HDB Flat DIY Selling

[Karu]

Anybody ever sold their HDB flat DIY style i.e. w/o agent?? What are the procedures & paperwork involved besides the usual valuation, resale application & ads??

 

If an agent is involved, what's the pros & cons of having an exclusive agent?? What's the going rate of comission?? 2%? What are the key terms of a contract to look out for when signing with agents??

 

Advice & experiences will be appreciated... Thanks!

[Kermitty]

Bro, here's the link in HDB website on how to DIY the sale of your flat for your referencing

 

 

http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10203p.nsf/WP...20?OpenDocument

[Tarzan666]

IMO hard to sell w/o agent..

-buyers will come with their agents & ur house will become a show flat.

-The buyer agent might demand for comm if the interested buyer wanna buy.

-Lotsa agents will call u wen u are selling on ur own.

 

Best if can find buyer who also dun have agent..

 

Exclusive agent, usu u have to sign some kinda agreement with him

-I tink commission now is negotiable..max 2%

-most important if u were to choose an agent, get some reputable type la.Lotsa unscrupulous agents out there...

[Snowbell]

Hi, I don't think the Buyer's agent can demand for commission from the Seller (q/o agent) if the interested Buyer wanna buy. It is not proper. The Buyer's agent only contracted with the Buyer to look for flats and the Buyer should be the only one to pay commission to the his agent.

[Snowbell]

Pros of having agent is that they will do the paperwork and filing and look out for potential buyers and sellers for you, you just have to sit and relax and wait for call from your agent.

 

Cons is you have to pay commission, minimum 1% ba.

[Tarzan666]

When i went to search for units via classified..i didnt depend on agent. I search for myself, every unit agent i ask..demand commission from me.

 

How can agent represent both seller & buyer..even the unit i bought..the agent oso asked 4 comm but i paid it coz he onli asked for 0.5%..

[Rocky88]

Its very rediculous that the agent wanted both the seller's commission and the buyer's commission. I think there's a loophole here that government should look into.

 

If I want to buy house, i think its quite natural that i pay the agent commission to help me look for the house based on my requirements, settles all the paper work and provide me with consultancy services on the loan options.

 

But if i want to sell house, I dun find it right that I need to pay the agent any commission. I can advertise my house for sale, via internet or newpaper, etc. Any buyer's agent saw my ad can bring their customers to view my house. If deal is made, the buyer's agent can get the commission from the buyer. I dont need a seller agent, the paper work and admin things are all describe on the HDB website, so I dun need anyone to do the paperwork for me. In summary, I advertise my own, buyer agent just come and look for me, deal made, then settle the paper work.

 

However, theorectically this sounds ok. In reality, if u reject an agent, they can BLACKLIST you and dun bring any agent to view ur house. I am at the stage of selling my house. I dun intend to get an agent to sell for me. I received calls from agent wanting to bring their buyers to come view my house. I am fine and welcome that. A few times I received call from agent wanting to be my agent. I told them NO. Then they start their hard selling tactics. They even claim they can set the price of the sales! Fine, so I told them, if you can sell my house at 40k above valuation, I give u 2% commision; if u sell above 30k, I give u 1%; less that 30k, no commission. Because my house is a small unit, sell at 40k above valuation minus 2% commission is almost the same price as me selling at valuation + 30k. So if you want to earn your commission, then work harder lor. The agent tiam tiam..then tell me abt market rate, blah blah.. then even end up saying then i dun bring anyone to view your house lor! And true enuff, I never receive calls from the agent company liao!!

 

Sigh..luckily, I got friends in the property industry. I ask them to help me. And with no selling commission to worry abt, I can sell my house at a lower price, and yet earn from the sales. IMO, seller commission is totally redundant.

[Sohbk]

I feel there are pros and cons to having an agent,Provided agent is reputable ones.

 

Have Agent

1. He Advertise at his cost, cant sell no comm, he lugi

- Cost of Advertisement, ard $60+ one day ba)

2. Your Privacy and time is not compromise

- Your Time to be home waiting for people to view the flat

- All Cats and Dogs will come crawling to see the flat

(Agent can sort of filter more potential buyers)

3. He "SHOULD" be a professional to safeguard your pricing, whether sometimes being a noob, you will not know how to do that. Just Keep to your price

4. Flat can closed faster, Agent network should be wider.

5. Paperwork anything happen, not happy complain agent, Not Happy Complain Company, Not happy? Don;t pay comm, Not Happy, SUe that Fellow to COURT!

6. Your next flat, maybe agent can help you find a good one

8. 1% or 2% think about it, to waste your time and brain juice to sell, sometimes i rather give that comm.

7. **All above provided AGENT is not those *%^$%@ type, must be REPUTABLE and trusted type.

 

 

Without Agent

1. Unwanted people will come in, complain left and right, Want Cheap, Want Good, than dunwan to buy, end up you frustrated abt it.You would not know who is turning up at your home... touch wood, those ^&(^% people, end up you missing some underwear or bra or $$$

2. People want view, you must be home, want go anywhere jalan jalan phone on standby mode

3. People will bargain knowing you got no agent,

- e.g If flat sell $400000, people know you got no agent will come bargaining @ $382000

end up back to square one. (Because i will do the same)

4. You advertise yourself, Cant sell you ownself Lugi,

5. You advertise yourself 99% of people calling is agent, End up you feel like throwing your phone into the sea.

6. Paper Work, Valuation, Buyer Egilibity, Bank, Being a Noob would not know if you had cover all area, Anything go wrong Blame Yourself.Kana Cheater blame yourself

7. Geniune Buyer Comes, talk talk, got buying signal, end up dunno how to close, wasted the chance.

 

Hmmmz.. I think thats about all, Just my 2 Cents Worth

[Bigtoothpick]

I've just helped a family member complete the resale of an HDB flat. And I'm not a housing agent, it was all DIY. The procedures are all very simple, just follow the instructions on HDB website, and when in doubt, just ring up and ask.

 

So what's the catch? The hassle is not in the actual reaale transaction, it is in looking for the buyer, and closing the deal. Fortunately for me, this particular flat is a niche market type, only certain people will buy....

 

One quick tip - make sure the buyer has the letter stating his/her eligibility for loan (whether HDB or bank). Unless he/she is paying full in cash, that letter will give you the assurance of buyer's sincere intent and also shorten the lead time for collecting deposit.

 

Good luck!

[Bigtoothpick]

Forgot to add. Buyers may come with agents. Be clear upfront you are not paying commission, else would defeat the purpose of DIY. Do not be tempted to pay something to the buyer's agent to help you - that agent would not likely have your interest at heart anyway, it'll be a waste of money. I speak from experience (resale of my own flat 8 years ago)...

[Guyver]

Forgot to add. Buyers may come with agents. Be clear upfront you are not paying commission, else would defeat the purpose of DIY. Do not be tempted to pay something to the buyer's agent to help you - that agent would not likely have your interest at heart anyway, it'll be a waste of money. I speak from experience (resale of my own flat 8 years ago)...

 

When you do that .... the agent will psycho the customer to buy other units which the agent can earn more commission.

 

So back to square one.

[Bigtoothpick]

Yup. Like i said, the hassle is in finding the buyer, closing the deal. The actual resale transaction / admin is not difficult.

[Vinzy]

If the deal goes through without any problem,

then of course the paperwork and all the admin is deem "easy" like what a few of the successful sellers mentioned above.

 

If there is hiccup, then the finger start pointing.

 

Do u know the answer to all the below questions?

1.Racial quota approved ?

2.Buyer eligible to buy?

3.Are they taking HDB loan or Bank loan? (buyer won't feel good if you THE SELLER start asking this the 1st time they view your flat)

 

4.Buyer eligible to loan that particular amount to pay for your house? (buyer wont show you their financial paper etc even if you ask politely)

 

5.Upgrading paid? whose responsibilty if it's had not been billed?

 

6.Un-authorised renovation by seller (maybe seller assume it's ok), Buyer only learn about it after HDB officer came to check but deposit already paid, find who now?

 

Etc etc etc

 

Thousand and one things can just crop up , most of the time without notice, if you are not in the industry, you have to spend time asking around? 1day? 2days? 1week? 2mth?

Can it wait so long when someone is going to be homeless soon??!!

 

Those who succeed in selling directly to a direct buyer, and thus save their commission are quite rare.

 

Seriously if it's so easy, then the whole industry will be dead by now for all agents doing this. And I won't have so many white hair stressing on how to solve all those hiccup which happen.

 

PLEASE NOTE : Closing deal is the easy part, the real problems (if any )come after the deal is closed.

 

Of course the final choice is yours, good luck in whatever you choose.

 

Free advice/discussion on buy/sell of Resale flat :

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2088797

Edited November 19, 2008 by Vinzy

[Karu]

Thks Folks for the advice

 

We've kinda decided to go the agent route...But question is how much comm is the norm 1%? Make sense to go with exclusive agent? Anything to look out in contract b4 signing?

[Karu]

Another question... On the HDB final inspection, how strict are they in adhering to HDB reno guidelines?? I've some things that are not really legal... Low false ceilling, high platform etc...

[Vinzy]

Replied you in the other forum which u posted the same questions to me.

 

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showpost...7&postcount=117

Edited November 20, 2008 by Vinzy

[Scoots]

Norm is 1% for buyer and 2% for seller.

 

Signing an exclusive means you will only allow that particular agent to sell your unit and no other agent during the stipulated period.

 

The agent would also have committed certain sales activities (eg: number of times your unit is advertised, (maybe) bringing in X number of viewings per week...etc)

 

Have to weight the pros and cons yourself.

[Karu]

Thanks... But the thing is that these 'illegal' reno are not really major. Feel that the look of the flat will not as good if I am to rectify them. So thinking of not doing anything if there's a chance that these will be overlooked. Would think the buyer would rather have the flat in current state. Hence checking if anyone has got experience of such things being passed by HDB...