Renewed passion for life after battling illness

SICKNESS is no deterrent for managing director and principal of Huttons One World, Aine Lee to succeed in the real estate industry. “Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a critical illness. It was detected early and I managed to beat it.

“Now, every day, I live my life with passion, enthusiasm and gratefulness,” Lee tells TheEdgeProperty.com.

Following her bout of illness, she changed her name from Shirley to Aine after consulting a “sifu”. Her new name signifies “abundance of health and joy” which she believes would help enhance her well-being.

“Life is a long journey and sometimes it challenges us to live as best as we can regardless of the outcome.

“Recovering from my illness, it has definitely taught me to treasure my life more and to practise giving unconditionally,” she says.

In this industry specifically, Lee wants to create more leaders in order to raise the standard of professionalism, she shares.

Lee was earning money from investments in stocks and shares before her venture into real estate.

“I learned to trade stocks and shares in the market at that time and my earnings every day was almost RM3,000,” she recalls.

“The only way to make money the fastest way was through investments,” she says, adding that her family members were all self-employed which nurtured her interest to set up her own business eventually.

Her focus on the stock market moved to property when she realised it could be more lucrative in the long run.

“I was working with a Hong Kong and Taiwanese company based in Malaysia, manufacturing tents and camps. At that time (1994), they owned a land in Sungai Buloh which was originally an agricultural land. They wanted to convert the land title into an industrial land title but faced some difficulty doing so due to a language barrier. So, I helped them with it and they were able to convert the land title. In 1.5 years, we saw the value of the land increase from RM150,000 to almost RM1.5 million. That really opened my eyes into the wonders of property investment,” says Lee.

She then decided to join Chartwell Real Estate as a real estate negotiator in 1995 for a month before moving to Venture Properties (formerly known as Winner Properties) until 2007. She also immediately worked on becoming a certified real estate agent as soon as she joined the industry.

“You know, the market was so good back then. It was so painful for me to forgo so many appointments which could have led to closed deals because I had to go for night classes. The market was so hot. But I knew it was important for me to study for my papers so I persevered,” she says.

In 2003, her efforts paid off and she received her licence. In 2008, she became a consultant at MetroWorld Realty’s international property division where she sold Malaysian properties to the overseas market.

“I believe we should upgrade ourselves regardless of which field we are in. At that time, I felt that I wanted to challenge myself to go out there to market Malaysian property and to widen my market base,” she says.

She opened her own agency in 2010, One World Realty Malaysia, with two other partners.

Another milestone was reached in September 2013 when Huttons International Singapore, the third largest real estate agency in Singapore, decided to partner One World Realty.

“To us at Huttons One World, we believe in education. We don’t just send our negotiators out without equipping them with what they should do to successfully transact a deal,” says Lee. The agency now has four branches in Malaysia: in Kuala Lumpur, Cheras, Subang USJ and Penang.

“For example, for project marketing, not only do we teach the negotiators how to sell and market the product, they also have to understand that they are working as a team. In the sub-sale market, you would need the right information such as historical price trends and current asking prices so that you can close the deal at a fair value for both the buyer and the seller,” she explains.

Her goal in the next three years is to grow the agency to about 500 performing and trained negotiators (from the current 180 negotiators) with 20 to 30 team leaders.

“It is important not only to have active negotiators who go after listings but we also want to continue working as a team and support one another as a family”.

This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on July 22, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.