Search the Community

I am starting this thread as a complement to the main thread on property news and prices. I hope some of these tips/suggestions gained from actual dealing on the ground would be helpful to homeowners/buyers. I will start off with the below burning question that I get all the time....why some units break record prices but some could not be sold for months and months. Selling your property for top dollar Firstly, let's define what is top dollar? In my terms, top dollar would means selling above market valuation. Often, it also means breaking the record price of similar units in the same estate/condo. Over time, I observed that these price record transactions had a similar trend. To get top dollar, contrary to most beliefs, it definitely has much more science to it than art. Top dollar deals seldom come from just listing and pray; it has a method to it. Unfortunately most sellers/agents never really took the method seriously and in most cases, never get top dollar for their units. As this is a post and not a blog, I will keep it short and concise. To sell for top dollar, you need to understand the below on the psychology of a buyer when they come for viewing: 1) Buyers use very little logic when viewing, they tend to follow their emotions more 2) Emotions arise not just from what they see, but also from the other senses such as smell, feel, touch and hear 3) Sellers always make mistake by assuming that the buyer can imagine an empty house. The buyers don't and they won't 4) The key then is to be able to reach down to the sub-conscious of a buyer by invoking their positive emotions during viewing. Houses that gets top dollar often make the buyer feel 'right" and they then use their emotion to justify their logic. Failure to consider the above is the key difference between getting no offers (or market valuation at best) and one with a top dollar offer. Understanding the above,here are my 10 tips for sellers based on my experience: 1) A cluttered house kills good emotions. Always un-clutter the house before viewing. Throw away junks and keep the house tidy. The owner is selling the house and will need to move soon...use that opportunity to start clearing the house. This issue is so prevalent in many units that the seller think that the buyer will imagine an empty house. Again they won't! 2) Fix all minor defects. Again, too many sellers thinking that the house gonna be sold, what is the point of fixing it up. You don't have to renovate the house, but you should fix up all visible defects. Even a new coat of paint on any old house does miracles in getting good offers 3) Clean the kitchen top and uncluttered it. A clean good looking kitchen makes a lot of difference in getting top dollar. If there is one place that make the difference in offers, it is the kitchen. The buyer's wife/gf/mother has a lot of emotions attached to the kitchen and in most cases, they are also the CFO to the purchase. Unclutter the kitchen top and make sure the stove and built-in oven looks clean. I even had a seller once storing his microwave away just to clear up space for his very limited kitchen top space. 4) Dining table. Another culprit which is always full of everything except dining stuff. Clear it, and put an attractive piece, a vase with flowers, etc at the center. Pull the buyer eyes to the center of the dining table and let him feel that they can eat comfortably at that table. 5) A well lit, unblock, entrance door. Clear away your shoes or anything untidy at the entrance. An unblock well lit entrance creates eagerness to explore more of your house. 6) Masterbed room is important and it must look like it is ready for relaxation and sleep. I have seen many master bedrooms that has clothes hang in it, or the seller cramped a study table into the master. If you confuse the buyer over the purpose of that room, chances of getting a good offer is as good as nil. 7) Always give exclusive to your trusted agent. I seldom see record selling deals that are from open listing. Open listing agents are prone to be "tested" by the buyer agent and their motivation to close will bring you a lower price. Furthermore exclusive agents are motivated to do every viewing for you hence has minimal viewing leakage. 8) Be flexible in your ability to open doors for viewing. Great offers can come from any viewing time and if you restrict your viewing time to evening or weekends only, you are restraining your ability to get good offers, Two of my record breaking sales came from afternoon weekday viewing. Hence, never, never have viewing leakage. 9) Check if your house has certain odors especially for those with pets. The houseowner is often immune to any smell, but the buyer will sense it at a distance. And if you have pets that could walk around the house, (or make noise, for.e.g barking) , please bring them out somewhere if you have viewings. Again, please don't assume that the buyer can imagine that your pet won't be there when they make the purchase. They won't. Remember, the sense of smell and hearing invoke powerful emotions so if you want to get top dollar, make sure those senses of the buyer are not affected. 10) I leave the last point to the advertising. Good advertising attracts viewers. Unfortunately I've seen many seller/agents use mediocre handphone photos to advertise. Some photos are so bad that a young Instagram-obsessed teen would probably take better. If you already took the effort to do fix up, unclutter the house, etc, the last thing you want is to have photos that does not depict your house accurately. Wide angle photos, imo, is the minimal requirement. Videos and virtual tour are great, but only if your house is of a certain size. Buyers will sub-consciously drawn to sellers/agents who take pride in advertising their house and first impression does count in this business. Don't neglect this which I somewhat keep seeing all the time. There are many more concepts that I can keep going (the use of colours for e.g) but the above is suffice for most sellers if they want their property to fetch good offers. Infact, I seldom see all 10 points click into place, but if they do, that property should get good offers. It is very often for me to hear that some units could not be sold for months, but when another agent took over, it get sold within one month at the same asking price. I don't believe it is all luck. It has to do with the method right from advertising to preparing the house for sale. I hope the above helps in giving some ideas in getting good offers for your property at your location. Your property is one of your biggest investment so it is worth the effort in putting the right "sciences" into it and get the top dollar offers.

What is the market rate for commission for selling a private property ? Or it is up to the seller ? Any expert can help clear this ?

Anyone wants to start the ball rolling. 1. Company 2. Staff 3. What happened? 4. When did this bad experience start?

How many of you guys here receive sales calls on a continual basis from Pudential and its agents? They are damn thick skinned, thick in the skull and just god damned irritating. I get as many as 3 calls PER DAY and its pissing me off real bad. If any Prudential agents happen to read this, well bugger off. The world can do without you f--kers giving yourselves a fanciful title of FINANCIAL ADVISOR/CONSULTANT. What makes you think you're qualified? Just because you passed some mickey mouse papers? Stop ruining the name of finance. Sorry, just wanna vent some anger here. If this isn't appropriate please take it down.

I'm driving an 08/09 legacy gt that comes with the stock Macintosh audio system and the headunit is integrated into my centre console. A common issue with these is that the in-dash cd changer will jam after a few years and that's the problem I face now. Most owners tend to install an aftermarket HU, although some used to get the Macintosh HU sent to the agent or something for repair. Thing is the legacy forums were shut down and it seems that the previous batch of Legacy owners that used to "play audio" aren't active on the FB legacy page so I have not been able to get a recommendation for a shop that can help me out. All I need is to get the CDs removed from the changer, no need for repair of the HU. I'm selling the car soon and this is one of the things I want to get sorted before I put it for sale (some of the CDs got sentimental value to me). Does anyone know of any shops that deal with Macintosh HUs or any other shop that is willing to give it a try? I approached a shop that previously did a stock sub replacement for me but they refused to even try. I know there's a risk of the CDs getting damaged but I'm willing to take that chance and even leave the car at the shop for a day or two if necessary, I just really want those CDs out.

Very curious how much are the show room agents earning. Good trade to join?

i am damn sick of hearing people telling me about all these 3rd party agents that ask them to use their names to start up 'companies' and claim their IT expenditure (for personal use) through this claim. for the common scenario, agents tell you to start a website to promote something or 'start' a company and pay your friends/family minimum cpf so that they make up the 'employees' of your company. then you can buy things (ie laptop, pc, ipad, printer etc) for them to claim. they will submit the claims for you and split the returns afterwards. the common phrase of them enticing you to join their scheme is "its very easy. we will settle everything for you. if ah gong is giving free money, why not take it?" false reporting is still illegal the last time i checked. why take the risk for that few thousand dollars? any mcfer has hopped on this train? has anybody heard of anyone jumping on this train already? whats their story?

Hi all, i just posted my car for sale in sgcarmart. received 2 sms from some agents who say they will give me 2% of the buyer's bank loan if i let them handle the paperwork. anyone tried before? seems like a good deal!

heard only ar, don sue me. scenario : - I want to sell my house. i use an agent. the agent found me a potential buyer. but he don bring the buyer to me(yet). the agent call his colleague( lets call him Mr B) to approach "my" potential buyer and tell the buyer he got a suitable house n want to act as the buyer agent. so when the sales is concluded. my agent will get his com from me. Mr B will get his com from the buyer and share with my agent. Y do that? because nowadays agent can only collect com from 1 side... so by introducing an agent to the buyer, he get more $.... anyone met this type of agent before?

Read in the news and I definitely agree with it. Most, if not all, Insurance agents are scums of the lower caste of the earth. Freaking busturds. They are farking uneducated and they handle your $$$. I rather put it in a tin can and give to charity. 4 farking 'o' levels and you sell life plans? Damn, they are even lower than car salesman! I support this move and eradicate the scums totally

As per above, i am setting aside a lump sum of money for NTUC SAIL Plan (Single Premium) Any IFAs / Bankers / Agents who can provide vouchers in return? http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2010/04/why...investment.html I am intending to set aside 70k in cash... Previously bought some 40k, the agent's commission was around 1.4k...

seems like alot of tua kang agents around trying to create false impression that resale flat can fetch sky high COV now. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/property-bl...-091646819.html

This fella shud just write direct to CEA and complain against the agt. Write to forum for wat? wif reference to his last sentence, shows he not aware of this dual representation rule. ST Forum Mar 16, 2011 Tackle agents seeking dual rental commissions THE article by Ms Jessica Cheam last Saturday was timely ("When your agent does not act in your interest"). Although the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) has banned dual representation, where the same agent cannot represent both buyer and seller, in a sales and purchase agreement, it has said nothing about a rental agreement. Recently, I purchased a property with tenancy. There was no formal rental agreement between the previous owner and the tenants. When I asked the agent representing the previous owner if he could draft a rental agreement for me and the existing tenants, he boldly asked the tenants for a commission. The tenants were upset because he was asking for a lot of money. I was upset because he put off my tenants and put a strain on our relationship. I was in fact ready to pay him a commission for doing the paperwork. However, that does not warrant a commission equivalent to one month's rental because he did no actual work and put up no advertisement in locating the tenants. I hope CEA would ban agents from collecting commissions from both the landlord and the tenants as there would surely be a conflict of interest. Sim Ghee Choon

hi have 2 property to rent out , one is 8000 square feet and second at 2000 square feet. any agents please PM me thanks

Recently I received few calls but looking for someone else, so I told them "Sorry, Wrong number", guess what, the person asked me:" Are you Mr XXX", I said NO, then he carried on to introduce his Prudential Insurance plan. I really hate those people who use this kind of stupid tactics. Anyone encountered same irritating agent before? If I am not wrong, we can lodge a complaint.

..walau, over last week, received daily calls, sms for them to want to buy my properties...knn....ppl doing work also kacau... next time, i gonna scold them....property sooo hot meh? I have one approaching TOP, and that also they call and say wan to buy...but me holding outlah..even my cheap HDB, they wan...nb

Not exactly on the road complaints but here it goes... Am currently looking for another property and have made a few calls to those on classifieds, etc.... Complaint 1: never pick up, never return call. I really want to have a viewing at that area as I am more or less decided but wait, nobody attends to you at all? Has somewhat dampened my interest. Complaint 2: Very rude over the phone. Called this agent to enquire about the unit she posted, the direction facing and the view (very important to me as I am looking for a penthouse). I told her politely it wouldn't be very nice if it turns out not to be the facing i fancy and we'd be wasting her time, to which she replied "I give you the number you go see yourself lah!". And the biggest joke is she gave me a unit number which does not exist. I know it because I know that project very well having eyeing it for quite some time. She then said she'll check and hung up on me. Complaint 3: When I pointed out that a similar terrace along the same street was sold for three-quarters of the price she is asking she laughed out and told me to look carefully because that unit don't have this or that (which really does not warrant for a much higher asking price); also does not offer to arrange for a viewing. Why is this happening? Are property agents making too much money they cannot be bothered with my minute purchase? I dare to say I am always a nice customer so the provocation could not have come from me. [:(]

I do usually read the sgcarmart under used cars to update me with the prices of cars being sold in sg what i notice that mostly the agents/companies will just put the price of the car only so i hope dear agents/companies, if you read this pls put monthly price in your advertisment to avoid customers disappointment my 2 cents tought

A good fren of mine is an agent and we had a short chat recently. I thought he was closing lots of transactions as the property market has been good the last 4 to 5 months. He told me the market for HDB flats is very difficult if you serve buyers. The agents representing the sellers do not want to co-broke with the buyers' agent. They want to earn the full 3%. What happens is that they will quote a ridiculous 50K cash over valuation to a potential buyer with an agent however if the buyer does not have an agent they will quote something like 20K cash over valuation. The seller does not know this is happening. Am told 70% of sellers' agents do this ............. true or not we wont know but do take note of such practices by many agents ............. This is surely not in the best interest of the seller.

http://www.onemotoring.com.sg/publish/onem...Cost_Update.pdf Many of us were speculating the profits of the local AD as to how much they make per car. So the truth is seen above.

http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/Offic...1006-91973.html MENTION 'unit trust' and 'insurance products' now and most people are likely to shake their heads. Mr Goh, who said that a relationship manager typically has a $1 million monthly sales target, added: 'We are constantly pressured for numbers, such that there is a fine line between keeping to our morals and meeting targets. how to sell $1 million woth of products every month is it impossible espcially when there are so many so call relationship manager around I understand from my colleagues that mamasan at karaoke bar also want to sell him insurance.

anyone has any recommendation for a reliable property agent? Thanks.

Last Saturday paper featured property agents and their trade....some claimed to be even making $50000 per mth on the average. ....But then there are agents who are ethtical and those who are termed as rogue agents. There has been talk ( with little results ) after all these years, of rules and regulations to rein in the agents who 'take their customers' for a ride. There are even some who use legal jardons to scare their clients. With the current property boom, it is no wonder many agents are 'up to their old tricks' again. Of course, not to be biased, there are times that the agent's clients are at fault. So what are the pitfalls and good points to look out for when dealing with property agents? All MCFers who had good or bad experience, are up for discussion in this post ( including sales and rental ) to make forumers more aware of the pitfalls when dealing with an agent.

anybody book hotels from tour agents instead of online? i mean for those not going for tour package 1.. i like to know the agent that has a beta rate

Hi, Can i check what kind of cleaning agents are available in the market to restore the whiteness of cabinets turned yellow? i tried to look for 1, but it din work. some experience uncles told me that it cannot be removed anymore.. i have to change my cabinets totally.. anyone know? Thanx In Advance!!