The Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with two technology companies, MyProperty Data Sdn Bhd and Finology Sdn Bhd at the Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (MAREC) Summit 2020.

The collaboration is intended to elevate the real estate practice by allowing more than 6,500 MIEA members nationwide to provide better, faster and more efficient services to the Malaysian public. The MOUs were also signed in celebration of this year’s MAREC theme: Real Estate Practice Vision 2025: ‘Change or Die’.

President of MIEA, Lim Boon Ping said, “The changing landscape of the real estate industry is rapidly evolving through technology advancement and the way we do things inevitably has to change to be relevant to the clients.” 

Lim added that MIEA was undertaking a series of IT initiatives by working with several strategic partners in proptech, fintech and insuretech by launching specially designed apps for its members. 

MIEA AgentData, officially launched during MAREC Summit 2020 was developed by MyProperty Data Sdn Bhd and will provide, connect and empower MIEA members with the latest property transaction data in the market in an instant.

Joe Hock Thor, chief executive officer of MyProperty Data Sdn Bhd said he believes that MIEA AgentData would not only benefit members but also prospective homebuyers to help them make an informed decision about neighbourhood property transaction prices before buying or selling a property. 

“What makes MIEA Agent Data different is that it captures the data at the point of booking and we follow through until the Sales and Purchase Agreement is signed. By taking this approach, we can obtain, process and share the data in less than three weeks,” said Joe.

Lim also highlighted that housing loan eligibility for buyers is also a major concern for the property market and MIEA is collaborating with Finology Sdn Bhd to launch MIEA LoanCheck, an instant loan checking mobile application especially for MIEA members. 

Cheng Jun Hann, head of business development at Finology Sdn Bhd shared that MIEA members will be able to check the prospect buyer’s loan eligibility just by keying in basic information into the application with consent from the prospective buyer.

“The application will be integrated with CTOS and CCRIS, which makes the results more accurate and applicants can check their loan eligibility across all 17 banks in Malaysia. Our official supporting banks include Standard Chartered Bank and RHB bank,” said Cheng.

MIEA has also been working with Howden Insurance Brokers Sdn Bhd to offer special Profesional Indemnity (PI) Insurance packages to MIEA members. Although by law PI Insurance is only compulsory for Real Estate Agents (REAs) to protect their client’s account, MIEA has taken the initiative to work with Howden to offer individual PI Insurance for REAs, Probationary Estate Agents (PEA) and Real Estate Negotiators (RENs). The collaboration, known as MIEA Insure, also allows MIEA members to purchase these packages seamlessly through a specially developed app for MIEA.

Lim added that MIEA is working tirelessly to improve the level of professionalism amongst the real estate fraternity. All these initiatives not only encourage Real Estate Agents and Negotiators to embrace technology but also allow their members to deliver better services, ultimately to raise the confidence of the general public when choosing to engage a registered estate agent or negotiator.