foldme

Hi all, Just a quick update on my resale status and hope it can be of use of to anyone else who may be experiencing this during their house hunting. As stated in my first post, seller agent requested for commish after I exercised OTP (this was before 1st appt). Since at no point in time did we agree to use the SELLER agent's services, and plus the fact we found the flat on our own, I wasn't prepared to pay. So I flat out told the agent no, and he relented and said he hoped to discuss with me further down the road. From that time on till the 1st appt, he SMSed me once to enquire about the commish. I ignored the SMS and there was no contact until the 1st appt. Come 1st appt, everyone shows up (sellers, agent, us) and we go thru the process hassle free. After the 1st appt concluded however, agent pulled me to one side to ask about the commish again. I told him no again, and he said to let him know what we are comfortable with paying. I said I'll think about it. He added that its in my best interest to settle this matter with him, otherwise he will have to let his company (ERA) handle it. I believe he was implying a legal case against us. Again, at no point did we agree, verbally or otherwise, to hire him as our agent, so we felt even if it had to come to a legal issue, we wouldn't lose. So we didn't hear from the agent until the 2nd appt when he reminded us to turn up for it. At the 2nd appt though, he sent her colleague and he wasn't present. Again, the 2nd appt went thru smoothly with no hiccups. So now here we are, with the keys to our new flat and no agent fees paid. Long story short (too late), you don't have to pay the SELLER AGENT's commission if you did not agree to their services. Regardless of what they may claim, and in my case he said it's the norm to pay the commish as a BUYER, as long as you didn't sign on the dotted line hiring their services, you are in the free and clear. Happy house hunting.

Hi ngunadi and coldflamez, The seller agent has just informed me the date of my 1st appt. So at least that is taken care of, but to be on the safe side, I think I will be printing my own set of documents required for the 1st appt. The other thing to worry about is whether I need an agent representing me at the 1st appt with HDB. If yes, I'm afraid the agent may refuse to be my representing agent at that time and not sure if that will cause a major delay. Thanks for all the advice! Much appreciated...

Thanks for the advice! bepgof: We've already done the resale application submission and have submitted photocopies of my personal details. I have applied for a HLE loan that has been approved so no bank loan procedures in my case. Update: The agent has submitted the application and says will inform me when we get a date for 1st appt. Any idea how long between submission and notification of 1st appt? Also, agent has not broached topic of commission in the last few days and maintains we can discuss at a later time. I've also offered a token sum to agent but did not get a reply for my offer.

bepgof: Thanks for the reply. So basically, I am just paying the agent processing fees yeah? I think its fair to pay for that but definitely not the full 1% since my COV is over 21k. Can I then ask, other than all the OTP stuff, is there still a lot of paperwork the agent needs to do? therat: thanks for the advice! Thanks for reading, all.

Hi all, Just wanted to share my story with the forum and hopefully get some advice. As soon as I started to looking for my flat, I had always done my own homework and legwork and never relied on an agent to help me source for flats. There were a couple who offered to be my agent which I accepted. But they never really found what I wanted so I resumed looking on my own. About a week ago, I found my dream home on my own through property websites and after some haggling, managed to close the deal at a price I was willing to pay. I then met the seller and his agent a week later to exercise OTP. Seller agent helped to talk me and seller through the forms we had to fill up so we signed on everything that was required for OTP. After which I proceeded to pass seller the cheque amount of 5k for exercising OTP. Then the seller agent pulled me aside and told seller he had some business to discuss with me. So I stepped aside with Seller agent and this was when he took out another form and told me that this was for his commission. To which I told him that he wasn't my agent and I wasn't obligated to pay. He continued to press me and said, "It's standard procedure!" So I asked to see documents reflecting this statement. He couldn't show me proof but kept insisting that i pay him the commish anyway since "This is how it's done!". I stood my ground and eventually he relented and asked me to make a counter offer. I told him there is no counter offer and that if he wanted commision he should have got me to sign on this form before we even started negotiations. In the end, he told me to go back and think about what I can counter offer while we proceed with making our first appointment. My question is this: What can this agent do to screw up this deal between now and my first appt? And since buyer and seller have already signed OTP and cheque for 5k is given, does that mean if seller defaults I have legal grounds to pursue the matter? Thanks for reading this long post and I hope someone can help!