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Property tips, observations, and actual experiences


Icedbs
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That's a good question. And one that is often shrouded with mystery and misunderstandings

 

There are about 29,000 licensed agents in Singapore. While it is impossible for me to go into their stages of their career and how much they earn, I can make quite logical estimation that less than 20% of them earned more than $100k a year.  The other 80% is less than this number but to some people, even taking 50k a year is good for them.

 

Despite all the glamour, and popular media talk about agents, most does not really earn that much. Somehow everyone thinks agents make millions every year, that's imo, is the biggest BS out there. The problem with this industry is that the media and the agencies tend to over glamorize the earnings, because such news sell and such earnings can recruit better. In most cases, it is just simply selective reporting to me. Then the top 20% tend to market themselves as successful with photos next to their sport cars and such and that sort of exacerbated the image and the impression of the industry.

 

Now think about it a second. In that 29k of agents, a big majority are part timers, and some are retirees,  they either have income somewhere else or are just trying to find something to do. Does anyone really think those will be big income earners?

 

Real estate work is a business, not a job and like all businesses, some will be successful, but most will fail. Everyone knows this about businesses, but yet everyone think all agents are big earners and becoming an agent is their sure path of becoming rich. End of the day, it is a business, and most businesses fail. That's the hard truth which most agencies will not tell you. However, for the good businesses, it is hard, hard discipline work. Ask any successful entrepreneur and they will tell you all the rough tumbles they had before they were successful.

 

Having said the above,  on the flip side, trying to be in that top 20% is also not an impossible task if they know what to expect in this industry and do the right things. You know that 80% of your competition is not exactly strong, so the job is to compete with that 20%.  That part is not easy, but if you are in that group, you will survive.  For me, I have been in that group right in my first year.

 

For myself,  I don't specialise in a particular district and I can do condo, HDB, landed, rental or sales. I have done every residential type before.  I know the intricacies and challenges of each type and these days I advise on portfolio restructuring  so it i  important to know each type.  I am also trying to recruit these days, because I feel the profession need people who are honest, serious, committed to the client success and not to their own wallet.  To be successful they need to know the hard truth (and I hate glamorizing selective  high incomes during recruitment talk and all the ra-ra. I mean this is a serious profession dealing with others life savings, what is all the ra-ra for?) and then learn how to overcome those by providing real value and not just some hocus pocus slick sales talk.  If anyone keen to join this industry, contact me.  It can be really rewarding if you have the right focus, expectations and a mentor who care about you being in that top 20%. However, I am pretty selective on who I recruit because I want a quality team, not a big team.

 

Anyway, this thread is not about me but about providing value to others, so if you need to know more, PM me.

 

hehe i ever think of joining to market my own properties

Someone ask me today what is the worse condition unit that I ever sold and still manage to sell above market valuation?

 

Good question....because I think it can be a good case study.

 

I think it is a 3-rm HDB 47 year old unit that I sold last year when the market sentiment was poor.

 

This unit is old, mostly stock condition and the only renovation is probably the flooring, kitchen cabinet and toilet.  But the reno was done 20 years ago so you can imagine the condition now.  There is no wardrobe in the rooms even. And unlike the newer 3-rm HDB, this one have only one toilet in the entire house. With the age being 47 years old, there are cpf and loan restrictions. so many buyers wouldn't want to consider it. Only great point is the location is in the city.

 

5 agents were marketing for 6 months, could not get it sold. The owner offer only 1% comm. For a 3-rm hdb where prices is around 350k-380k around that area, 1% comm is less than most 3bedder condo rental deal....why would most agents put in the time and effort to do a sale?

 

I came into the picture because I was intrigue by this deal. Sounded like  a good challenge to prove a few points. Advise the owner for an exclusive, but refuse...however he gave me the key. That was the saving point. 

 

I looked at the house.....being a vacant old unit, there was nothing much to play with, so three things has to be right:

 

1) The advertising got to be perfect to capture as many possible viewers.

2) The viewing, if any, must be done to accomodate the buyer so that there is zero viewing leakage.

3) The house must be spotless and clean because being vacant, any dirt can be easily noticable.

 

I remember camping myself at the void deck for nearly 2 months so that I can conduct viewing anytime.  I have the keys, so that was easy except that the owner was also doing viewing with other agents on weekend.  My advertising  was different from the rest so I am quite confident I will get most of the viewings. I have a broom in the kitchen, so I would usually sweep away any dead insects (very common in old HDB) and clean the kitchen top (if dusty)  before any viewings.

 

To cut the long story short, in almost 2 months, I conducted 49 viewings......wasn't easy but in the end, the unit was close for 10k above HDB official valuation. The owner was ecstatic......in a down market, his very old, almost stock condition unit still gets 10k COV!  (I still get 1% regardless) [blush]

 

I felt really happy for the owner but I took up the case to prove that sometimes, effort and commitment is the most  important in getting top dollar. This house has nothing inside, everything old, so the only difference an agent can make is on the marketing and the commitment to conduct every viewing regardless of the time. I just want to debunk that to get top dollar, you need to have a great reno inside the house. That's good to have, but not a necessary ingredient. Most important is the basic.....uncluttered house, clean, and then lots of commitment in advertising and viewing.  [thumbsup]

 

i love your positive attitude and sense of positioning and pitching.  there is very little money to be made for marketing this unit and you took it on for the point to prove rather than the money to be made.  kudos to you!

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Turbocharged

hehe i ever think of joining to market my own properties

 

I once had a client who wants to be an agent.  Thought he was joking but he did went for the course and exams.

 

If you are keen, PM me. I can advise on which school to go, and why. I wished I had these information when I first enroll into a school. 

 

But be prepared to put in a lot of effort in the RES course. It is a very tough exam. Getting that license is hard and for a good reason. Also, as I practice, I do noticed that the newer agents are more knowledgeable  more respectful and more diligent in their work. It is good for the profession.

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I agree that the profession is getting SLIGHTLY more professional. There are the old birds around who still have 10 year old practices. But CEA is more diligent on regulating the profession now..

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I'd like to share my experience when selling my flat the last time.

 

1) Give exclusive rights to your agent. The agent must be recommended through word of mouth from someone you know we'll. Giving exclusive means he will be more committed to selling your flat at the highest price possible since it's to his benefit to do so. Having only one point of contact for you is better so that you don't have to manage mutiple clashes of schedules for viewing.

 

2) Clean up and declutter your whole flat first. Then get the agent to organise a single day open house within the first week of listing. Having an open house with multiple prospects create an illusion of competition and brings out the kiasu nature. When you know you have competition, you wanna make a fast decision if it's your dream flat. During the open house, switch on the air con and lights for the whole house, diffuse some nice aromatherapy scents, basically make your place like a developer showflat so that it feels good to the senses

 

3) During small talk with your prospects, Always say you're upgrading no matter what. To a bigger place, or better location, or to EC/condo/landed. This implies that the flat has good fengshui, it has brought you huat huat that's why you're upgrading, and it can help influence their decision.

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I'd like to share my experience when selling my flat the last time.

 

1) Give exclusive rights to your agent. The agent must be recommended through word of mouth from someone you know we'll. Giving exclusive means he will be more committed to selling your flat at the highest price possible since it's to his benefit to do so. Having only one point of contact for you is better so that you don't have to manage mutiple clashes of schedules for viewing.

 

2) Clean up and declutter your whole flat first. Then get the agent to organise a single day open house within the first week of listing. Having an open house with multiple prospects create an illusion of competition and brings out the kiasu nature. When you know you have competition, you wanna make a fast decision if it's your dream flat. During the open house, switch on the air con and lights for the whole house, diffuse some nice aromatherapy scents, basically make your place like a developer showflat so that it feels good to the senses

 

3) During small talk with your prospects, Always say you're upgrading no matter what. To a bigger place, or better location, or to EC/condo/landed. This implies that the flat has good fengshui, it has brought you huat huat that's why you're upgrading, and it can help influence their decision.

Hahaha, referring to your point 3, you will lie regardless.

 

If so, you are the type who have sympathy on used car dealers who are dishonest like you. Regardless which ah beng car is it, the dealer must always say is doctor's spare car, low mileage, doctor upgrading.

Edited by SGCMHello
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Turbocharged
(edited)

Allow me to address point #3 brought up by member TheoldJaffa in post #22

 

For most of the cases I had seen, selling is indeed mainly for upgrade. So using the "upgrade" reason is quite safe most of the time.

 

However, if the sale happens to be one of those bad reasons for e.g divorce, financial difficulties, death, etc. my suggestion is to be honest about it. Never, never lie to the buyer especially from an agent. 

 

But guess what....if a seller has prepare the house well, and able to drive the emotion of the buyer, then being honest about the bad reasons doesn't quite matter.  Remember that in a buyer psychology, emotions drive logic.  If his emotion is high, even a bad selling reason will not deter him from offering the seller a good price. Infact, he could possibly justify that it is ok to pay more knowing that he is dealing with honest people.

 

You may think it is hard to believe, but it is true. I give you guys an example.

 

Recently the "haunted" house at Jalan Batai was auctioned off at $2.23m when the auctioneer was only hoping $1.7m-1.9m. Why did the buyer pay almost 500k above valuation when the whole Singapore knows that house has an infamous reputation? It is again Emotion. Because of the history of that house, that auction attracted an overwhelming crowd so emotion, pride, ego all runs high during bidding.  Those emotions defies all logic despite the  reputation.  Adding the fact that 90% of auction property does not really sell during  an auction, this Jalan Batai sale is an amazing demonstration in the power of emotion.

 

So to cut the story short, prepare the house well first (using what I mention in post #1). Then get a trusted exclusive agent who will do every viewing for you. Drive the emotion of the buyer and if the selling reason is upgrade which is mostly the case, then great, if not, just be honest about it. 

Edited by Icedbs
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Actually it may not be being dishonest. There could be half a dozen reasons to sell, upgrading being one of them.

 

I doubt buyers will shut off sellers by first shortlisting those with acceptable reasons, then proceed for viewings.

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I'd like to share my experience when selling my flat the last time.

 

1) Give exclusive rights to your agent. The agent must be recommended through word of mouth from someone you know we'll. Giving exclusive means he will be more committed to selling your flat at the highest price possible since it's to his benefit to do so. Having only one point of contact for you is better so that you don't have to manage mutiple clashes of schedules for viewing.

 

2) Clean up and declutter your whole flat first. Then get the agent to organise a single day open house within the first week of listing. Having an open house with multiple prospects create an illusion of competition and brings out the kiasu nature. When you know you have competition, you wanna make a fast decision if it's your dream flat. During the open house, switch on the air con and lights for the whole house, diffuse some nice aromatherapy scents, basically make your place like a developer showflat so that it feels good to the senses

 

3) During small talk with your prospects, Always say you're upgrading no matter what. To a bigger place, or better location, or to EC/condo/landed. This implies that the flat has good fengshui, it has brought you huat huat that's why you're upgrading, and it can help influence their decision.

 

Thank you for sharing. Unfortunately I only have one more to sell. Sold off too early... :TT_TT: . My friends been telling me for years that market will crash.. [confused]

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(edited)

I'd like to share my experience when selling my flat the last time.

 

1) Give exclusive rights to your agent. The agent must be recommended through word of mouth from someone you know we'll. Giving exclusive means he will be more committed to selling your flat at the highest price possible since it's to his benefit to do so. Having only one point of contact for you is better so that you don't have to manage mutiple clashes of schedules for viewing.

 

2) Clean up and declutter your whole flat first. Then get the agent to organise a single day open house within the first week of listing. Having an open house with multiple prospects create an illusion of competition and brings out the kiasu nature. When you know you have competition, you wanna make a fast decision if it's your dream flat. During the open house, switch on the air con and lights for the whole house, diffuse some nice aromatherapy scents, basically make your place like a developer showflat so that it feels good to the senses

 

3) During small talk with your prospects, Always say you're upgrading no matter what. To a bigger place, or better location, or to EC/condo/landed. This implies that the flat has good fengshui, it has brought you huat huat that's why you're upgrading, and it can help influence their decision.

 

Agree except for (1). Give an exclusive to an agent only if you know of an excellent agent who will always get the results. Unfortunately this is rare. Agents tend to specialise in different types of properties and locations. For majority, you will likely get better results by making it an open listing. The caveat is you have to be aware of the different tricks agents will play to get you to lower your price to lock in their commissions and will have to be very clear and  firm (which comes with experience)  with your requirements across all agents marketing your property. You will have to go to the extent of monitoring their asking prices  at various portals so that they do not undercut each other and willing to spend personal time for viewings which also helps you to size up the tenants (buyers does not matter).

Edited by Nav14
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Turbocharged
(edited)

Agree except for (1). Give an exclusive to an agent only if you know of an excellent agent who will always get the results. Unfortunately this is rare. Agents tend to specialise in different types of properties and locations. For majority, you will likely get better results by making it an open listing. The caveat is you have to be aware of the different tricks agents will play to get you to lower your price to lock in their commissions and will have to be very clear and  firm (which comes with experience)  with your requirements across all agents marketing your property. You will have to go to the extent of monitoring their asking prices  at various portals so that they do not undercut each other and willing to spend personal time for viewings which also helps you to size up the tenants (buyers does not matter).

 

Bro...I am not sure if you read my first post, but I can tell you that if a seller wants to sell for top dollar, giving exclusive has a much higher chance of achieving that.  I have never seen consistent record breaking prices that come from open listing. Sure...once in awhile there may be one or two, which boils down more to luck than a consistent method of achieving that.

 

I doubt buyers will shut off sellers by first shortlisting those with acceptable reasons, then proceed for viewings.

 

Seldom happen. Normally they ask reasons only during viewing.

Edited by Icedbs
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Bro...I am not sure if you read my first post, but I can tell you that if a seller wants to sell for top dollar, giving exclusive has a much higher chance of achieving that.  I have never seen consistent record breaking prices that come from open listing. Sure...once in awhile there may be one or two, which boils down more to luck than a consistent method of achieving that.

 

Seldom happen. Normally they ask reasons only during viewing.

 

Yes I have been following this thread closely. So far I have not been selling, only buying. So I will not have solid grounds as yet to dispute your stand on the selling part.

 

However I have gone through at least 50 rental contracts over the past 15-20 years and open listing has always paid off. This year alone I have done 2 and will be doing another 2 more rental contracts and all open listing.

I did try exclusive occasionally but it never worked as well as open listing, The moment the exclusive period was over and I converted it to open listing, the number of viewings increased dramatically (even after qualifying the viewings to ensure only those with the right profile and budget view it).  The rents I have been fetching have always been above average for the development.

 

Based on my vast experience in renting out my properties via open listing, I believe the same should apply to selling a property.

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Turbocharged
(edited)

Yes I have been following this thread closely. So far I have not been selling, only buying. So I will not have solid grounds as yet to dispute your stand on the selling part.

 

However I have gone through at least 50 rental contracts over the past 15-20 years and open listing has always paid off. This year alone I have done 2 and will be doing another 2 more rental contracts and all open listing.

I did try exclusive occasionally but it never worked as well as open listing, The moment the exclusive period was over and I converted it to open listing, the number of viewings increased dramatically (even after qualifying the viewings to ensure only those with the right profile and budget view it).  The rents I have been fetching have always been above average for the development.

 

Based on my vast experience in renting out my properties via open listing, I believe the same should apply to selling a property.

 

Thanks for sharing bro. I think all these inputs help as we all have different experiences from various properties, so all these sharing give a lot views for others to make informed decisions.

 

For exclusive, it needs to be an agent whom you know, can trust and very responsive. Responsiveness is very important for rental because when a tenant or cobroke enquire, if no quick response, they will just move on to arrange other units .For sale, number of units are usually lesser than rental so buyer or co-broke is willing to wait for response. This is perhaps why for rental, open listing may work because speed is essential.  However, if you can find an exclusive agent who is also extremely quick, I believe he will get the tenant for you just as quick (or better price) as well.

Edited by Icedbs
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Twincharged

My personal experience depends on a few issues:

 

1. which country

2. since commission according to CEA is not fixed and there is no industry standard, hence how commission is paid

3. co-broking, most agent don't like especially from a different agency so may limit your chance to close deal

4. agency network - if small agency the reach on your listing in their internal computer will be limited, yes property guru helps but who really call up and finally close a deal, usually use for reference as an end-user

5. rental or sale  - realistic price

6. if you are a buyer, look for an aggressive and hungry agent, eg my agent go to hospital to ask seller to sign when the seller was about to go for surgery and on another occasion, drove to KL to get seller signature to sell.

7. for sale, personally, I don't really want to rely on one agent, if I am selling at a reasonable price, a serious buyer will bite, if I sell at market price then must be wait, if sell above market price then need to be patient

8. if you find a good agent that takes care of your interest, then good to treat him or her like a friend and build a relationship, make sure in any deal, both win-win then you have a secure a long term partner.

 

 

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Turbocharged
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3. co-broking, most agent don't like especially from a different agency so may limit your chance to close deal

 

 

I want to highlight the above point that it is against CEA guideline if an agent refuse to co-broke. Because by refusing to co-broke, he/she is limiting the closing opportunity for his/her client. That is against client's interest.

 

So far, based on my experience, agents from larger agencies do not have an issue on co-broke whether with the same agency or not.

Edited by Icedbs
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Thank you Icedbs for the writing. Those are really informative. 

 

I am thinking, on average how many viewing an average buyer use to end up buying one property? 

 

I have viewed 6 units in a two week interval, 3 of which are in a small 100 meter area, 3 small condos. Am I viewing too much and waste too much of agents' time? 

 

 

Are there practices one buyer must use one agent in a particular agency? Assume I viewed a unit with agent A from AA, next time when I call agent B from AA for another district, will B likely ignore me? 

 

 

Edited by golden_eagle
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Turbocharged
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Today I am going to share about Rentals.  Over the years, I myself had went through many rental cases and learned that a good rental experience between tenant and landlord is not something that happen by chance. Almost everyday I would get questions from fellow agents on how to settle certain dispute or issues.  Most, could actually be avoided. I know everyone has their story when comes to rentals, but consider the below as suggestions from a full time professional in achieving a good rental/lease experience.

 

* Note: In my post below, I will use the word "broker" to depict the person handling the deal. This can be landlord/tenant/agents depending who is the one facilitating the tenancy deal

 

How to ensure a great tenancy experience for both landlords and tenants

 

1) The biggest issue in doing a rental deal is that most brokers treat the deal like doing another resale transaction....for.eg, mostly getting the paperwork right or negotiate price. A rental case is unlike buying/selling another property and has to be handled with far more considerations towards human relationship between all parties. 

 

2) As such, the broker working on the deal not only has to manage expectations and price negotiations,  but also manage the impression that the landlord and tenant feel between each other. If both parties has the right impression of each other from the start, then that tenancy has a high chance of an amicable one down the road. Managing impression is the secret sauce to ensure the tenancy gets off a good start. Unfortunately, this is often lacking.

 

3) Right from the start, the broker has to find ways to create good impression for all parties. This is often easier said than done. Good impression of a tenant comes from a tenant who is complete in his initial paperwork , reasonable request, and prompt payment of his security & booking deposit. And finally prompt payment of his first rental AFTER moving in. Good impression of a landlord comes from a prompt delivery of the requirements in the LOI and most importantly able to address quickly any genuine issues found during first 30 days after moving in. 

 

4) During the tenancy negotiation, the broker must strive for a win-win for all parties. The issue here sometimes is that some overzealous brokers tend to fight for own interest only and does not care about the constraints of the other party. That can create a sour feeling. Nobody likes to feel that they have been taken advantage going into a deal. 

 

5) Becareful of red flags right at the beginning. If a tenant  has some non-standard request such as paying his security deposit in installments, or that he has issue transferring funds from overseas and hence cannot pay his deposit on time, PLEASE DROP THAT TENANT regardless how good his profile is. Similarly, if a landlord  (or his agent) is slow at responding to some simple LOI items, or the broker has a tendency to hide owner identities then please drop the deal regardless how attractive is the rent or the house. Trust me, all these are signs of problems down the road. I am always very careful about this to protect the interest of my client.

 

6) During the first 30 days after handover, the agent (or the landlord) must be quick in following up every issue that is brought up by the tenant regardless how trivial it may be.  Adaptation to a new place need effort, and having a caring agent/landlord will give lot of assurance to the anxious new tenant. From my experience, in most cases, once the agent/landlord shows that they always there, the adaptation issues will just suddenly "dissapear".  There was once a new tenant called me up at 10.30pm because the inlet hose to the washing machine was leaking.  There is no hardware shop that opens at 10.30pm, so I took my own inlet hose from my washing machine and brought it down to the tenant at 11pm and fix it up for him. He was totally in awe of the response time and never had an issue ever since. 

 

7) Always practice give and take. Always give notices in advance. Always consider the constraints of the other party and be reasonable about it. Treat the other party like how you want to be treated.  These are basic human relationship goodwill practices.

 

8) If a tenant for some reasons, suddenly shows late payment (more than 2 weeks) start sending him polite formal notifications even if he does pay up after that 2 weeks. Keep these formal notifications on record. In the event that the late payments became habitual, and getting later and later where eviction becomes inevitable, then these notifications serve as an evidence to support  that eviction notice. Manage these unfortunate  events professionally so that eviction notice, if any, is just an outcome and not a surprise. Eviction is always tough, I have went through it before, but as long one manage it respectfully it can be done without too much anger by all parties. 

 

Ok....there you have it. There are other details that I left out in order to keep the post short, but the above are the key points. Of course, there is no gurantee that even with the above steps, the tenancy will always turn out to be great. But what I do know is that if we do not keep to the above suggestions, there is a high chance that the tenancy turns into another nightmare. What I like to achieve for my client in a tenancy is not just a good leasing deal, but one that is filled with pleasant experience in terms of human relationship for all parties. 

Edited by Icedbs
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