It has been a year come January 2021 since the world was introduced to the “new norm” of COVID-19. A year of economic disruption, and a year of adjusting to working from home. The world only began to limp forward again thanks to the frontliners, who face the risk of getting the virus daily to ensure that the rest of the world can try their best to live life to their fullest.

There are however the unrecognised ones, and the unsung ones who continue to be berated by both customers and clients alike. Those who face the risk of getting COVID 19 to put a roof over many people’s heads, and going so far as to stretch the rules to breaking point during total lockdown to ensure that they make it happen.

Who are these people you may ask? These are the property agents, those who are occasionally deemed as pesky people who are only out to ensure their own well-being. We however recently spoke to a field agent to hear their side of the story – and perhaps after listening to his story, you will begin to appreciate them just a tad more too.

This story begins with a property agent and team leader, Jin Ooi, from Kith & Kin Realty Sdn Bhd, and here is our interview with him.


What would you say was the first reaction when the MCO total lockdown was announced?

I can say that there were two types of extreme reaction that I encountered – some of us were calm and relaxed because they did not believe that the situation was that severe. And then there was the other extreme of total panic and clearing out the shelves in the supermarket.


What then was the reaction of your colleagues and teams of property agents?

We agents were very shocked as this was the first time that anything like this had ever happened in Malaysia. A lot of property viewings were cancelled at the last minute, and even as I spoke to a few lawyers, they faced a lot of unprecedented issues.

No one knew how to react, and a lot of tenants could not move to their new residence. This was the biggest issue during that point of time. Many of them who were supposed to move at the end of the month had to cancel all their plans and attempt to extend their tenancy at their current residence for an unforeseen amount of time.


What was the biggest challenge your team and you faced during this period?

During this period, all the owners, clients, as well as agents came to us and asked us what to do. All we as the leadership team could do was attempt to calm all the parties down.


Who would you say were the biggest hit ones?

Image source: pexels.com

The worst-hit ones were the Airbnb hosts. Their strategy is to rent a normal house from an agent with permission to sublet. They had always been making money from their strategy, but all of a sudden COVID 19 hit. Each host could have up to 20 units which they rented from the owner and sublet to holiday goers, but when COVID 19 hit they suddenly had about 20 units in overhang.

Their first reaction was to beg for help, asking us to talk to the owner – to get a discount or anything that might help. But on the other hand, their Tenancy Agreement did not anticipate for this type of situation. They did not have an exit clause, whereby their only option was to pay up the remaining rental period until the expired term.

This meant that if they were renting their unit for RM2,000 per month and they had 10 months left on their lease, they would have to pay up RM20,000. The lucky ones had a fortunate agreement where they only had to forfeit their 2 months deposit. Unfortunately, that is not the standard of a typical Tenancy Agreement.

The owners of the units however refused to give a discount, with some even going so far as to say, “When you guys were making money from Airbnb, I did not receive a single cent of your profit other than to get my monthly rental. And now that this suddenly happens, it is as good as a natural disaster except it doesn’t destroy your house, and you ask me to help you so that you don’t lose so much money.

These are business risks, and I think that every business owner should understand that there is a risk, that you earn loads in the good times. It is just that you did not foresee the bad times.”

This was the crucial period where we tried to help the renters.


Were there other parties that were affected badly during this period?

I would say that the SMEs were the ones that bled the most during this period before shutting down. The ones who lost the most were the high risk-takers such as those who opened bubble tea shops, and those within the entertainment industry such as cybercafes. Basically, businesses that require a heavy amount of cash flow, like Airbnb, yet the business owners gambled on it.

Image source: unsplash.com

It has been a trend to invest in these types of businesses especially in recent years as the income levels increased. Unfortunately, MCO put a stopper in all of their plans temporarily.


How did your team and you help this situation back then?

To be honest, an agent’s job is just to make the deal happen. A good agent will however continue to provide you his services after the deal happens. To that end, I tried my best to help all my customers.

Some of the renters under me could not make it as their Tenancy Agreement did not state anything about a Forced Majeure due to unforeseen circumstances. This is where we stepped in to help to the best of our abilities. After all, it was a period where everyone had to work together, and everyone had to take care of everyone to pull through together.

Unfortunately, many owners still had to pay for their mortgage loans, so until the bank came up with the moratorium, many owners still charged their renters the monthly rental. And even then, it doesn’t mean that the bank was giving the owners a 6-month discount – the banks merely delayed the payment by 6 months.

Fortunately, some owners were understanding and stated that what happens between the bank and them has nothing to do with the tenant.

This situation was my biggest headache during MCO.


What was your second biggest headache?

I would say my second biggest headache were owners who wanted to sell their properties. When MCO hit, many of them panicked. Some of them wanted their business to survive, so they wanted to sell their property to fund their business during MCO. Many people were in this state of panic.

Our team was forced to stay calm as we are the intermediaries between the real estate stakeholders. We stepped up within the company – the Freeman group, our teammates, and our leaders – and we discussed and created a strategy for our clients.

This strategy was mainly to help owners who really needed financial help. Many of them had to sell below the market price, because during that period, only a really attractive price will help you sell your property.

The subsale market has always been fun and interesting, but MCO made it more so. Because at that point, the game had changed from a seller's to a buyer's market. So property owners who really wanted to attract buyers to their property had to come up with attractive prices. It was either that or renovate the unit to look really good. The rationale behind this is to either renovate it for your buyer or give that much discount to your buyer so that they can renovate it nicely.


Who would you say benefit the most during the situation?

The cash-rich. Because they could immediately purchase a unit and rent it out. If they were lucky, they got a ready-to-move-in unit. So what we did was work with owners who could come to an agreement on selling their property 20% to 30% below the market value, and this is how many business owners got through this period.


Having had to sell their properties at below market value, weren’t many of the sellers unhappy?

No, because we only worked with willing sellers and those who were urgently in need of cash and if the price was right. It was a willing seller and willing buyer situation, and our sellers were happy.

For the ones who did not need the cash urgently, we encouraged them to rent their units out. Many of them were willing to lose a little bit of money and then using the cash to put into a better investment, especially those who had another avenue.

We are still coming up with many other strategies until now. There are a lot of opportunistic sharks out there (agent laughs a bit at this point) and the luxury market was actually especially good during MCO. The market was very interesting indeed.


How did you feel when it was announced that MCO would be lifted?

The moment it was announced that there would be a partial lifting of MCO in June to CMCO, everyone was so glad. There were owners who were careful because they did not want to lose their tenants. But they naturally also tried to make the most of their situation.

During that time, many tenants who were supposed to move faced much uncertainty. There were those who were upset about being stuck in the house they were supposed to move out of, and then there were those who paid their rental on a prorated basis. Then there were also tenants who had hired services to move to their new units and could not get a refund. It was a desperate time and everyone was just grabbing any money they could based on their rights.


How did you all prepare for CMCO?

When it was over, the team was ready. Realtors spent nights packing safety kits which comprised of gloves, masks, and sanitiser sprays. And back then masks were so expensive at about RM100 per box? But we had to follow protocols as the middle person.

We were allowed to give showings but in a very vigilant manner. We had to do our part. We had online Zoom calls, meetings with colleagues and discussed what MIEA allowed us to do. This was the new norm we had to follow. We prepared at least 5-10 bags per person. It took time, but it had to be done. As a company, we must support our agents.


Were you not afraid? I mean you are not frontliners, but you would be out meeting strangers everyday.

Image source: freepik.com

Of course, to give showings, we were also scared! We did not know who we would be meeting! So we prepared safety kits for everyone, for every person who came for a property viewing including their family. It was expensive but it had to be done. The margin in property sales has always been high, so this is something we should do, and something we should invest in.


What was the first thing you did during CMCO?

The first thing we did was settle all the outstanding pending move-ins. Some of our agents were very ambitious and showed their love to their clients and the community by sending them fruits and vegetables. It was super important that time because the prices of these commodities were up. So we gave back to the community and delivered it to our clients with a note to stay safe.


Were there any extreme cases you had to go through during MCO to help a client?

Well, there were huge arguments between owners and tenants where the owner insisted on their rights to claim rental from the tenant stating that they were supposed to move in but did not. Because of these types of urgent cases that caused a huge feud between the owner and tenant, we managed to get the management to allow them to move in even during MCO. But these were the very extreme cases.


What would you say was your biggest pain point?

I would say that the sad part is that as the intermediaries, we agents get blamed for anything that does not run smoothly. Government problems are our fault, if the owner refuses to lower the price it is also our fault, and if the tenant asks for a discount it is also our fault. But I have to say that as agents we are already used to it.

We had many long calls during this period, even international calls to fixed lines for durations of 30 minutes to an hour just to calm a client down. There was a client from China who could not come back to Malaysia which led to outstanding management fees and utility bills. We spoke through WeChat for the longest time, and we ended up visiting their unit during MCO to take out their documents to help them pay their bills.

As an agent, all we can do is try to help. We may not be frontline heroes but we do the best we can to help. Especially if I am there I will definitely help.

And agents do face losses too. For example, during this period the tenant was supposed to move in on the 1st of the month but only moved in on the 11th. The tenant was also tight on cash and refused to pay for the 10 days he did not stay there. If the rental per month is RM3,000, prorate it and it comes up to RM100 per night? If the tenant refuses to pay, the realtor has to fork out the money and help to pay. It’s not supposed to be done, but because it is not a big amount, we can help each other out. But those that involve too much money we cannot help – it will have to be a legal case.

Again it is not the owner’s fault. They can choose to follow every rule in the book, but when this happens agents will have to step in to help.


Given this opportunity to speak to the public and fellow real estate agents, do you have any message to pass to them?

During these tough times, if you have no job to do but your main job, stay strong. It may feel like it’s tough, but stay positive. Because if you are able to get through these hard times successfully when it comes to the good times, you are going to do way better.

Because these people that you help? They are going to remember that you were the one who walked them through these tough times. I would say to all unsung heroes: Thank you very much. Especially the frontliners. I don’t think the economy would even still be running without the frontliners. Thank you.


Conclusion

This is the story behind one of the unsung heroes of COVID-19. Stay tuned to hear more stories of the people behind our homes, that will give you an insight into the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes and how the pandemic has affected the property sector.

For more stories like this, please visit PropSocial’s Articles page.

Special thanks to Jin Ooi for his contribution to this article. 


(Written by Isabelle, 26th January 2021)