New tactics from property agents

[Lala81]

With trying to find a rental unit ...

 

99% of the time is that each agent markets the unit - they won't state they are the buyer's agent.

In fact, the landlord's agent is NEVER the one who's doing the marketing on PG.

When u call and ask, never mention they are buyer's agent. ONLY when u ask, are u the seller's agent. They will act innocent, "oh no. I'm representing you ... The unit is represented by my colleague"

 

I understand they are trying to make a living, but it's really f--king annoying.

[Altivo]

I bought and sell 1 HDB and 1 private condo before.

 

My personal experience.. As a seller, best is get a agent. Cause you need to advertise, you need to screen potential buyer ie whether they are eligible to buy? Whether they can afford to buy? In the case of HDB, whether got ethnic restriction or not etc. Quite a fair bit of work to do.

 

As for buyer, I DIY cause nobody knows more clear about my situation including money in bank than myself. And I know what kind of home, location, price range etc.... I just scan the advertisement and call the seller agent.

 

Yup. Same here.

 

I got my friend who is an agent when I wanted to sell my HDB. He did the advertising as well as check on the ethic/PR quota. Even the nationality of PR is determined by the quota. He also arranged for the openhouse etc. I just sat in my couch reading the papers when the prospective buyers came for viewing.

 

On the other hand, I didn't get any agent when I bought my second place. Just scanned thru the ads, call up the seller or seller's agent and arrange for viewing. Negotiate the price etc.

 

From my experience, HDB transactions involves more paperwork. For private, just a simple OTP is suffice. Thereafter, the lawyer firm will take over and the best part, the conveyancing fee is much cheaper than the agent fee. Haha

[Soya]

.....and the best part, the conveyancing fee is much cheaper than the agent fee. Haha

 

 

Makes u wonder why ppl bother studying so hard from P1, struggle thru PSLE, study hard from Sec1, struggle thru O-Level, study hard for JC, struggle thru A-level, study hard from Yr 1 Law School, struggle to pass bar exam.......juz to charge lower than a half-baked, O-Level property agent?

[Acemundo]

With trying to find a rental unit ...

 

99% of the time is that each agent markets the unit - they won't state they are the buyer's agent.

In fact, the landlord's agent is NEVER the one who's doing the marketing on PG.

When u call and ask, never mention they are buyer's agent. ONLY when u ask, are u the seller's agent. They will act innocent, "oh no. I'm representing you ... The unit is represented by my colleague"

 

I understand they are trying to make a living, but it's really f--king annoying.

 

yes rental adverts are worsE.....

 

last year i met a few agents also like that......keep saying i must pay commission as tenant because landlord has another agent.

 

then i say he no service to me why i must pay him commission. then he inssit he can come do inspection of unit blah blah (as service to me). i retorted by saying such service i can do myself and doesn't cost much. after a while i realize he was marketing the unit i viewed a day earlier with landlord agent. so i told him negotiate a lower rental with landlord and i can give him commission. he tried and he failed. in fact the landlord has a specific criteria which i fail. then after that when my brother enquire about another unit in the same area on my behalf, he again want to lead my brother to that unit which i enquired earlier and worse is beat about the bush without asking my brother about the specific criteria for tenant that the landlord has.

 

worse to follow is that after that his team member colleague also put dummy ad for the same unit, i call up and waste time answering the same question only to find out she was putting ads for the same unit and the erason why she do so in such short while is to ensure their ads remain top of the list (fresh ads) for property guru.

 

real waste of time with these bloody agents

[Soya]

yes rental adverts are worsE.....

 

last year i met a few agents also like that......keep saying i must pay commission as tenant because landlord has another agent.

 

then i say he no service to me why i must pay him commission. then he inssit he can come do inspection of unit blah blah (as service to me). i retorted by saying such service i can do myself and doesn't cost much. after a while i realize he was marketing the unit i viewed a day earlier with landlord agent. so i told him negotiate a lower rental with landlord and i can give him commission. he tried and he failed. in fact the landlord has a specific criteria which i fail. then after that when my brother enquire about another unit in the same area on my behalf, he again want to lead my brother to that unit which i enquired earlier and worse is beat about the bush without asking my brother about the specific criteria for tenant that the landlord has.

 

worse to follow is that after that his team member colleague also put dummy ad for the same unit, i call up and waste time answering the same question only to find out she was putting ads for the same unit and the erason why she do so in such short while is to ensure their ads remain top of the list (fresh ads) for property guru.

 

real waste of time with these bloody agents

 

 

CEA.....are u reading this? Ur policies are full of loopholes.

[Acemundo]

CEA.....are u reading this? Ur policies are full of loopholes.

 

sigh.........although i have nothign against agents making a living, some of them are quite bothersome.

 

but to be fair, i have also met a few good agents although they are still the minority, probably about 20% amongst all that i dealt with.

[Unidentified]

all agents are elite.their lowest level is already a director position.

 

[Sabian]

Can recommend me places to advertise. That proprtyguru only allows agent to advertise.

Only agents can advertise? I always thought seller can advertise themselves, just that the agent is the point of contact.

 

Ok, I avoiding that them from now on.

[Acemundo]

Only agents can advertise? I always thought seller can advertise themselves, just that the agent is the point of contact.

 

Ok, I avoiding that them from now on.

nope. i approached propertyguru before.

 

they say only agent can advertise through them.

 

[Yattokame]

nope. i approached propertyguru before.

 

they say only agent can advertise through them.

 

propertyguru is not the only source for ad. I have posted in ST classfieds - and even bought my recent one from an ad on ST classified; the unit wasn't even posted on guru.

 

propertyguru is useful, no doubt. But I vaguely remember seeing posts by owners - or was it iproperty?

[Latka]

Property agent, car dealers, and insurance agent alike. All after ur money only.

 

everyone works for money, except those who wealthy enuff for their money work for them.

[Sabian]

nope. i approached propertyguru before.

 

they say only agent can advertise through them.

Guess that's why I always feel PG listed prices can be out of whack when compared to other sources?

[Elfenstar]

Ya then steal a otp from some agent and use it yourself, maybe retype it out on a word document

 

Steal? Just get from your lawyer lah. As long as you use him/her, I'm sure they'll give it for free.

 

[Elfenstar]

okie dokie..

 

If advice only, then the cost will be a kopi si peng

 

[Acemundo]

propertyguru is not the only source for ad. I have posted in ST classfieds - and even bought my recent one from an ad on ST classified; the unit wasn't even posted on guru.

 

propertyguru is useful, no doubt. But I vaguely remember seeing posts by owners - or was it iproperty?

 

 

i know.....i mostly use pptyguru as reference point and information when i only can surf the internet.

 

i still use the ST Cats more

[Acemundo]

Guess that's why I always feel PG listed prices can be out of whack when compared to other sources?

 

yes. pg listed prices are generally 5% more expensive. exmaple (average listed prices tehre is $980k but recently transacted units average $920k). it will be there to catch the unsuspecting buyer.

 

for the sophisitcated buyer, they do lots of research and often offer a lower price.

[Elfenstar]

With trying to find a rental unit ...

 

99% of the time is that each agent markets the unit - they won't state they are the buyer's agent.

In fact, the landlord's agent is NEVER the one who's doing the marketing on PG.

When u call and ask, never mention they are buyer's agent. ONLY when u ask, are u the seller's agent. They will act innocent, "oh no. I'm representing you ... The unit is represented by my colleague"

 

I understand they are trying to make a living, but it's really f--king annoying.

 

 

In those cases they're actually acting as a team. Both agents will be marketing the unit. For whoever calls the agent direct, the other team-mate will be the one who represents the landlord.

 

I've heard of it, but never seen it for myself because when I call, because I call as another agent so there's no point for them to try this trick.

 

 

[Elfenstar]

Yup. Same here.

 

I got my friend who is an agent when I wanted to sell my HDB. He did the advertising as well as check on the ethic/PR quota. Even the nationality of PR is determined by the quota. He also arranged for the openhouse etc. I just sat in my couch reading the papers when the prospective buyers came for viewing.

 

On the other hand, I didn't get any agent when I bought my second place. Just scanned thru the ads, call up the seller or seller's agent and arrange for viewing. Negotiate the price etc.

 

From my experience, HDB transactions involves more paperwork. For private, just a simple OTP is suffice. Thereafter, the lawyer firm will take over and the best part, the conveyancing fee is much cheaper than the agent fee. Haha

 

HDB is not that hard lah. The entire procedure is listed step by step on their website, but because its troublesome people like to use an agent.