MEET SIR JYRE
From Determination to Dominance:
The Inspiring Journey of Jyre Dominic C. Obligacion into Real Estate
The Philippines has had its fair share of success stories of Filipinos who relentlessly and painstakingly overcame challenges after challenges and eventually succeed in their chosen field of endeavors.
Some may have chosen to follow a traditional path, but there are some who are visionaries who make do with what the situation gives them and carve their own way to success. Jyre Dominic C. Obligacion stands out as a testament to the second category of successful people.
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Despite the absence of a real estate background in his early professional career, being a graduate of marketing management, Jyre embarked on an arduous journey towards making a name for himself in the Philippine real estate industry.
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His story is a testament to the boundless power of determination, resilience, and an unwavering belief in one's dreams. From marketing strategies to property strategies, his life is a masterclass in pursuing one's passion and achieving remarkable success.
Establishing his own realty company, JCO Gold, barely a decade into the business backed by a string of remarkable accomplishments in selling real estate and property development projects in Metro Manila and in some other parts of the country, Jyre’s success in the industry has also trickled to a good number of his sales personnel.
Not only did JCO Gold help propel Jyre to carve a name for himself in the highly competitive local real estate business, he was continuously making a difference in the lives of many of his sales people, transforming a number of them from living in an almost hand-to-mouth existence to a more comfortable and convenient lifestyle these days.
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While Jyre got most of his motivation and wisdom from the struggles and difficulties he had to overcome early in his life, he also continuously learns from other senior mentors who had more experience and wisdom than him. He is not one to claim that he already knows everything because he understands that learning is a continuous process and that he can obtained knowledge from practically all types of people he deals with on a daily basis.
Jyre is now a certified motivational coach not only to his sales people, numbering close to three hundred, but also to other groups or individuals. He is constantly getting numerous requests and calls asking him to be a resource person or speaker in motivational seminars and workshops. Not only is he honored to be given the opportunity to share the formula to his professional success, Jyre also feels rewarded every time he is given the chance to impart to others and motivate them to always strive to become the better version of themselves.
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“I believe that duplication is the key to success. Experience and wisdom should be passed on to others through continuous training and mentoring,” enthuses Jyre, who at a young 37 years of age, is already a self-made millionaire.
More than coaching, mentoring, and training others to take the same path of success as he did, Jyre is also very determined in making sure that everyone to whom he imparts his teachings and wisdom to really get to absorb them. In real estate, he leads his sales personnel by example to show them that if he can do it, they can do it as well.
When Jyre targets to close at least two sales of condominium units per week, he will make sure that he gets it done and then shows to his sales staff how he did it, giving them already a template of his salesmanship. Thus, there is no rhyme or reason why others will not be able to do it, unless they don’t have the passion or the right attitude to what they are doing.
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“You got to have passion and the right attitude for what you are doing. You have to believe first in yourself and the product or property that you are selling so that it would be easy for you to share your perspective and eventually convince others to buy what you are offering,” states Jyre, who is known to his sales people as Boss JCO for obvious reason.
Jyre Dominic C. Obligacion
President of JCO GOLD REALTY
Just like the biggest names in the real estate business in the Philippines like the Ayalas, the Villars, the Gokongweis, the Consunjis, and several others, Jyre sees a rapid and continued surge of the industry in the next five to 10 years.
“With the kind of technology that everyone is now enjoying and the continuous growth of the Filipino population, real estate will continue to thrive. Every day, babies are getting born and couples are getting married and settling down, so there will always be a demand for real estate properties or condominium units because having your own roof over your head is one of the most basic human needs,” explains Jyre.
He also said matter-of-factly that real estate is the kind of industry that majority of multi-millionaires or billionaires, not only in the Philippines but all across the world, are dreaming of because the returns on their investments are practically guaranteed.
Early Years
Jyre Dominic is the eldest among the four children of Dominador Jr. and Anne Marie. His siblings include Jasper Daryl, Johanna Mikkaela, and Jorell David. He spent his early childhood years in Quezon City but spent most of his years growing up thereafter in Pandacan, Manila
The Obligacions were a well-off family, and the couple Dominador Jr. and Anne Marie were able to send all four of their children to an exclusive private school for their basic education. Jyre completed his basic education at the Lourdes School of Quezon City, which is not far from their home.
Unfortunately, Dominador’s business got affected by the global financial crisis during the late 90s and it went bankrupt. The family were caught flat-footed by the misfortune and they had to downgrade their lifestyle from there.
Jyre recalls that they experienced having their utilities being disconnected from their home because they can no longer afford to pay the bills. He also remembers rummaging through their things at home to sell old newspapers and empty bottles just to be able to put food in their table.
That was the reason why they had to move to Pandacan from Quezon City because her maternal grandmother pitied their family situation and allowed them to stay at her house. She also volunteered to temporarily provide them a small subsidy until they fully recover from the debacle. Jyre recalls that it was the time when he was about to turn high school.
Despite having a temporary roof over their head where they momentarily do not have to worry about paying monthly rentals, Jyre’s parents were still not earning any income as they continue to struggle to make both ends meet for their family. That was when Jyre decided to take matters into his own hands and help bring income to the family, despite being only 12 years old then.
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Without his parents’ knowledge, he drove passenger pedicab in the area to earn an income after school. He was already taking his secondary education in Manuel A. Roxas High School in Paco at that time. And during school breaks, the family also sells drinks, candies, and other stuff in front of their house so they can have income.
Amid his endeavors to earn extra income for his family, Jyre pursued his high school studies and still came out after the school year as first honor, much to the pride and joy of his parents as well as his maternal grandmother.
When he was about to graduate from high school, he really felt the looming reality that he might not be able to pursue his college education because his parents may not be able to afford it. So, he decided to learn driving in a vocational school, believing that he will have a better chance of getting a work if he knows how to drive.
Fortunately for him, he saw an opportunity for a free college education with the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM). He took the PLM admission test, which is touted as one of the most difficult entrance examinations among colleges in Metro Manila, and Jyre passed it with flying colors.
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Although, he was benefitting from quality free college education at PLM, Jyre still maintained his entrepreneurial mindset, going into his small business of selling mobile cellular phone loads to his classmates so that he will have something extra for his ‘baon’ He also learned how to play billiards where he eventually became really good at it. He also earned from the pastime sport through friendly bets with school mates or other willing competitors.
Jyre had to really grind his way from high school to college and eventually completed his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), major in Marketing Management, at PLM in 2008.
Apart from the excitement of finally being able to provide something to his family as a professional, he was also confident of facing what real life work would throw at him, having had to go through challenges and ordeals as early as his high school years.
Professional Years
Jyre’s first job as a professional was with the private sector. He worked for United Coconut Planters Bank for a month and then moved to East West Bank where he also spent only one month. Then he moved to a business process outsourcing (BPO) company where he also worked for a month. His longest stint in the private corporate sector was a two-month stay with an events company.
Eventually he decided to try his luck working for the government. He got employed in 2009 as Administrative Aide VI with a permanent position in the Office of the Secretary to the Mayor of the City of Manila. At that time, the late Alfredo S. Lim was the mayor of the City of Manila.
Jyre’s department was responsible for handling the communications of the public and the Office of the Mayor. He makes sure that all letters addressed to the Mayor are given proper responses and mailed back to those who sent it. He served with the Local Government Unit of Manila until 2014.
A year before he left government service, Jyre and his family went through a harrowing ordeal as they had to deal with the passing of his mother Anne Marie, who died from cancer in 2013.
Jyre was so distraught about the untimely demise of his mother because he promised her to make their life better when he becomes a professional and he wants that she will be there to share the success with him. Although not possible anymore, Jyre vowed to pursue his goals so that his mother will still be proud of him wherever she may be looking upon him.
Going through a traumatic ordeal and having spent five years working in the government, Jyre came to the point that he wanted to make a change. He knows that he will not reach his professional and financial goals working in the government so it is best to get out of government service while he is still young. In 2014, he decided to leave the government.
Foray Into the Real Estate Business
His foray into real estate was never planned. It just that circumstances led Jyre to make a decision and lean towards pursuing a sales position in the real estate business.
He was out of money at that time and he was looking for someone whom he can borrow money from so that he can pay for their house rental as the landlord has already given them ultimatum to pay or their family be kicked out of the house.
A college buddy, who was already in real estate as a sales professional and already well off, offered to lend him money to pay for his needs. The money that was loaned to him was more than what he asked for actually so it got Jyre into thinking. Just like him, his friend who lent him money did not have much while they were still in college. He thought that if his buddy was doing well in real estate, he believed that he can also do well in the business.
That’s when he decided to venture into real estate. He resigned from the Manila City government and worked as a sales agent for a real estate company. Though without a fixed salary the way he used to enjoy working in the government, and only an allowance and commission if he closes a sale, Jyre told himself that he will have one of his fingers cut if he cannot make a sale.
Barely two weeks as a sales agent, he was able to close his first sale and the subsequent sales followed thereafter. Eventually, he become the team’s top sales performer in the real estate company until 2015.
On the same year, he learned that there is a licensure examination for real estate brokers. He was seeking professional growth as a sales agent and becoming a licensed real estate broker shall elevate him by several notches in the profession.
Because he was quite busy focusing on selling for his company, little did he know that the last batch of the review class for the 2015 licensure examination for real estate brokers was already closed. The exam was scheduled for June and it was already end-April then. But he wanted to be part of the last batch of reviewers. Fortunately, one of his clients was a friend of the owner of the review center, and he was endorsed to make the cut.
The review center was skeptical about admitting him because the review class was already undergoing review for almost six months already and Jyre only had less than a month to catch up with all the review lessons before the licensure exam.
But God was really smiling upon his grit and determination and he was accepted as a late enrollee to the review class. He took the board exam and passed with flying colors yet again. The gift from God was Jyre’s sign that real estate was for him and so he decided to pour all his energy and resources into it since then.
As a licensed real estate broker, it enabled him to sell real estate and property development projects of not just one real estate company but others as well. It opened a lot of horizons for him.
But it was 8990 Holdings, the real estate company of the Urban Deca Homes condominium project in the heart of Tondo, Manila that gave him the biggest break of his real estate career.
He formed and led a team of sales agent in 2016 which consistently ranked among the three top selling in-house teams of 8990 Holdings for selling Urban Deca Homes condominium units in Tondo in the next three years, prompting Jyre to finally register with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2018 his single proprietorship company, JCO Gold Realty.
From managing a team of eight sales agents and selling more than 2,000 condominium units during the first phase of Urban Deca Homes in Tondo before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, JCO Gold Realty sales agents have now ballooned to more than two hundred currently selling various condominium units of 8990 Holdings in Tondo, Ortigas, and Mandaluyong as well as real estate properties in Marilao and Meycauayan in Bulacan.
As a real estate broker, Jyre has also forged numerous collaborations with other real estate development companies notwithstanding the trail of successes that Jyre and his team have had in most of the projects entrusted to them.
JCO Gold keeps on growing and Jyre welcomes every challenge that come his way, believing that it is a great opportunity for further growth, and transform the lives of more people through sales.
Through his real estate journey from a sales agent to a real estate broker and now as owner of a realty company, Jyre learned the value of being patient as well as competitiveness by always striving to be the best while being humble amid all his accomplishments. His success also made him even closer to God, believing that everything that he has now and enjoys in his life comes from Him.
Jyre is now happily married to Jennifer Anne Gonzales and their union has been blessed with their son Jyrelle, who is a dead ringer of his father.
Despite his hectic schedule, he always finds time for his family and takes them on his much-needed respite from work and business.
Words of Wisdom
Asked for his secret formula to success, Jyre says there is no such thing as a secret formula.
“The power to succeed in life is in everyone’s hands and it is up to the person how he will work his way to success. It will not come to you in a silver platter, you really have to work hard for it,” he said.
While formal education is important and everyone must do their best to complete their college studies to be able to have that fighting chance in the professional world, Jyre believes that experience is still the best teacher.
“Students must be a good listener but they should be able to apply in real life what they learned because listening without application is ultimately useless,” Jyre notes.
“If you want to be rich, do not be contented on being employed. There is hardly anybody in this world who got rich from doing day jobs all their lives. You should consider going into business or putting up enterprise so that you make your money work for you instead of you working for money,” he states.
Although not everyone is gifted with the opportunity to get into business right away unless they were born rich and comes from a well-off business family, Jyre advised people who are employed to use their experience in their employment to eventually venture into business.
“Employees should value the companies that gave them the opportunity to venture into business. They should be grateful at the very least. But not to the point of losing one’s dreams and aspirations in the process,” he quips.
With the level of success in real estate that he has achieved, many would already feel accomplished and bathe in the limelight. But for Jyre Dominic C. Obligacion, he sees himself and JCO Gold soaring and conquering more heights in the years to come. “With God guiding me all the way, everything is possible and all my current and future successes, I shall always give back to Him because He was the One who made it all possible.”