Wong said she wanted smaller versions of MIEA’s annual Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (MAREC) to attract a wider audience and help bring in additional revenue for the institute.

“We will be organising this spin-off convention from Oct 31 to Nov 1 in Johor. When we organise MAREC, the participants are mostly from the Klang Valley.

“By having an event like this further south, we can attract participants from the south of Malaysia and even Singapore,” she told StarBiz.

The Johor convention, themed Iskandar – Rise of the Metropolis, would focus on the prospects of Iskandar Malaysia and was targeted to attract up to 300 participants, she said.

Wong also plans to organise a one-day convention in Penang in March and mini courses for negotiators later this month and early September. She held her first negotiators’ course in May.

She also hopes to organise bi-monthly luncheons in cafes or restaurants that would be open to members of the institute and even the public.

Wong also wants to assist developers that are having problems “clearing their inventories”.

“A lot of developers have small pockets of property that are not sold and it is usually a waste of time to hire marketing experts to sell off these units. So we want to organise a ‘Sunday Property Mart’ where buyers can preview these unsold units on weekends. At the same time, we will try and push sales for the developers.”

Wong said the event could be held in a multi-purpose hall or an outdoor tent.

“It’s still in the planning stage but we hope to have our first property mart by December,” she said.

To enhance the image of real estate agents, Wong said the MIEA also intended to collaborate with Malaysia Property Inc (MPI) to help educate and train potential realtors.

“We hope to collaborate with the MPI and market courses such as CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) and CRS (Certified Residential Specialist),” she said.

The MPI, a joint public-private sector initiative, was recently set up to attract foreign investments to the real estate sector over the next 10 years.

“This is a good profession to make money. If one is focused and determined, one can be successful in this line,” said Wong, who has over two decades of experience in selling residential, commercial and industrial properties and leasing of land.

She said estate agents should “think outside the box” to be resilient, especially with the current global economic downturn.

“They should do things differently, and if they have the finance, they should try to venture outside Malaysia and sell overseas.”

Under Wong, the MIEA also organised its inaugural National Real Estate Awards in June. She said it was a great achievement for the institute and that the awards would make a great benchmark for successful realtors.

“It’s our first award and we feel that we can improve on it and attract more participants in the future. For the winners, it’s a great recognition when they want to market themselves.”

Wong also said a rebound could already be seen in the local property sector.

“People are already starting to buy properties. This is especially for units worth RM600,000 and above.

“High-end developers, especially, should not be afraid of selling now,” she said.

The Star  - 10th August 2009

MIEA immediate past president and awards chairman Soma Sundram laments that the general public never takes the industry seriously.

Julie Wong and Soma Sundram with brochures of the inaugural Malaysia Institute of Estate Agents National Real Estate Awards

“People do not see the real estate agency as a serious business, like say architecture or engineering. With the awards, we hope to promote the estate agency practice,” he tells StarBizweek.

“We also hope that with this recognition, Malaysians at large will also recognise the good work of estate agents. We feel that they are not appreciated by the public at large. They think we just take people, show house and that’s it,” Soma adds.

The MIEA organised its inaugural award on June 26 to highlight the achievements of agencies and its agents in the country for their sales performances in 2008. A total of seven award categories were contested.

Only active members of the MIEA were allowed to participate.

Soma says the idea of an award to recognise the achievements of real estate players was thought of 15 years ago.

“We were actually toying with the idea of an award 15 years ago but it never took off because nobody was prepared for such a thing. At the time, nobody wanted to disclose anything about their sales performance.”

Being the first of its kind, Soma admits there will always be room for improvement in organising such an event like the National Real Estate Awards.

“We expect even greater competition next year and I’m sure even the judging standards will be raised,” he says.

This year’s inaugural awards was judged by an independent committee headed by International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI).

On another note, Soma says he is optimistic about the outlook for the local property industry despite the current global economic downturn.

“I’ve been saying this for the last six months – the local property market has not been seriously affected. We expect to see it improve by year-end.”

Newly appointed MIEA president Julie Wong shares Soma’s sentiments.

Little impact

“Affected properties are mainly those within the Golden Triangle area whereby 30% are bought by foreigners. When the economy in their own country is affected, they panic and start to sell from here.

“There is a little bit of impact within the Mont’ Kiara area because there are a lot of foreigners there too. Other than that, we have not heard of people who were desperate to sell off their commercial properties or condominiums,” she says.

Soma says the situation is also far from dire for the real estate industry.

“Those who focus on certain affected areas may have seen a slight dip in turnover but it has not gone to the point of closing shop or staff reduction for real estate agents. In fact, I’ve not heard of any of our members cutting staff.”

Wong adds that the real estate industry has become wiser since the 1997 Asian financial crisis and is more prepared to handle the current economic downturn.

The Star Newspaper – 25th July 2009