HER car doubles up as her office, strewn with documents and files. She has no colleagues to help her nor an impressive degree to boast of.

But thanks to the sizzling bricks-and-mortar market, property agent Regina Lau looks set to join the league of highly-paid CEOs of listed companies here.

Her likely income this year?

A total commission of about $1.7 million from her property sales by year-end, she estimated.

It seems a very modest figure, seeing that her employer, ERA Singapore, had conservatively estimated she had earned about $1.2m by end-June.

At this pace, she could break the $2m barrier.

O-LEVEL CERT

Not bad for a one-woman show, and one armed with only an O-level certificate.

Single-handedly, Ms Lau, 38, has sold $160m-plus worth of properties so far, or slightly over 150 homes.

Her earnings would put her squarely among the top 30 earners here, according to a survey of Singapore's best-paid executives by The Business Times last month.

In that survey, UOB chief Wee Cho Yaw took the top spot with his $9m annual salary.

By comparison, SGX Chairman J Y Pillay, who was 31st on the list, took home $1.69m - more or less what Ms Lau expects to earn this year.

When we mentioned this to Ms Lau, she was surprised, and humbly brushed aside the comparison.

'The income may be rewarding, but the most important thing is that I like the job.

'My greatest satisfaction is when I find the perfect home for my clients and it brings smiles to their faces,' she said.

She specialises in prime districts 9, 10 and 11, dealing with the priciest properties in Singapore.

Her clients are high net-worth individuals with millions to spare. Hence the big fat commissions.

As part of the secret to her success, Ms Lau reveals that dealing with some of her wealthy overseas clients is no walk in the park.

She said: 'When they're in town, you've to spend time with them till they leave.

'I have to chauffeur them around, go shopping, to the zoo or Sentosa with them. You're basically at their beck and call.

'A client once asked me to buy bak chor mee from North Bridge Road for his family.

'I had to queue for an hour in the hot sun, and I bought 15 packets for his family. But that's part of my job.'

Keeping these clients happy also means buying them expensive $500 dinners and sending them pricey $1,000 hampers at Christmas and on Chinese New Year.

Her most expensive birthday gift to a client were air tickets worth $2,000 for a family of four to Thailand.

IT'S THOUGHT THAT COUNTS

'Sometimes it's not the money, it's the thought that counts. These people are millionaires, they don't need your money. They will feel insulted if you give them money,' Ms Lau said.

'When you deal with the very rich, your interpersonal skills become more important than your market knowledge,' she said.

Her expenses are hefty, and make up some 35 per cent of her commission, she said.

This includes advertisement fees, entertainment and commission to the agency.

She is the top performer in ERA Singapore, with the highest sales so far in the company's 25-year history here.

Her commission last year was a record-breaking $1.29m.

And this year, she broke this record by the end of June - all without the commanding presence or the strategic skills of a CEO, but a gentle demeanour, humility and market knowledge.

Her achievement is also no small feat when there are more than 20,000 property agents here trying to outdo each other in a highly competitive environment.

An agent typically takes home between $70,000 and $80,000 in commissions a year, industry watchers said.

TOUGH AT FIRST

For Ms Lau, based on a 1-per-cent commission, a successful $5m deal means she'll take home about $50,000 - not bad for a few months of work.

But her foray into the property industry 15 years ago wasn't that lucrative, with a commission of about $80,000 for the whole year.

Before that, she was making about $120,000 a year selling watches to retail shops.

Today, she easily earns double of that for just a few months of work.

Her single biggest transaction so far was when a wealthy Indonesian client snapped up five new condo units at Scotts Road for $6m a piece a few months back.

For that $30m deal, her commission was some $200,000 - enough to pay in full for a three-room HDB flat.

Ms Lau's husband is in the fashionindustry.

They have a 14-year-old daughter.

Despite her million-dollar income and constant hobnobbing with the rich, Ms Lau remains firmly rooted to the ground.

Home is a 1,300-sq-ft condo in the Serangoon area, which she bought for $800,000 in 2001.It's worth about $950,000 now.

She also owns two other apartments in the central area, which were sold en-bloc recently.

Her 'mobile office' is a flaming red BMW 3-series which cost her about $150,000 two years ago.

She has chalked up mileage of about 80,000km so far, twice the norm for a car of its age.

The family could easily afford landed property, but she prefers an apartment for the security.

She doesn't believe in hiring a maid, but sends her daughter to and from school every day to spend quality time with her, since her weekends are almost always busy.

Ms Lau said: 'It's a lot of hard work in this business and you really need to prioritise. I plan my time and schedule carefully so that I don't neglect my family.'