Singapore Property - Transacted Price or Selling Price

Wow, time flies. It is about 2 months since my last posting here. Life has been very busy and hence the time "passed by faster"...

Anyway, just to share something that I realised recently. Of course, it is still related to Internet and property.

If you may know, Singapore property pricing is usually based on past transacted price. The reason is being transacted price is most reliable due to the fact that it is the price a willing seller and a willing buyer has reached an agreement.

However, I think situation may change because of Internet.

I was told by a client (property agent) that buyers who use Internet for house hunting, have an upper hand compare to those who do not. This is because those, so called Internet buyers, can compare properties and get information easily in the Internet. They are the well informed lot. This group of Internet buyers are growing everyday in the Singapore Property Market.

As compared to traditional media, information are not complete. It is not easy to compare the pricing of similar properties because of how information are provided using traditional media. However, Internet has increased the convenience of comparing the pricing of properties.

On the other hand, sellers can also make use of Internet to price their properties too! It works both side. Hence, sellers' agents or sellers themselves can also make use of Internet to keep up-to-date of the trend. This is something that agents need to get used to if they are to be competitive and win the trust of the owners.

Again, I am a true believer of Internet and strongly feel that Internet has changed our life for the better. It is a pity that most people are still not using it. These are people who are less privilege, who can afford it but are "afraid" of IT and who have no time to learn IT. Internet is not just for the young, hip and highly educated lot. Internet is just a way of life, like watching television and etc. When you need information, you just make use of Internet to do that. I used to joke and say "Internet is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you're gonna get.".... believe Forrest Gump mother may say that if Internet was available at that time...:) May be Search Engine or Advertising company can use this as their marketing catch phrase... :)

Well, hopefully, the day will come early when Internet access is so so so affordable and more and more people realise the Power of Internet and start using it. :) Enjoy the following video:-

Newspapers Die?

I refer to an article in Todayonline.com (Top News // Weekend, March 14, 2009) :

"You’ve been warned:if newspapers Die ... Companies will see sales slump, citizens will make important decisions in the dark" http://www.todayonline.com/articles/307448.asp ( hopefully the link still work over time)

In my opinion, the writer was trying to bring out the point that Newspaper is still important to the society. Who can deny that?... The question is, is Newspaper refers to Paper or is Newspaper refers to News?

If the "Newspaper" company still don't get the answers right and do the right things, ..... it will be very difficult to progress..... progress is the willingness to leave something behind and to pick up something ahead...

History tells us what will be in the future because history repeats itself..... not something I made up but from great people of all times in every part of the world. Hence, in my understanding, News will not die and cannot die.......but Paper, which is only a form of material that holds the news can be facing some fierce competition. And I can say that Internet is the very direct competitor. And if so, history tells us that material we use changed over time, but Human characteristics, Basic Needs and the needs to have NEWS will still be needed.

To cut things short, my 2 cents for the Newspaper companies is to focus on the Distribution & Contents of the News and not the Material that contains it. Look at it in another angle. Don't resist technology like Internet because it is open and.... threatening to the old way of doing things and old business model..........

I am very sure that papers will exist for a very very very very very long time (you can see how I emphasized its existence duration). Over thousand years, we are still using woods, bamboos and canes....... think about it.

I do not have the answers for the Newspaper companies, (of course, if I have, I would not be here. Or even if I have, no one will believe me either :)), but if you look back a few hundred years ago, not everyone read newspaper..... BECAUSE NOT EVERY ONE IS LITERATE!

For those IT companies, don't be despair in your current endeavours too, BECAUSE NOT EVERY ONE IS TECHNOLOGY SAVVY! And the infrastructure is still in its infancy, if I would say. We are now living in a "transition" era.

But deep inside we know that there are always a better way of doing things. And over times, we will change and adapt..... again, the history tells me that..:)

Enjoy the following video :) Feel free to reach out to me to discuss and chat on topics about Internet and the Current World. Thanks.

A decision Yesterday make me Today

14 years ago, I decided to buy a computer and learn typing.....the 1st experience was EXCITING.....then it becomes TOUGH.......and now, it becomes WORTH IT!

Learning from what is hardware, os, dos to windows, database, spreadsheets, wordprocessors....the list goes on and on......I realised that TYPING is the common denominator of computer things. I had 2 choices. Either I live with my "2 finger" typing or I pick up "real" typing. And you may have guessed, I made the decision, took the pain and picked up "real" typing. Although I am not a super sonic typist, I am confident to type like I am writing. In fact, I only look at the screen when I type and I cannot remember which key is what alphabet now.......

Back to the learning of typing. Some people may say it is nothing. But to me, it was like climbing uphill with a stone double the seize of me hanging on my neck.......

I still remembered during that time, I got myself a typing sofware. The software is not available now. It was running on windows 3.1.

After work, I took my dinner and sat infront of the computer and start "learn" and "practicing". Initially, it was fine becaue all things attracts initially...... then 2nd day, 3rd day..... with a full time job, sometimes, the discipline could be broken..... I remembered that at times, I will dozed off infront of the computer. And the next thing when I open my eyes, I saw a bow of hot "liang cha" (herbal tea) right on the computer desk......yes, my mum "secretly" placed it there while I was dozing....heart touching..... something that I cannot forget.....

Ok, it took me about 3 - 4 weeks to start TYPING, if I am not wrong . Of course, it was still not so smooth in my typing after that 3-4 weeks. A lot and a lot of practice and most importantly, using it.

To those who want to start learning and making use of computer to help in their work, business or even life and play, I recommend to take the pain to learn typing...... I NEVER LOOK BACK AFTER THAT...... you decide

Enjoy the video below :)

IT Show 2009 - The Biggest Ever

The annual IT Show will be held this week.

The IT Show will take place from 12 March to 15 March at the Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre

Admission is free and it opens daily from 12 noon to 9pm daily.

Grab yourself a notebook or PC or digital camera. There should not be any excuse for missing the free REALweb Training :)

Learn! and Empower! yourself with all these powerful tools: i-Open-House, REALweb, POWERdesQ, iProperty, CRM SMS with us NOW!

Venue, Dates and Opening Hours
12th - 15th March 2009
Suntec Singapore
Levels 1, 2, 3, 4 & 6

Opening Hours :
12 noon to 9pm

Free Admission

BUS SERVICES TO SUNTEC SINGAPORE:
10, 14, 16, 36, 70, 70M, 97, 106, 111, 133, 196, 501, 502, 518, 546, 700, 857

2nd Great Depression from 2008

In my own opinion, year 2009 is like the 1930 Great Depression. Both started a year before which is 2008 and 1929 respectively. Year 2009 is NOT a normal financial crisis.

Is Great Depression good or back? Like most life experience people, my understanding is that in every good comes with a bad side and in every bad comes with a good side. Hence, it really comes down to how you look at it.

One thing that I am very sure and will bet on every cents that I have is that CHANGES is the only way to overcome Great Depression and it is inevitable. We all know that CHANGES is uncomfortable. People usually are comfortable with what they are already doing especially when what they are ready doing is making them comfortable. Old habits die hard and New way takes time to develop...... but changes, which is like adaptation is the element of survival.

One of the important changes for Real Estate Agents is to start picking up IT and learn and understand how it works and most importantly, how it can help them. This is the best time to do it. But in my experience, most Real Estate Agents are still not making use of technology to help them to be more efficient and productive. That also translate to cost and time saving. My advise is, Just Start Using IT. Only by using it, you will start to learn. If not, one will never start.

Hopefully, our real estate agent industry in Singapore will become more mature like the 1st world or even the 2nd world countries where it is really a profession where licenses are needed to practice and the Institutes are more proactive in helping the agents to keep up with technology to help in their work.....

I would round up with the following video, enjoy.

Happy New Year 2009!

Wishing all our clients, business partners, business alliances, staffs, friends and families for all the support all these years.

In whatever economic situation we are in, life still goes on. History tells us that there will still be a tomorrow; the earth will still rotate; and the sun will still rise in the morning whether life is good or bad. We just need to keep on going.... for a better tomorrow.

Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Last week, I attended a talk on "Innovation & Entrepreneurship in an Interdependent World"
by Dr. Georges Haour, IMD, Switzerland

It was quite an enlightening session. It gave rise to my inspiration to write on Innovation that is related to the Singapore Real Estate Agency and Agent environment which I am more familiar with due to they are our clients.

First of all, Agents and Brokers themselves are entrepreneurs. Sad to say, but it is a fact that real estate brokerage is not a vital industry in our economy. Therefore, they should put more weight on Innovation than the others. It is even more so during this global economic crisis we are in now.


My understanding: "Innovation is about ideas that change for a better way". It is not about new ideas, it is not about spending a lot of money and it is certainly not about re-inventing the wheel.

In short, to me, it is about implementing the ideas that can change the way we get things done better.

It is so simple to say but it is so difficult to do or implement....... Changes take time and pain ....



In the above video, even effort is required just to "implement the idea". The man got to get out of his comfortable zone of lying on the couch and implement his idea.
But I believe for most people, they will just "live with it as it is". And innovation is "killed" or not even born.

Let us relate it to the Real estate agents. Internet has been like a "god gifted" platform for the Real estate agents to save money, save effort and being more efficient. If real estate agents were to make use of Internet in a correct way, it is already a form of innovation. Again, sad to say, Innovation is easier said than done. In this case, perhaps Dr Haour has summed up the 2 keys to innovation.

They are
1) Leadership
2) Trust

For individual agents, they have to take leadership themselves and trust that Internet is the way to go. For team leaders, they have to stand up and show strong leadership to lead the team and gain trust from the team members. The same goes for agencies. Just to share a quote that I come across.

"Leadership is Action and Not Position."

However, it is not the case. Why? Because not many of them are familiar with the Internet. For those who are very experience and senior as an agent, the old ways worked for them and they have a pool of clientele, why do they need to "change" and get "unfamiliar"......

As for those who thought they know about Internet, but the actual fact is they don't really know. This group will get hurt most because they "misunderstood" the Internet. They did not get any result after spending money on it and lost faith in the Internet.

My advice to real estate agents, team leaders and agencies is that we can predict the future by looking back into history. Take leadership, have patient and determination to make use of Internet. You will be most welcome to contact me if you would like to have me to lead you or your team in innovating the use of Internet in your real estate business. Feel free to just drop me an email or go to our company's website at www.mondarlezo.com.

Take the First Step

I was born in the era when there were no personal computers. The first personal computer that I encountered were in my upper secondary school days and it was the 1st generation of Apple computer. Back then, computers were only for the privilege and the "intelligent guy". Not only did the hardware was expensive, software were pretty much in their primitive stage. Most people were doing programming with it or using it for playing games. However, over a time span of over 19 years, computer has become a norm. And it has made the typewriter into near obsolete ... just that most of us cannot change the way we do things even when we are using the new things ....



That is why, I strongly feel that there is need to change not just what we use but also how we use it. Hence, it comes down to "Smarter Way of Doing Things".

We are now living in the Information Age. Sad to say, Singapore is a 1st world country, but as far as I know, majority of our people are not there yet. That includes myself of course, to a certain extend.

In the early part of the year 2008, people are talking about Web 2.0, Blogging and Social Networking in the Internet. But Property Agents in Singapore are still using the newspaper. Most if not all are still worried about "Computer" and "Internet" which are 2 "Frightening words" they try to avoid.

Not just them. I attended many seminars and talks about embracing the Internet and Technology. These events were organised by the government and organisations. The targeted group are the SMEs and "born in pre computer age" people. You can really feel the ground that they are having difficulty embracing IT even duo they are starting to understand that IT can give them an edge in both personal and business level.

Like in the old days of 1960s, when my illiterate grand parents were still alive, I remembered my grandma refused to take the lift because she was worried that she will be trapped in the lift if she pressed the wrong button or the lift will just "drop off". As for my grand father, he would choose to walk and very relunctant to take a ride in a vehicle because he was worried that the car will explode or catch on fire, as the car is running on petrol. He also condemned cars and called them "killers" because they knock down people on the road....

In an event some time back, when a subscriber (in the 40s) called us up to complain that our product (agent website) looked different at her PC from what we had shown her during the training session. She wanted us to "correct" it. At least she was reasonable when we told her that it was her PC screen resolution setting that was making our product look different. After went through the steps to adjust the screen resolution, she was very pleased. The "enlightenment" came when she said, "So I don't change this setting now and from now on, all my clients will see what I see, right?"....

In another case 1 year back, one of our client's assistant manager called me up because she couldn't emailed an attachement to me. So I asked her what was the file size of the attachment. Her reply was:"What file size?"...the matter of fact was, she was trying to email a 35MB image file to me....and she was in her late 20s.

Just to share, our Minister Mentor Lee at the age of 83 then knew what is control-F, but most of our estate agents who use computer, and are in their early 40s today don't even know that. Of course, one can say that our MM Lee got "special" training..... honestly, no one can teach anyone if the someone do not what to learn. And if someone want to learn, no one can stop him from learning anything.

I came across the following chinese phrases and would like to share with you

人 类 因 梦 想 而 伟 大， (Human race is considered great because we have dreams,)

因 学 习 而 改 变，(Able to make Change because of learning,)

因 行 动 而 成 功，(Able to make Achievement because we take action)