[P311S0894] Understanding Basics of Investment in Real Estate (UBRE)

CPD Category: Professional (2 CPD credits awarded)

Course Duration: 3.0 hours

Course Synopsis:

Real estate investment has become a popular class of investments for many Singaporeans with growing affluence and numerous success stories. Increasingly, real estate agents need to value add as a consultant besides being a direct sales person when serving the property investors. This seminar addressed the need for real estate salespersons to be more proficient and professional when advising clients investing in real estate. There is a lack of a dedicated seminar to fully explained the nature and risks involved when investing in real estate as compared to other investment options such as shares, mutual funds, bonds and deposits. The concern is real estate salespersons and their leaders over simplified the investment process and under-estimate the risks involved especially in financial leveraging. Some agents have been advocating their clients to buy more than one property without a good knowledge of how the investment affect their clients when market turn south.

We noted that there are numerous expensive “get rich quick” investment seminars which may be a front for seed funding and others which are no more than overseas property exhibition sales. They may not address the objective needs of the ordinary investors by presenting the facts and analyses necessary to make an informed decision.

With Understanding the Basics of Investment in Real Estate, we hope to address this gap and impart the minimum knowledge and professional client care to real estate salespersons so that they can better serve their clients. This is a half day seminar and cannot cover a range of topics on real estate investment, which can be expanded further through a series of seminars later on if the objective of this seminar is achieved.

Course Objective(s):

The sale of Commercial Properties has become a popular subject from 2010 and remains so, with the shifting of investment focus from residential properties to commercial properties (office space and shop units) with the introduction of anti-speculative measures in the residential property market and low-interest rate environment. The investing public continues to find property a viable source of investments besides fixed deposits, equity, funds and gold.

The key objective of this module is to fulfill the needs of many salespersons venturing into the sale of commercial properties and to ensure that estate agents and their salespersons understand the specific needs and demands of investors and owner-occupiers of office and shop units when purchasing commercial properties.

Expected Learning Outcome(s):

This seminar is the basic course to introduce real estate as an investment class and its benefits and drawbacks. In order to fully appreciate the risks and rewards of investing in real estate, the participants need to fully appreciate the nature of real estate and the investment decision process.

It serves to address the need to understand a formal financial analysis in property investment. In addition to traditional investment criteria, it takes into account the time value of money and how practitioners used the discounted cashflow model when evaluating a property held as a long-term investment. The concepts of Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Net Operating Income (NOI) Multiplier are useful investment decision criteria. This financial mathematics are important tools and are kept simple as far as possible for the participants. This seminar is not intended to make the participant an expert in carrying out financial analysis as it requires a full certified course on investment that cover the subject matter in greater depth and breadth over a series of topics.

About the Trainer

Dennis Tay

Dennis Tay is currently a registered salesperson and has more than 35 years’ experience in the real estate industry. He previously worked for the developer, Keppel Land as General Manager, Marketing, in charge of the sale and marketing of projects in China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore. In the area of consultancy and brokerage, Dennis Tay was the Director for Investment Properties in CB Richard Ellis Singapore. His overseas postings include Shanghai as Senior Manager and later on as Managing Director, CBRE Beijing.

He was also involved in the real estate agency industry when he joined SAEA as its CEO in 2013; and assisted in the formation of the Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA) in 2016.

Dennis Tay graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1988 with a Degree in Estate Management and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration in 2008 from the same university. He has a Diploma in Marketing awarded by Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK and WSQ Advance Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA). His teaching experiences include RES and CPD Trainer with Singapore Estate Agents Association (SEAA), Part-time Tutor with National University of Singapore’s Design and Environment Faculty and Adjunct Lecturer with Ngee Ann Polytechnic.