Direct selling property to Buyers. No bites - what gives?

[Beeroclock]

Amazing! Ofcourse being a full time agent means thats your income and you live and die by it. But if you are part time agent then thats cool money if you can click like even one deal in a month. There are lots of people/jobs in Singapore that dont really commit full time on their day jobs.

indeed in the good times the popular agents especially higher end, must make out really well. But since the cooling measures transaction volumes dried up a lot so I think it must still be a struggle recent years.

[AnnabelG]

Middlemen are there for a reason, be it recruitment agents, housing agents, various trades of broking (oil brokers, ship brokers, financial brokers)

When we were on the lookout for rental places, we used a housing agent as well, even though we were looking at one year lease and have to pay half a month commission to our agent (in cases of co-broke)

Faster, less hassle and no need to plough through the masses of ads ourselves ....

[Beeroclock]

Middlemen are there for a reason, be it recruitment agents, housing agents, various trades of broking (oil brokers, ship brokers, financial brokers)

When we were on the lookout for rental places, we used a housing agent as well, even though we were looking at one year lease and have to pay half a month commission to our agent (in cases of co-broke)

Faster, less hassle and no need to plough through the masses of ads ourselves ....

valid points but it's tough sometimes to find a good one who truly has your interests at heart. As in any commission based job the incentive is to close deals ASAP and move on to the next. Personally I would plough through a lot of ads anyway to keep tabs on the agent. For those who have an interest in property as a hobby and feel there is no one else better to market their place, it would be nice to have the option as you more realistically can direct sell in other countries.

[therat]

1% commission! So for a 1Million Dollar house, the agent get $10,000, wow!

For your information.

Not all commission went to the property agent; the property company took a bit of 30-40% before pass the balance to the agent 2 or 3 months later.

[Wd40]

I thought it is 20% for the younger agents and 10% for the senior agents. In fact I remember a scam a couple of years ago, where young agents booked the transactions, under senior agents so that they can keep a higher portion of it. The biggest frauds are property agents.

[Beeroclock]

Middlemen are there for a reason, be it recruitment agents, housing agents, various trades of broking (oil brokers, ship brokers, financial brokers)

When we were on the lookout for rental places, we used a housing agent as well, even though we were looking at one year lease and have to pay half a month commission to our agent (in cases of co-broke)

Faster, less hassle and no need to plough through the masses of ads ourselves ....

Another important distinction is one-off vs regular business. From what I understand oil/ship brokering is about long-term relationships. While commission based, there can usually be more quality service so the next deals keep coming. A property transaction, especially buy/sell, can be highly infrequent and is basically a one-off deal. Most agents focus to get the deal done and move on.

When I had an agent helping me to rent, they spent most of their time telling me how strong the market was, I would need to raise my budget etc etc. I was frustrated after having to remind several times that as the tenant my objective is to negotiate a lower (but fair) price.

[AnnabelG]

Yes true. We have been looking around for a place to buy, and there were two ads with similar description of the unit but for one difference- one advertised with 3 rooms, while the other one with 4 rooms. I called up the first agent (3 rooms) and asked for a viewing appointment, after which I called up the second one. Later, I found out that it was actually the same unit, and the second agent, other than being dishonest about the number of rooms (it is 3 rooms + 1 living space area on second floor), demanded that I view the unit with her instead of the other agent, as she said she gave me the unit number first.

Her tone was really threatening, saying that I wasn't fair to her.

I gave her a piece of my mind and reminded her sternly that I had the right to choose which agent to represent me!

[AnnabelG]

Middlemen are there for a reason, be it recruitment agents, housing agents, various trades of broking (oil brokers, ship brokers, financial brokers)

When we were on the lookout for rental places, we used a housing agent as well, even though we were looking at one year lease and have to pay half a month commission to our agent (in cases of co-broke)

Faster, less hassle and no need to plough through the masses of ads ourselves ....

Another important distinction is one-off vs regular business. From what I understand oil/ship brokering is about long-term relationships. While commission based, there can usually be more quality service so the next deals keep coming. A property transaction, especially buy/sell, can be highly infrequent and is basically a one-off deal. Most agents focus to get the deal done and move on.

When I had an agent helping me to rent, they spent most of their time telling me how strong the market was, I would need to raise my budget etc etc. I was frustrated after having to remind several times that as the tenant my objective is to negotiate a lower (but fair) price.

And my experience is that they will promote the least desirable or most expensive units first! They will keep the best deal to the very last possible minute.

[Beeroclock]

Yes true. We have been looking around for a place to buy, and there were two ads with similar description of the unit but for one difference- one advertised with 3 rooms, while the other one with 4 rooms. I called up the first agent (3 rooms) and asked for a viewing appointment, after which I called up the second one. Later, I found out that it was actually the same unit, and the second agent, other than being dishonest about the number of rooms (it is 3 rooms + 1 living space area on second floor), demanded that I view the unit with her instead of the other agent, as she said she gave me the unit number first.

Her tone was really threatening, saying that I wasn't fair to her.

I gave her a piece of my mind and reminded her sternly that I had the right to choose which agent to represent me!

IMO the co broking practice here sucks. So much sneaky and unethical behavior. Often same property advertised 5+ times with slightly different prices or description like you said. It's a detective mission to track down the principal agent. I found a lot of benefit going direct. The seller/landlord agent will want to give it to you so they don't need to split their comm. some will guide you on what price will work or give you last chance to match if the other party has an agent representing. Also you get to see all properties, including the ones that do not allow co broke. It takes a bit more time but well worth it I suggest.

[AnnabelG]

Yes true. We have been looking around for a place to buy, and there were two ads with similar description of the unit but for one difference- one advertised with 3 rooms, while the other one with 4 rooms. I called up the first agent (3 rooms) and asked for a viewing appointment, after which I called up the second one. Later, I found out that it was actually the same unit, and the second agent, other than being dishonest about the number of rooms (it is 3 rooms + 1 living space area on second floor), demanded that I view the unit with her instead of the other agent, as she said she gave me the unit number first.

Her tone was really threatening, saying that I wasn't fair to her.

I gave her a piece of my mind and reminded her sternly that I had the right to choose which agent to represent me!

IMO the co broking practice here sucks. So much sneaky and unethical behavior. Often same property advertised 5+ times with slightly different prices or description like you said. It's a detective mission to track down the principal agent. I found a lot of benefit going direct. The seller/landlord agent will want to give it to you so they don't need to split their comm. some will guide you on what price will work or give you last chance to match if the other party has an agent representing. Also you get to see all properties, including the ones that do not allow co broke. It takes a bit more time but well worth it I suggest.

We did put in an offer for a house, but we did not get it in the end bcos our agent was not the principal agent, and I soon realised that our offer was the same price as the other offer made through the principal agent. Our offer, I believe, was not even communicated to the seller, bcos the principal agent did not want to split his commission!

Yes, this is a dirty business ....