Can I Cut My Agent Commission? Need Help!

[gingerbread82 0]

hi, i hv just sold my flat...n i needed some advice.

before sighing with my agent, he told me that he has a lot of ready buyers. but after we sign we feel that he do not. during the 1 month, he had only bring ard 6 buyers. we saw that my 2 neighbours who r oso selling their flat has many buyers viewing their unit. we somehow feel cheated.

then we lodge a complaints to his co. about this and other matters that we r not happy like

-we sign with this agent n somehow served by other agents in his team. we hv not seen my agent since then.

-the agent failed to get back to us on the time buyer is coming to view until we cal them the next day. i mean the agent don't expect us to wait for the buyer the whole day rite?

-follow up very slow. agent said that will get back to us the next day on buyer's offer but never do so. we hv to cal him everyday to ask but always getting the same reply telling us that he will cal us tomo but never do so.

-agent reject buyers' offer w/o discussing with us.

-agent don't bother to do the talking during buyer viewing n i hv to do the talking instead

-agent like to bring his girlfriend or children when bringing buyers to our unit

-as we are in a hurry to complete the resale transaction,we told the agent to write a appeal letter to hdb but he never do so. in the end we hv to do it ourselves n look for the buyers to sign. never heard fr the agent anymore

-as we are doing a contra for our new flat, the agent never tell us to submit the form(btw the agent know we are doing contra)and in the end we need to go to hdb to submit last min.

can anyone advice me on that. i seriously don't feel that the agent deserve the commission based on his working attitude.

[zirhk3355 1]

The key issue: The sale that you finally made, was it with a buyer that the agent brought?

Although you have signed exclusive agency with the agent (and he probably chucked you aside after that), you could terminate that arrangement when you find that the agent's service is unreasonable bad.

But if you had not terminated it before the sale, or you had bought from a buyer that the agent brings you, then its very hard to 'siam' the commission because you had signed in black and white.

At the end of the day, the basis of the commission comes from whether the agent brings the buyers to you and that the transaction was done successfully. If these two components are fulfilled, the rest of the other services are usually not important.

[gingerbread82 0]

The key issue: The sale that you finally made, was it with a buyer that the agent brought?

Although you have signed exclusive agency with the agent (and he probably chucked you aside after that), you could terminate that arrangement when you find that the agent's service is unreasonable bad.

But if you had not terminated it before the sale, or you had bought from a buyer that the agent brings you, then its very hard to 'siam' the commission because you had signed in black and white.

At the end of the day, the basis of the commission comes from whether the agent brings the buyers to you and that the transaction was done successfully. If these two components are fulfilled, the rest of the other services are usually not important.

we hv actually contact the co. that we intend to change agent. but the very next day, they hv got us the buyer. so we go ahead with the agent.

but we are thinking that beside transaction complete, they should also help us to send in the necessary documents. but we hv to do it ourselves.

the commisssion to pay is 2% bt we intend to only pay 1%. so what do u think?

[zirhk3355 1]

we hv actually contact the co. that we intend to change agent. but the very next day, they hv got us the buyer. so we go ahead with the agent.

but we are thinking that beside transaction complete, they should also help us to send in the necessary documents. but we hv to do it ourselves.

the commisssion to pay is 2% bt we intend to only pay 1%. so what do u think?

Personally I would think its quite impossible and the agency WILL go all the way to small claim tribunal to claim against you for the remaining 1%; most big agencies have an operations manager (or something like that) who's main job is to go to small claim tribunal to make claims everyday.

Legally you almost have no recourse and the only way is to speak to the agency for discount. However that would also be very difficult because why would they take out the piece of meat that is already inside their mouth?

My suggestion is just to pay up and move on - concentrate on reno for your new flat lor, moving should be a happy affair, dun let such small money issues affect you lah...

[jusnel 0]

Personally I would think its quite impossible and the agency WILL go all the way to small claim tribunal to claim against you for the remaining 1%; most big agencies have an operations manager (or something like that) who's main job is to go to small claim tribunal to make claims everyday.

Legally you almost have no recourse and the only way is to speak to the agency for discount. However that would also be very difficult because why would they take out the piece of meat that is already inside their mouth?

My suggestion is just to pay up and move on - concentrate on reno for your new flat lor, moving should be a happy affair, dun let such small money issues affect you lah...

i think it's too late for me to add my advise on this.

however, its still possible to pay lesser commission if the agent's service is not up to par.

i had done it before once based on agent's lousy service.

And another time was managed to bargain to pay less than 2% commission upon signing exclusive sale contract.

basic rule is u are the customer and u are paying the $$. it all depends on how you talk to the agent or the company.

if the agent really never do the paperwork for you, u have a strong case not to pay the full commission.

of course dun say until u totally dun want to pay at all. this is bad.

you are only want to pay lesser commission based on agent's service and other screw-ups caused by agent.

[gohkm 1]

i guess my reply is too late to help u.......but

IMHO, its possible to cut your agent commission.....before u sell your house, u have a written agreement with the agent on the price that you think your house can sell realistically........if your house in the end sell below the price.........i guess u can request to pay a lesser commission to your agent.........if your agent sell your house at the dream price u want or even higher.......pay him more commission also not bad lah.........its a win win situation for both u and your agent........

[applefreak 1]

hope that TS managed to resolve the issue liao

actually, find that don't need agent to handle the transaction at all

unless you are talking about selling a not-so-good unit during bad times

now it's a property boom and i'm sure there'll be lots of people wanting to buy a unit

you just need to fork out the $30+ to put up a 3-liner in the newspaper and answer enquiry calls yourself

the paperwork are so simplified that most of us can do it easily

Edited December 28, 2007 by applefreak

[Roflmaoxz 0]

can anyone advice me on that. i seriously don't feel that the agent deserve the commission based on his working attitude.

Give him the sack man!! My previous agent also stuck-up. He's lucky that I still give him 0.5% commission.

[gingerbread82 0]

hi all,

its still not too late... i haben pay the agent yet. they hv been sending reminders and i hv actually send them email to ask them to send me the 1% invoice. and also told them to stop sending reminders and ask them to proceed to legal alternatives if they feel they deserve the commission.

anyway the agent is fr era and hv been having a bad record. he did not help us to do the appeal and contra and we need to do it ourselves. and he even ask his ppl to conspire with him to blame us saying that he had prepared all the documents. its just that we did not get back to him so he did not send the documents to hdb. luckily we got all the evidence and ppl involve to back us up.

anyway when we signed the exclusive agreement, we put the price of 265k in the agreement. but the final selling price is 260k. can we use tis as one of the reason also?

the story goes tis way... the buyer actually wanted to buy at 258k but we told the agent we want at least 260k. but the best is ask the buyer for 265k. before the agent talk to the buyer, the fengshui master told the buyer that the fengshui is very good for them and immediately they got their cheque book out and prepare to pay even when we haven state the price we want. who knows our agent offer them the lowest price and of course they agreed as its only 2k more of wat they asked for. we hv no choice but to settled for the lowest price since we are in the hurry to sell.

maybe the agent is angry tat we complaint to his co so he just sell our hse at this price instead of the price we reali want. anyway it makes no big difference to his commission.

now waiting for their reply on the commission thing. this agent reali jiat lat and yet he still managed to stay in the co. they just give him a warning letter despite so many complaints.

[hongss 3]

So your intention is to fight all the way and not pay a cent? If it's not the case, i think you shld pay up the 1% and move on. If you decide to fight all the way. Hope you succeed!!..good luck

[LLhome 0]

me too having the same prob...

i wanted to pay my agent 1% for selling my unit. but the co dun seems to agree. so i told them either 1% or they can just take legal action. so still waiting for their reply.

Edited January 3, 2008 by LLhome

[LLhome 0]

hope everything can be solve soon...

[Cantona7 0]

me too having the same prob...

i wanted to pay my agent 1% for selling my unit. but the co dun seems to agree. so i told them either 1% or they can just take legal action. so still waiting for their reply.

How come u also wan to cut their commission???