Independent Buyer 1% Commission To Seller Agent

[bepgof 20]

I think i know the reason, coz u intro urself as plastic, thats y hehehehe

Speak of devil, devil comes. Last night @9.30pm, 2 lady real estate agents knocked my gate (cos door open):

Agent: Excuse me, we're from ERA, are u interested to sell yr house.

Wife: Er....(a very short pause)

Agent: Yr house look very new hor.

Wife: Oh yes, just shifted in.

Before wife to mention next door is intended to sell . 2 Agents just walked away, no "goodnight", no "thank you", no "hope to see u again", no "name card"........ Like that where got business? Shortly they walked away, wife said to my mom-in-law in Teochew : "ask them go & eat s h i t ". Fundamental PR skills need to be improved.

Edited March 18, 2010 by bepgof

[Plastic3 0]

I think i know the reason, coz u intro urself as plastic, thats y hehehehe

hahaha, of course I used real name

just don't want to spam the forum with my name and company....

Edited March 18, 2010 by Plastic3

[Plastic3 0]

Speak of devil, devil comes. Last night @9.30pm, 2 lady real estate agents knocked my gate (cos door open):

Agent: Excuse me, we're from ERA, are u interested to sell yr house.

Wife: Er....(a very short pause)

Agent: Yr house look very new hor.

Wife: Oh yes, just shifted in.

Before wife to mention next door is intended to sell . 2 Agents just walked away, no "goodnight", no "thank you", no "hope to see u again", no "name card"........ Like that where got business? Shortly they walked away, wife said to my mom-in-law in Teochew : "ask them go & eat s h i t ". Fundamental PR skills need to be improved.

Think they're new Agents, apart from the company I'm from...so far I have had the best experience dealing with ERA Agents, most of them are professional.

Edited March 18, 2010 by Plastic3

[aida81 0]

Think they're new Agents, apart from the company I'm from...so far I have had the best experience dealing with ERA Agents, most of them are professional.

Haha really!! even school boy ask for something also knows how to say thank u ..

Yah my problem also came from so called their professional service

[Plastic3 0]

Haha really!! even school boy ask for something also knows how to say thank u ..

Yah my problem also came from so called their professional service

Actually I mean the way in which they conducted door-knocking, seems half-hearted.... of course they should have been more polite

[rawmeat 0]

Think they're new Agents, apart from the company I'm from...so far I have had the best experience dealing with ERA Agents, most of them are professional.

hmmm.... my nightmare or agent from **** is from the best real estate agent agency as advertised in newspapers and he's not new loh... haiz... suay suay suay....

Guess what, I've 3 agents one from HSR, one from ERA, and one from DWG, all quite responsive to my queries (but I realised they missed a few listing on the newspapers, but i finally understood why when i found my current flat).................. but they'll friendly and knowledgeable so i'm ok, didn't think too much about commission then.... when i found the dream block that i wanted on sale on internet listings, i actually asked them to call for me as I was in Europe, all reverted that it's not available.

I called from overseas myself and identified myself as the buyer, and got a viewing appt immediately for the following week when i returned.

there, the agent (my current lousy agent not by my choice) made it clear that he wants my commission and did not make flat available to co-broke due to that. he'll only open if no choice...

before anything, made me sign the commission form and said its the same as any other commission form... never realised there's a fine print there "due by 1st appointment" which i find ridiculous.. and later, found out that that's non-negotiable? what the ****

after that, i realised he knew probably knew nothing about real-estate and unlike my 3 former agents who offered to do calculations, pay for my submissions, explained the procedures even though i only first met them, etc... this guy knew nothing and offered nothing even when i asked for it... worst still, everything he said during the sales (which i wanted to write it down on the option form but he assured not to as he'll take care of it) all turn out to be what i deem lies... after that signatures, everything promised were like a forgotten memory to him.

just want to highlight here that a lot of times, we can choose a agent that we're comfortable with to represent us, the buyers. But there are lousy agents out there selling houses who will lower our chances by not co-broking... and forcing buyers to pay them commission if we want to buy the house they're selling... and also because of that, they don't care about the services rendered to you as you've no choice but to pay, otherwise, don't buy... ridiculous.

Buying house sometimes is like going to the IR to place a bet.... don't bother about whether the agent have CEHA, or registered with SAEA, I've more personnal experiences to share why those doesn't help and it's still the matter of luck.....

morale of the story? if you're a buyer, engage an agent, but also look for the house yourself. If you really like a house sold by an agent who doesn't co-broke, live with the lousy services.... if you're the seller, engage a trustworthy agent from big companies like DWG, ERA, etc... not those small small (even if it's rated as the best in singapore by local newspapers) firms... a big firm has more levels to neg. with before you hit the wall... i hit the wall with mine immediately...

there's is nothing, absolutely nothing in Singapore to police this agent's services no matter how bent their professionalism is. Unlike insurance where all agents are properly governed, the policy with housing agent is only to take actions when they clearly break something, and it must be 'clearly' if you know what i mean....

[rawmeat 0]

Actually I mean the way in which they conducted door-knocking, seems half-hearted.... of course they should have been more polite

my initial agent from ERA also was from door-knocking and he was very polite and pro... that was why i invited him into my home to tell him i'm also looking for a flat... guess that's ERA's modus operandi...

if he was my agent, i'll pay him the 1% with no complaints....

[carol 0]

Dec09 : We sourced for the resale flat ourselves and didn't know that we have to pay the seller's agent commission but because we really really like the location, we offered our price on 1st viewing.

He told us about his commission and we agreed (we were 1st timer in resale buying and didn't know that we could have just not agree to pay).

Anyway, he managed to secure at the price that's agreeable to both seller and buyer.

His explaination regarding dates, loans etc were very clear even though he wasn't our agent but his sincerity won us over.

When it was time to sell our flat, we asked him to be our agent as we trusted him and also we negotiated his commission. So in the end, he earn both sides from us but we are very happy with his services.

Though the total commission we'll pay him is quite high, but we feel he deserves it and like us all, he needs to be paid too even if the work is deemed simple (though cumbersome).

[tnqhome 0]

Hi All,

Help needed here....

I found a 5-rm unit from propertyguru.com and we have no agent represent us... I contact the seller agent and go up n view the house... then sign the OTP..

She did mention that 1% commission charge while we sign the OTP... However, there are no commission agreement signed on that day (as I remember)...

Now, we are going to get the keys tomorrow and think she will come back to us for the 1% commission, should i pay her??? or must i pay her???

PS: She trying to gain more commission by intro us to a bank agent, but then we refuse and use our own bank agent... she called our bank agent to request for the commission and told my bank agent that she will not going to fax them the valuation report... End up, i called her to request her for fax them, then only she fax......

I don't feel she serve me well too, as there are nth much after OTP...

Will i face legal sue if i dun wan to pay her the 1%??

Just some update about the issue...

The legal department have replied the email stated that the agent agreed to SGD1500+7%GST for the commission. WITHOUT our agreement, they sent us another invoice stated the amount. Sigh... What kind of process is that... We thought the issue still under negotiation stage.... Why they will anyhow send invoice without our agreement???????

After a week, we receive another reminder letter to ask us pay the amount within the 7 days....

So, another email sent to them stated all the issue, and no FEEDBACK FROM THEM at all.....

I really dun like to drag the issue for so long, but they really took very very long time to reply email.... or maybe they just ignore....

[christichew 0]

Hi tnghome

I find this thread very informative and relevant to my case too.

We also found our 5room flat from PropertyGuru.com and at the same time, we offered to let this seller agent to sell our current flat (contra transaction). Like you, I was thinking whether to give that 1% buyer commission to the agent since we already let her sell our flat and earn 2% here.

After calling the Institute of Estate Agents and HDB hotline, I came to the conclusion that we are not liable to pay the buyer comm as long as we did not sign the buyer commission agreement. Even if you have signed the agreement, my agent told me that it's always negotiable (say around 0.5%), depending on your assessment of the agent's service.

Our 1st HDB appointment is in June, but I told the agent that we will not pay any commission until the completion date, she's agreeable to that now. Hope everyone can learn from our experience and dun fall into the agents' traps.

Edited April 7, 2010 by christichew

[aida81 0]

Just some update about the issue...

The legal department have replied the email stated that the agent agreed to SGD1500+7%GST for the commission. WITHOUT our agreement, they sent us another invoice stated the amount. Sigh... What kind of process is that... We thought the issue still under negotiation stage.... Why they will anyhow send invoice without our agreement???????

After a week, we receive another reminder letter to ask us pay the amount within the 7 days....

So, another email sent to them stated all the issue, and no FEEDBACK FROM THEM at all.....

I really dun like to drag the issue for so long, but they really took very very long time to reply email.... or maybe they just ignore....

Maybe they are still negotiating with the agents, I somehow feel that the agent are the ones who agrees or disagrees on the amt the legal dept decide. But tng just asking you what amt you think reasonable for you to pay them? they cut urs more than half right?

I've emailed mine last mon, and received their aknowledgement the same day, so waiting for the outcome.

[rawmeat 0]

Hi tnghome

I find this thread very informative and relevant to my case too.

We also found our 5room flat from PropertyGuru.com and at the same time, we offered to let this seller agent to sell our current flat (contra transaction). Like you, I was thinking whether to give that 1% buyer commission to the agent since we already let her sell our flat and earn 2% here.

After calling the Institute of Estate Agents and HDB hotline, I came to the conclusion that we are not liable to pay the buyer comm as long as we did not sign the buyer commission agreement. Even if you have signed the agreement, my agent told me that it's always negotiable (say around 0.5%), depending on your assessment of the agent's service.

Our 1st HDB appointment is in June, but I told the agent that we will not pay any commission until the completion date, she's agreeable to that now. Hope everyone can learn from our experience and dun fall into the agents' traps.

your agent is already earning quite a bit from your transaction, it's definitely negotiable....

if you read the forum further, you'll find that most were just buying and the agents who represent the seller will sell at any price as long as buyer pays the commission as the few hundred dollars difference in commission means nothing to them.... for such cases, the seller loses because agent did not help him sell at a good price, the buyer who willing to pay the commission to transact at a low price also suffers because the agent would not give a **** about the buyer as the commission to "make the seller" sell and not to serve buyer.

most agents know this trick and there's nothing you can do about it.....

[tnqhome 0]

Maybe they are still negotiating with the agents, I somehow feel that the agent are the ones who agrees or disagrees on the amt the legal dept decide. But tng just asking you what amt you think reasonable for you to pay them? they cut urs more than half right?

I've emailed mine last mon, and received their aknowledgement the same day, so waiting for the outcome.

Besides the charges, there are something we asked for clarification. Just to understand more about their procedure and hopefully they can review the process to avoid agent anyhow charge buyer.

Eg. Invoice have been ANYHOW sent out without comm agreement (1st Invoice) and without acknowledgement (2nd Invoice). Besides, account department sent out REMINDER without knowing we are following up the issue with Legal Department. AND, what driven account department send out the reminder? How they certified as "valid service" for a buyer?? Search house for the buyer?? or just sell the house to the buyer?? What kind of services they "should" provide buyer??

I suspect, agent is the one who initiate the invoice and reminder.

If they able to explain, I willing to pay.

Edited April 12, 2010 by tnqhome

[aida81 0]

Besides the charges, there are something we asked for clarification. Just to understand more about their procedure and hopefully they can review the process to avoid agent anyhow charge buyer.

Eg. Invoice have been ANYHOW sent out without comm agreement (1st Invoice) and without acknowledgement (2nd Invoice). Besides, account department sent out REMINDER without knowing we are following up the issue with Legal Department. AND, what driven account department send out the reminder? How they certified as "valid service" for a buyer?? Search house for the buyer?? or just sell the house to the buyer?? What kind of services they "should" provide buyer??

I suspect, agent is the one who initiate the invoice and reminder.

If they able to explain, I willing to pay.

WOW hehe.. serve them right.. actually hor u nver sign the agreement , no nd to pay also can huhuhu ..

[tnqhome 0]

Besides the charges, there are something we asked for clarification. Just to understand more about their procedure and hopefully they can review the process to avoid agent anyhow charge buyer.

Eg. Invoice have been ANYHOW sent out without comm agreement (1st Invoice) and without acknowledgement (2nd Invoice). Besides, account department sent out REMINDER without knowing we are following up the issue with Legal Department. AND, what driven account department send out the reminder? How they certified as "valid service" for a buyer?? Search house for the buyer?? or just sell the house to the buyer?? What kind of services they "should" provide buyer??

I suspect, agent is the one who initiate the invoice and reminder.

If they able to explain, I willing to pay.

WOW hehe.. serve them right.. actually hor u nver sign the agreement , no nd to pay also can huhuhu ..

Just saw from propnex website, she is one of the top agent in the company. She really able to survive with all the lies...

We have mail to feedback n clarify the 2nd Invoice and Reminder to Account Department and Legal Department, but there are no FEEDBACK at all... Not even an acknowledgement...

Edited April 13, 2010 by tnqhome