, they can buy a lot more things. And they can start dreaming of owning this and that. So they save the money to buy and buy and buy. To encapsulate their motto: do it, then dream.

When you do, you learn. At some point, you may get bored. This is where PASSION comes in. You innovate, you change, you strive to find the right formula, you have FUN, and you do things DIFFERENTLY.

Q2: You were once an agent and one of the top producers in the industry. How did you achieve success as an agent and how do you handle rejection from clients?

To handle rejection, you need the right beliefs and mindsets. In sales, you must not take rejection personally. Out of 25 potential clients, 1 will say ‘yes’ and the rest will say ‘no’. If you take rejection personally, you cannot be a salesman.

Rejection is part and parcel of my job. Not everyone wants to buy/sell. So I just have to smile, be friendly and tell them “thank you”.

To be successful, you have to maintain being at the top. There is no point being a top producer for a year or two. You have to work hard, do things differently and make people trust and like you. You must build a name for yourself and have rapport with people. Most importantly, people must KNOW you!

It’s great if you are humorous and creative, and dare to do what other people don’t. Let me give you a personal example:

I have been a Rotary Club member for 3 years. We engage in social work and charity events to raise funds for the needy.

There was once when we had to raise funds for Northbrooks School. 45 Rotarians put up a show, sang songs and told stories. The audience comprised mainly secondary school students who got so bored and didn’t understand us.

I told the Committee Chairman: “Why don’t we make some changes?” He asked, “Change what?”

I said “Why don’t I do a Lady Gaga performance instead?”

The Chairman said “You do it yourself. We don’t do all this nonsense.”

I dressed up for my role and sang the song ‘Bad Romance’. The students even danced with me! Till this day, the students and teachers know me as the ‘Gaga Man’!

Q3: What are some of Life’s lessons that you learnt from working, that your peers probably did not as they continued pursuing their education in school?

Schools teach you how to make a living and get a job. They do not teach entrepreneurship nor how to have the courage to do anything to make profits, and how to be streetsmart. That takes experience to know.

I’ve held many jobs, from office boy to selling flowers, to being a waiter. Each job lasted about 3 to 4 months. Should that have gone on forever? We see rich people driving big cars, living in big houses… and there is only one conclusion: must make money!

You must have courage! Stupid things can be good things!

I once had a surveyor job and it paid a $7K salary, which meant I could afford to buy many things. I wanted back my $7000. So I did sales, which can potentially earn me a lot of money.

Working in the flower shop, I found all prices fixed. All I had to do was stand there and hand the flowers over to anyone who paid for them. There was no knocking on doors.

There are 3 kinds of salespeople:

1)    Those who just take orders and have a fixed pay

2)    Those earning salary plus commissions

3)    Those who earn only commissions, without a salary

Q4: You received the Lifelong Learning Award in 2002. What are you currently learning/pursuing, and what skills or knowledge do you aim to acquire?

I am learning everyday from people, strangers, the public. Why do they not come to work early? Why are they lazy?

Whenever there are seminars, just go and attend them. This is about ‘everyday learning’. Most courses are about the same things, ie. your physical or mental state. Why do people attend these courses and yet they fail? It’s because of their peer groups.

You love the people in your peer group so you tell yourself that you don’t need to do this nor that which is necessary!

[What to do then?]

If you become a do-er and you are working hard, your peer group will leave you. They will tell you things like ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. If you don’t go out with them, they’ll leave you.

So find a new peer group!

Q5: Many training companies claim to teach laymen how to invest in properties with “little or no money”. What’s your take on this, and what advice do you have for local property investors in 2011 and beyond?

 [To find out Dr Wee's answer to this question, simply subscribe to this blog in the link on your right. You will receive an email with his reply.]

 

Grace says: Speaking with Dr Wee is truly an experience. Few people I know can convey that amount of energy over the phone. On a scale of 1 to 10, his energy level hovers close to a perfect 10. One thought that crossed my mind was that if you and I can have a phone conversation with someone like him every morning, our days will be infused with lots of energy! Imagine how much more we can accomplish!

Look out for: The interview with ‘The Sample Store’ founder, Elfaine Tan, on 1st April, 2011!~