PETALING JAYA (May 18): K Soma Sundram – the recipient of the Real Estate Agent of the year award 2016 from Board of Valuers, Appraisers and Estate Agents Malaysia (Bovaea) – hopes that the local estate agency industry will work towards becoming more professional.
“The profession is on the right path, although we are 20 to 30 years behind the US and Australia, which have seen real estate agents practicing in a more professional way. But, we can improve faster,” he told TheEdgeProperty.com via phone interview today.
He noted that more things need to be done and more effort is needed to achieve the target – making real estate agents a profession and ensuring real estate agencies operate in an organised way and in compliance with the rules and regulations.
Being the CEO of Heritage Shield Real Estate Sdn Bhd and one of the committee members of Bovaea, Soma started his career as a real estate agent in 1987.
“I feel happy as my contributions and hard work have been recognised by the board. This is a great achievement in my career over the past 30 years,” said the 58-year-old veteran who has put much effort in promoting real estate agents’ training and licensing.
He said there is a strong need for real estate agents to increase their skills as property is a big ticket item for the buyers.
As real estate agents play a big role in facilitating the transaction, they must perform their duties in the most ethical and professional way to protect the interest of those involved in the transaction.
“Currently, we [Bovaea] have trained 19,000 agents. To be more professional, agents need more training … we are still working on it,” he added.
Part of Bovaea’s training includes ethics and law, said Soma.
He advised agents to aim for the long-term goal of building up the image of the estate agency profession to make it a sustainable lifetime career.
After three decades in the industry, has Soma thought about retiring?
“Real estate agents do not retire, we just die. Looking back at the past 30 years, I have learned so much from the industry and now it’s time for me to contribute and share with newcomers who want to improve the industry.
“It’s not the time for retiring,” he said.
Source : http://www.theedgeproperty.com.my/content/k-soma-sundram-wishes-estate-a...
