Why talk to Kevin before you decide?

Because if we talk and you don’t join, that’s fine. When we talk, I’ll tell you what this work is really like, the mistakes I made, and the questions you should ask any team. Whether to start, and whether to work with me, is your decision.

Kevin speaks on stage with a microphone; behind him, the big screen shows his own self-portrait under the Milky Way.

Real estate careerRecruitingFLP Realty

The lessons I paid for, you shouldn’t have to learn the hard way.

I’m Kevin Lee. I have been in real estate for 13 years and have led a team at FLP Realty since 2022. I have fallen three times, paid more than RM700,000 to learn from teachers and courses, and once bought the wrong property myself. Before you decide anything, hear this first.

Talk first, decide later Start with the career guide

REN 14973FLP Realty Sdn. Bhd. · E (1) 1718

Behind me on the screen: my own self-portrait under the Milky Way.

4U For CEO2022.04.10

View the full photograph

The questions everyone asks first

Do I need experience?

No. When I started in 2013, I had no real estate experience at all.
Details
Can I do it part-time?

No. Under LPEPH’s description of the role, a negotiator works for one estate agency at a time, and full-time.
Details
Is there a basic salary?

Usually not. Income follows closed deals, shared under your agency’s contract.
Details
How do I become a REN?

Pass the NCC course and its online assessment, hold SPM or equivalent, be free of bankruptcy, and register through a registered estate agency before you practise.
Details

Career guide · Chapter 1

What does this work really involve?

The daily work, a few names people mix up, how to get your REN, part-time, and starting with no experience.

What does a property agent actually do every day?

Helps people buy, sell and rent property: finding the right home or the right buyer, arranging viewings, negotiating, and staying with the client through the deposit, the agreement, the loan and the lawyers until the deal is done.

Finding listings and clients: getting to know owners and developers’ projects, and the people who want to buy or rent.
Viewings: explaining a home’s strengths, its weaknesses and what its price is based on.
Negotiation: finding terms that both sides can accept.
The paperwork: the deposit, the sale and purchase agreement, the loan, the lawyers and the transfer. Every step needs following through.
Marketing: photographs, video, writing and social media are basic skills now.
Long-term relationships: after handover, clients come back, and they introduce their friends.

Property agent, real estate agent, REN, REA: what’s the difference?

In everyday speech, “property agent” and “real estate agent” (ejen hartanah in Malay) cover two legal roles in Malaysia: the REA and the REN.

RENReal Estate Negotiator · perunding hartanah: Registered with LPEPH, working full-time for one registered estate agency, under its direction and supervision. I am REN 14973.
REARegistered Estate Agent · ejen harta tanah berdaftar: Can set up, and is responsible for, an estate agency. Negotiators work in that agency, under the REA’s supervision.
RealtorRealtor®: A name reserved for members of the US National Association of Realtors (NAR). In Malaysia, the correct titles are REA and REN.
Property agentReal estate agent · ejen hartanah: Everyday words that cover both. Before you work with anyone, check their registration.

Any negotiator’s registration can be checked on LPEPH’s public register: just enter the REN number.

Check REN 14973 on the LPEPH register ↗

How do you become a REN (Real Estate Negotiator) in Malaysia?

Since 1 October 2024: complete the Negotiator Certification Course (NCC) and pass its online assessment, hold SPM or an equivalent qualification and a current non-bankruptcy certificate, and join a registered estate agency. You can practise only once you hold your REN registration.

Talk first: your situation, your questions, and my honest answers.
Take the Negotiator Certification Course (NCC), and pass the online assessment at the end of the course’s second day.
Have your SPM, or a higher qualification, ready, with a current non-bankruptcy certificate.
Join a registered estate agency and work full-time under the direction and supervision of its registered estate agent. Mine is FLP Realty Sdn. Bhd. (E (1) 1718).
Start practising only once you hold your REN registration.

Sources: LPEPH Notification 22/2024 (in force from 1 October 2024) and LPEPH’s description of the negotiator’s role.

LPEPH Notification 22/2024 ↗LPEPH: the role of negotiators ↗

Can I work as a REN part-time?

No. Under LPEPH’s description of the role, a negotiator works for only one estate agency at a time, and only full-time, under its direction and supervision.

If you have a job now, come and understand the work properly first, then decide whether to switch. Understanding it doesn’t commit you to anything.

LPEPH: the role of negotiators ↗

Can I start with no experience?

Yes. When I started in 2013 I had no real estate experience at all: I was a wedding photographer.

What you need is a willingness to learn, and to speak up again after you’ve been turned down. The NCC is the course the rules require; for everything after it, I’ll teach you what I have learned.

2013Rain

Most days I got around by bicycle and motorbike. When a job needed a car, I borrowed one from family.

Heavy rain at night: two people embrace under a white umbrella, the wet ground reflecting the lights of a building. — One rainy night that April, I photographed two people under a white umbrella. This frame, Raining Love, later received an Honorable Mention at IPA 2013.
2013.04.24

In January 2013 I came back to Malaysia. I shot weddings and events on my own, and worked as a second photographer for Louis Loo Photography (Deviews Production). My income was never steady. In June my brother took me to sell resale homes; in December I went into real estate full-time and started learning from scratch.

Years later, Louis Loo joined my real estate team.

Read my story, Long Exposure

Career guide · Chapter 2

Income, and the reality of the work.

Where the money comes from, the rules, and four things I’d rather you knew first.

How is income worked out? Is there a basic salary?

Usually there is no fixed monthly salary. Income comes from closed deals: the agency charges a fee to the party who appointed it, and the negotiator receives a share under their contract with the agency.

For the sale of land and buildings, LPEPH sets the maximum fee at 3%. Commission on new projects is agreed between the agency and the developer.
A fee may be charged only to the party who appointed the agency.
How much the negotiator receives, and when, depends on your agency’s contract. I don’t publish figures, and I don’t promise anyone an income.
Ask who pays for transport, phone and advertising before you join.

LPEPH: scale of fees ↗

The core of the Milky Way hangs over a valley and a reservoir, a few lights at the foot of the hills.

Four things to understand before you start

The freedom in this work is real. So are the hard parts.

Income follows closed deals.
Most of this work has no fixed salary. You earn when a deal closes.
The market changes.
I fell behind it three times myself: in 2016, the first half of 2019, and 2020.
You will be turned down. Often.
Being willing to ask again after a no is the most basic skill in this work.
No one tells you when to get up.
Your time is your own. So are the results.

If what you want is a steady monthly salary, this road isn’t for you. I’d rather you knew that now.

Milky Way№ KKB

View the full photograph

My record

Thirteen years, up and down.

2013 · June

My brother brought me into buying and selling resale homes.
2013 · December

My income from selling homes overtook photography. I went full-time and started learning from scratch.
2014

GS Realty: Yearly 2014, 2015 · Top Personal Sales (Pre-Leader Ranking) · 2nd Runner Up; 2014 3rd Quarter · Top Volume Case · Champion. Promoted to Team Leader the same year.
2015 · 11 · 11

Joined FLP Realty with my team and moved into new projects.
2016–17

I fell behind the market, and my numbers kept sliding.
2016 · September

Began hosting FLP Realty’s weekly meeting, which I did until 2022.
2017 · 9 · 21

At dawn on Low’s Peak, Mount Kinabalu, I raised the FLP Realty flag.
2018

Sixth in personal sales.
2019 · first half

Hit rock bottom.
2019 · second half

Came back: Top Advisor of the Year 2019 · Champion.
2020

During the MCO I didn’t move my selling online, and fell to the bottom again.
2021

Moved my selling online: Top Advisor of the Year 2021 · 8th Place.
2022 · January

Began leading a team at FLP Realty.

Look only at 2019 and you’d think I won all the way. Look only at 2020 and you’d think I was finished. Neither is true.

Some of this, I’d rather tell you face to face.

How income works, how the agency’s contract is written, what the first few months are like: we’ll go through it point by point.

Talk first, decide later

Career guide · Chapter 3

Before you choose a team, ask.

The team you join shapes your first few years.

Ten questions to ask before you join a real estate team

Whoever you end up with, these ten questions are worth asking. Ask me, too.

Is the agency registered with LPEPH? Who is its responsible registered estate agent (REA)?
What is your leader’s own REN number? Can you look it up?
How is commission shared, and when is it paid? Is it written into the contract?
What will you pay before and after you start? (For example, the NCC course fee.)
Who pays for photographs, video and advertising? Who does that work?
Is there someone to teach you? What do they teach, and who teaches it?
What can you work on: resale homes, new projects or rentals?
Where do clients come from? (No one should promise you clients.)
How much time does your leader give the team each week?
Can you talk to the people on the team now?

Career guide · Chapter 4

Working with me.

What I will give you, and what I won’t promise.

What is it like to work with Kevin?

I lead a real estate team. I will teach you what I’ve learned and tell you first where I fell. When something goes wrong, I stand in front of you.

I don’t promise you an income, and I don’t promise you clients. What I can do is tell you the truth up front.

From the stage: a full hall, a spotlight on the speaker.

What I’ve learned, I don’t want to keep to myself.

more than seven hundred thousand ringgit

What I have paid to learn over the years.Thirteen years in, I’m still paying.

13 years in real estate
500+ client groups
12 real estate teachers

For the projects I research and serve, I write a series of property guides. Read my property guides

I have learned from 12 real estate teachers, and from many teachers in other fields. Real estate, sales, closing, copywriting, marketing, public speaking, communication, strategy, tactics, leadership: I learned them one by one, and paid for each.

Then I used them. In thirteen years, I have worked with more than 500 client groups. I have won and I have lost, misjudged and started again. What I learned in a classroom went into real deals, where it was tested, and corrected.

If the people who walk this road with me can skip a few detours because of it, that tuition was worth even more.

Beyond real estate, I have long studied what the East and the West know about people: personality, choices, behaviour. I study it to understand people better, because understanding people is how you learn to communicate, to judge and to lead. I don’t use it to predict property prices for anyone, and I don’t use it to choose who joins my team.

Where I fell, I’ll tell you first.

I didn’t win all the way here.

I have been Top Advisor of the Year, and I have fallen three times. What I can share is how I won results, and also how I lost them: why I slipped, what I misread at the time, and how I got back up.

What it took to win, I’ll tell you.What it cost to lose, I’ll tell you too.

Leading people means teaching them how to win. Sometimes it matters more to spare them a few falls they never needed to take.

Your problems are mine to carry.

In March 2022, I typed three lines into our team chat:

Carry the responsibility for our partners.Take the bullets for our partners.Clear the road ahead for our partners.

Facing the past, success is no shame and no regret. Facing the present, success is being open and grounded. Facing the future, success is having less fear.
My reply to a partner

Learning to lead

I’ve spent years learning to lead.

I was naturally introverted. I learned each of the steps below only after I had stepped up to it.

Being led

In my first years, I was the one being led. My brother brought me into the business, and in 2015 I joined FLP Realty under Fallon Loo Kah Cheng, its Founder & CEO.
Hosting and speaking

In September 2016 I took over hosting FLP Realty’s weekly meeting. An introvert, now standing up in front of people every week.
03
Years of hosting the weekly meeting

I hosted it until 2022.
- 2016.09 – 2022 · Host of the FLP Realty weekly meeting
04
Sharing and teaching for partners

Since 2018, I have shared and taught for my partners at FLP Realty’s weekly meetings many times.
- Since 2018 · FLP Realty weekly meetings · shared and taught many times
- 2022.03.12 and 2022.04.10 · 4U For YOU and 4U For CEO · stage sharing
- 2023.04.15 · MAYCHAM CHINA online talk 《2023 马来西亚及加拿大地区投资秘诀解析》 · speaker
05
Coaching small groups

In the classroom, I learn alongside one small group.
- 4U Academy (4U 人际教育学院) · small-group coach 3 times for 《影响力》 and 5 times for 《人才赢学》
- Since 2024 · Wealth Mastery Academy (WMA) 富道商学院 · small-group coach (传承天使) many times: 《易经富有密码》, 《数字奇门·你的沟通看牌权》, 《十二神数·你的关系看牌权》
Leading a real estate team

Since January 2022, I have led a team at FLP Realty.
Developing people

What I care about most now is that my partners go further than I have.

My standard for myself comes from something Fallon said years ago: “When my people are better than me, that is truly remarkable.”

In a Wealth Mastery Academy (WMA) class, 《易经富有密码》, Kevin, in a purple top and a name badge reading 李明伟, writes on a whiteboard as he explains to his small group. — In a Wealth Mastery Academy (WMA) class, 《易经富有密码》, I coach one small group (传承天使).

I can’t walk this road for you.

But I can lay it all out for you:the 13 years I’ve walked,the tuition I’ve paid,what I’ve won, lost, misread and started over.

Then you decidewhether this road is yours to walk.

Talk to me first

I’m not rushing you to join. See the road clearly first.

Career guide · Chapter 5

My firm: FLP Realty.

Your registration and practice sit with a registered estate agency.

What is FLP Realty, and what is Kevin’s connection to it?

FLP Realty Sdn. Bhd. (1193823-D) is a real estate agency registered with LPEPH (E (1) 1718), with its headquarters in Shah Alam. I joined on 11 November 2015, and I have led a team at FLP Realty since 2022.

FLP Realty has no connection with Forever Living Products (also often called FLP). Why I chose FLP Realty is on a page of its own.

Read why I chose FLP Realty