recently I met up with a friend, he is a young graduate who decided to become a real estate agent, he told me that his agency has a lot of retirees.

gives me an idea.

I've been having a lot of thought about it, as I am in my early 50s and as a salaried worker, I am kind of tired of the politics in my office as well as being looked over for promotion. I am thinking about taking up a commission based job, in case I kena retrenched.

My questions are these:

1) Do I need to be part of a real estate agency?
Yes

2) Would they hire me in my 50s or when I have retired?
Yes

3) What is the requirement to become one? Must take exam?
Minimum SPM. Negotiator Certification Course

4) What kind of jobs can I take up? Do I have the freedom to choose my territory or the market area?
Real Estate Negotiator (REN) selling and rental of properties. Yes

5) Is the sky the limit? I can earn = to the number of clients I close ?
Yes

6) What is the future of this business? Would it be replaced by AI one day?
Good for hardworking person. No comment

7) What about property valuation, what does it take to get this qualification?
Pass the valuation exam, do internship and pass the interview assessment by the Board

recently I met up with a friend, he is a young graduate who decided to become a real estate agent, he told me that his agency has a lot of retirees.

gives me an idea.

I've been having a lot of thought about it, as I am in my early 50s and as a salaried worker, I am kind of tired of the politics in my office as well as being looked over for promotion. I am thinking about taking up a commission based job, in case I kena retrenched.

My questions are these:

1) Do I need to be part of a real estate agency?
2) Would they hire me in my 50s or when I have retired?
3) What is the requirement to become one? Must take exam?
4) What kind of jobs can I take up? Do I have the freedom to choose my territory or the market area?
5) Is the sky the limit? I can earn = to the number of clients I close ?
6) What is the future of this business? Would it be replaced by AI one day?
7) What about property valuation, what does it take to get this qualification?

Property mismatch: Construction up, sales down

The fall in property transactions in the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25), despite a spike in construction activity and new launches, indicates a mismatch between actual market demand and developers' projections or ongoing project commitments.

KUALA LUMPUR: The fall in property transactions in the first quarter of 2025 (1Q25), despite a spike in construction activity and new launches, indicates a mismatch between actual market demand and developers' projections or ongoing project commitments.

Property analysts told Business Times that this may stem from projects that were planned during more optimistic market conditions now coming to fruition, while buyers are growing more cautious amid economic uncertainties, stricter lending conditions, and affordability challenges.

According to the Valuation and Property Services Department, the country's property market slipped in Q1, with transaction volume down 6.2 per cent and value down 8.9 per cent.

Its director general Abdul Razak Yusak said the total transactions amounted to 97,772, valued at RM51.42 billion, compared to 104,194 transactions worth RM56.47 billion in the same period of 2024.

Abdul Razak said although the property transactions began on a slower note, the pace of construction activity and increase of residential new launches were supported to balance the property market growth and sustain its positive momentum in 2025.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia associate professor in property economics Dr Muhammad Najib Razali said Malaysia has long faced an imbalance between supply and demand, especially in the affordable housing segment.

"To address this, developers must strengthen their market analysis and ensure new launches are aligned with real, localised demand, not just general market trends, to avoid oversupply in the wrong segments," he said.

Juwai IQI co-founder and group chief executive officer Kashif Ansari said while it may appear contradictory to see a drop in transactions alongside a surge in construction, it is actually a reflection of two separate timelines.

"Much of the construction we are seeing now was planned and financed months or years ago. Developers are betting on the future, not just the moment.

"The strong results in 2024 gave them even more confidence. The value of construction work done surged 20 per cent last year to RM158.8 billion, with residential building growing nearly 40 per cent," he added.

Kashif said while fewer people and companies bought any kind of real estate in the first quarter, that hides the fact that some segments actually improved.

"Residential made up 61 per cent of all transactions, demonstrating sustained demand. And look at terraced homes, where prices climbed by 2.2 per cent in a single quarter," he added.

Temporary Slowdown

Najib said although the first quarter reflects a slowdown, it is too early to conclude that this signals a long-term trend.

He said Malaysia's property market has historically been cyclical, and seasonal or short-term factors (such as timing of launches, interest rate expectations, or political developments) can influence quarterly numbers.

"However, if economic uncertainties persist or consumer confidence weakens, we could see the softer trend continue through the mid-year, though pockets of resilience might remain, especially in affordable housing or niche market segments," he added.

Meanwhile, Kashif said the first-quarter slowdown appears to be a temporary pause, pointing out that the beginning of the year is typically quieter and that global uncertainties likely caused some buyers to hold back.

"But Malaysia has solid fundamentals, like stable interest rates and steady job growth, and I expect momentum to return in the second quarter and third quarter.

"The number of transactions will increase because buyers who held back out of worries about the global situation will go ahead with their purchases.

"One thing that gives me confidence is the rise in new launches. Developers do not commit unless they believe demand will follow," he added.

Kashif said sales activity typically rebounds within a quarter or two, and if sentiment remains stable, many of the delays seen in the first quarter could translate into transactions in the second half of the year.

Got one 60 years old rookie joined early January and now already leader, meaning commission already exceed RM 200k. Meanwhile, another 52 years old still struggling.

My point is age is just a number. All depends if you got social skills or not.

Are you comfortable approaching stranger to sell a property?
Can you face rejections?
Will you be ok to pick up a number and converse with a stranger to get appointment?

recently I met up with a friend, he is a young graduate who decided to become a real estate agent, he told me that his agency has a lot of retirees.

gives me an idea.

I've been having a lot of thought about it, as I am in my early 50s and as a salaried worker, I am kind of tired of the politics in my office as well as being looked over for promotion. I am thinking about taking up a commission based job, in case I kena retrenched.

My questions are these:

1) Do I need to be part of a real estate agency?
2) Would they hire me in my 50s or when I have retired?
3) What is the requirement to become one? Must take exam?
4) What kind of jobs can I take up? Do I have the freedom to choose my territory or the market area?
5) Is the sky the limit? I can earn = to the number of clients I close ?
6) What is the future of this business? Would it be replaced by AI one day?
7) What about property valuation, what does it take to get this qualification?

I am a leader myself in the industry and actively recruiting just like agents have to be actively prospecting..

Most have answered your question so I'll just add a few more on those
First and foremost to be successful in this business you have to be
- Hardworking
- Willing to learn
- Be humble
- Proactive
- Empathize

There are 4 major roads and a few minor ones when it comes to Real Estate

1st is New launch projects
- Under this you have Exclusive meaning only your agency is able to sell this project and if other agents from other agency would like to sell they would need to work with you and share their comission
- adhoc agencies, appointed agencies are only able to sell the particular project

2nd is Subsale
- You call master listings to get owners to trust that you'll be able to sell for them

3rd is Rental
- You call master listings to get owners to trust that you'll be able to rent for them

4th is Lelong
- You advertise on platforms and gain followers on what lelong property is out there by the banks
So once you've decided which path to take above, the next is to decide what kind of properties you would like to focus on

High Rise
Luxury high rise
RumaWIP
Landed
- link house
- semi d
- bungalow

Gated and guarded landed
Land
- Agri
- Commercial
- Residential
- Industrial
- residential

Industrial such as factories

Offices
Shoplots

After that would be the location on which you would like to focus, don't focus on 10 areas because you'll definitely be burned out and you won't be able to compete with agents that are focus in that area, for example you only have 1 listing while the other agents have 50 listings in the condo, so most likely the clients would pick the other agents due to plenty of options for their decision making
So what it takes to be successful in this business is that you proactively and make it a habit to prospect. For project and subsales/rental
If you can
- Make 200 calls a day to either get clients or get leads
- Spend money on advertising either on major platforms like iprop and propertyguru or FB / IG / tiktok / XHS ads
- Willing to learn from your leader or on your own by reading books on negotiations and sales
- Be consistent in making those 200 calls a day
- Sky is definitely the limit
- Be a problem solver
So some of the issues that might arise would be client's unable to obtain a loan to purchase a house, here is one of them as I mainly sell luxury condos, the client would need to fork out RM1mil++ to put in the banks FD to obtain the loan



All 4 major roads in real estate can definitely make money, the easiest if you ask me would be  Rental, as for all my new agents, this is what i would suggest them to get sustainable income while doing projects as well.. For rental it is alot easier as clients come, they see they like they rent.. Commitment is not up to 35 years hence decision making is a lot more straightforward

Good luck in your future endeavors!

Ok u r quite detail already

For me, i will tell them upfront how much they got to spend..
If new launch, got 10k to play advertisement? And need to expect 10k all burn and no return of investment

For subsale, got 4k to subscribe iproperty for 1 yr. Best effect is iprop + propguru..tat will be 7k a year..

If this 2 also tak ada, or not willing to fork out, then automatic can see this fella become the 80% non performing.

For calling 200 leads a day
If call owner, no platform advertise also die

If call customer for project, no good listing to call also die..

Haha yeah chicken and egg,

Personally I would suggest them to improve their communication skills, human soft skills, tonality and so forth..

I have personally called master listings lists and closed a few from there.. If there is value that you can add to clients then most likely they will purchase from you..

Ideally i wouldn't want my agents to spend so much because I know they will most likely be doom for failure and best to start with cold calls first and gain experience from there