As the year 2021 comes to an end, I spent a peaceful night 🌃 with my family in the neighborhood where I currently live. Perhaps we have been too busy with life and have forgotten how to appreciate the present moment😌 Some clients have commented that I can't be so busy since my working hours are short and flexible 🕒 so I can work whenever I want. They also believe #agents only do paperwork that takes little time and effort and our commissions seem high to them, which they perceive as easy money for us‼️ However, these are misconceptions and misunderstandings about how agents work, and it's not as simple as it seems. The truth is that #propertyagents rarely have the luxury of flexible work hours 😅 instead our working hours are determined by our customers. We work during our clients' off days or when they are free, including weekday evenings and weekends. Thus, we have to sacrifice family time for work, especially on weekends. We may also need to be available 24 hours a day if a customer has a sudden concern or an urgent matter 🤣 In other words, our time is given to us by our clients, not necessarily by us. And we don't get a fixed salary, our income is largely dependent on what we earn. So if we need to bring food 🍔home, we have to serve customers. In addition, the effort put forth often goes unnoticed because a successful deal involves more than just paperwork. To meet our clients' needs, we have to analyze properties 📂 review financial plans, assess risks📋 and arrange viewings, among other things. As well as sales, we have to create marketing materials, including videos 🎬 which is the norm today. We have to pay upfront advertising costs before we are paid later, which adds to our workload and costs. The commission💰is also usually paid after the transaction is completed or the extension stay ends, which could easily take 4 to 6 months after the preparation, marketing, viewings, negotiating, closing, and completing the transaction, or even longer when the market is slow. Finally, no commission is paid if no deal is reached after all the costs and efforts have been made. We are paid only if the deal closes 😂 #ronLoh #bedokhomes #propnex (at Blk 16 Bedok South market n hawker centre) https://www.instagram.com/bedokhomes/p/CYJZ2k-pwkl/?utm_medium=tumblr