Announcing new overseas partnership, interactive workspace, groundbreaking PropTech tools, trailblazing project initiatives and social empowerment of youth

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach^[1] - 10 March 2021 - Singapore's largest international real estate agency, ERA^[2] held its annual Asia Pacific Business Conference virtually for the first time today. The virtual conference was graced by Ms Indranee Rajah, the Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development, and attended by over 18,000 trusted advisors across 10 countries.

ERA pledges fundraising support towards The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) Children for Children (CFC) initiative.

From left: Doris Ong, Chief Operating Officer of ERA; Tan Tee Tong, Director of The Rice Company; Indranee Rajah, Second Minister for Finance and National Development; Jack Chua, Chief Executive Officer of ERA; Marcus Chu, Chief Operating Officer of ERA. 

Since its inception in 1982, ERA has been continuously building a culture of empowerment which aims at inspiring individuals to greater heights. Despite a challenging and uncertain 2020 as a result of the pandemic, the company has planned a slew of initiatives in the new year to continue empowering its trusted advisors and contributing to the society for a brighter future. 

Eyeing for Bigger Regional Presence

ERA is set to expand its presence in India as the organisation has recently been appointed as a consultant to a homegrown Indian real estate agency, HomeSFY. The fast-growing agency currently has presence in 4 cities, namely Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bengal. According to reports^[1], Indian real estate market attracted over USD6.06 billion in 2019, and is expected to reach a market size of USD1 trillion by 2030. This partnership is believed to drive more value and opportunities to ERA and its network of trusted advisors.

Newly Renovated Interactive Space and Groundbreaking Proptech Tools to Boost Empowerment in Workplace

ERA is the first and only real estate agency in Singapore to own its building. Named ERA APAC Centre, the property serves as the headquarters of ERA Asia Pacific - the largest of its kind in Asia Pacific region - providing a permanent "home" for ERA's agency operation and its entire nextwork of trusted advisors. The ground floor has recently been transformed to provide a creative, conducive, and collaborative work space. With digitalisation taking centre stage across every touch-point, its network of trusted advisors will get to enjoy access to cutting-edge facilities powered by technology.

Its ground floor co-working space named, Everyday @ ERA, is a tangible vision of the company to create a place to work, learn and nurture the OneERA spirit everyday amongst ERA trusted advisors. The meeting rooms are also thoughtfully named after ERA Core Values: Gratitude, Passion and Integrity, as a prompt of what ERA seeks to work towards and achieve as a company.

ERA also launches an all new RealtyWatch by ERA^[3], the first and only client-agent-enabling CRM tool in the real estate industry offering 24/7 updates on the latest neighbourhood project transactions. It is carefully designed to benefit both ERA trusted advisors and consumers, empowering them with the right tool and knowledge to transact in real estate. Consumers will be able to access transparency on the latest neighbourhood transaction prices, be educated on the latest property market info and trends and be connected to professional trusted advisors anytime and anywhere. At the same time, ERA trusted advisors can enjoy efficient and free lead generation via a "grab" function which can then be streamlined for follow-up and conversion.

Project Marketing - Another Key Area to Boost

When circuit breaker measures were first introduced in April 2020, ERA was the first real estate agency to put together a Project 360 virtual property gallery and hosting Singapore's largest virtual real estate consumer show - 2020 ERA Property Weekend - in partnership with developers to allow consumers to view different projects in one place. In the new year, ERA Project team has come up with trailblazing innovations to increase work productivity while empowering its trusted advisors.

• ERA Projects x LytePay - ERA will subsidise the transaction fees for its trusted advisor to advance the first $5,000 of their commission via LytePay, so they can continue with their prospecting works. Usually, real estate salespersons have to wait for 6 to 9 months to get their project commission. This initiative also encourages them to receive their commissions via bank transfers to reduce the usage of cheques.
• ERA Project Tagger AMA - Ask Me Anything (AMA) is a newly launched initiative to connect closing taggers with ERA trusted advisors via Zoom. They can login from anywhere they are, and find out more about the key selling points of each project from closing taggers.
• Socius by ERA Projects - Socius means partner or ally in Latin. Project taggers play an important role in project sales, but most of the time, their hard work is undermined. To maintain fair recognition across all roles in the real estate industry, ERA Projects introduces this new monthly award to recognise project taggers who have successfully tagged at least 3, 5 or 8 transactions per month.

Pledging Support Towards Children and Youths from Financially Disadvantaged Backgrounds

ERA is an organisation that empowers. Over the years, the company and its network of trusted advisors have engaged in various charitable works. These include NUS-ERA Student Foundation Bursary that provides financial assistance to underprivileged students yearly and ERA Scholarship initiative aimed at grooming potential talents in the property industry.

This year, ERA pledges fundraising support towards The Business Times Budding Artists Fund (BT BAF) Children for Children (CFC) initiative, an annual community outreach event that brings joy and laughter to children from financially disadvantaged backgrounds on Children's Day. The amount raised will be used to fund 1,000 goodie bags for the kids to bring along during their visit to the attraction. The drawstring bag, painted with artworks created by children from BT BAF, will come with food vouchers, notebook and pen, face masks and hand sanitiser, snacks and confectionery.

"ERA has always strongly believed in empowering ERA teammates through various upgrading programmes that equip them with relevant skills to be the best in their field. In the same spirit, we are in strong support of initiatives focused on social empowerment for the underprivileged, nurturing their talents and enabling beneficiaries to contribute meaningfully to our community. ERA will continue to support the younger generations in the pursuit of their dreams, by providing them with resources to nurture their talents and to realise their maximum potential," said Jack Chua, Chief Executive Officer of ERA.

Company-Wide Lucky Draw and Rewards Program to Inspire New Breakthroughs

• Win A Dream Draw As OneERA

In anticipation of ERA's 40-Year Anniversary grand celebrations in 2022, the company is rolling out a grand lucky draw to inspire ERA trusted advisors for a new level of breakthrough: better sales results and recruitment. Titled, Win A Dream Draw As OneERA, the lucky draw will run from 10 March 2021 to 9 March 2022.

The grand prize is a penthouse unit in a condominium worth S$2 million or a Tesla Model 3 electric car worth approximately S$150,000 (excluding COE, road tax and registration fee)

Acknowledging the hard work of all ERA trusted advisors, the Watch Me Win lucky draw seeks to reward them with three luxury watches worth $30,000, including the highly popular Rolex GMT-Master II as the main prize. Those who have closed projects this year will stand a chance to partake in this campaign.

• All New RealtyWatch 5-Star Staycation Contest

ERA will be giving away a total of 78 5-star staycation packages to mark the launch of the all-new RealtyWatch by ERA, a free service to educate and empower individuals in property transaction decisions. Each package comprises a 2 Days 1 Night stay in a 5-star hotel for 2 people, inclusive of hotel breakfast. As ERA celebrates its 39th anniversary this year, the winners are defined by the 39 participants who have registered as RealtyWatch VIP ending with the "39th" position according to their registration status.

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} ERA (www.era.com.sg)
3. ^{^} RealtyWatch by ERA (www.realtywatch.sg)