derrick_ng2001

Thats what agent around are doing. Thats why i say IEA should reinforce the above 5 guidelines rather than to axed commission guideline. If i am marketing the the unit for seller, i will not collect commission from buyer unless they need my assistance on paperwork and eligibility.Agent do not work or study regulations for free. If buyer insists on no commission, i will still close the deal for seller's benefit but buyer will have to go and study all relevant documents and procedures required. If they miss out anything that blow the deal, i will help seller to proceed with his rights to forfeit all option fee and will be liable to compensate damage/losses if deal is blown after option is exercised. But before closing deal, i am still acting on behalf of seller. and i hate agent who ask commission from the party i am representing because they show no professionalism and dun seems to know where he stands. Agents who ask commission from client he does not represent are normally agent who undercut commission payable rightfully in order attract clients and do not fight for his client's benefit. He only fight for his pocket. There are agent who market property and if you dun pay him commmission, he will not sell you the property which doesn't belong him even if you offer high price. He will only sell to buyer who is willing to pay commission. So end of the day. Seller will be signing and selling his property at a lower price which he does not know ( they only celebrate because they catch a deal of 0%,0.5% or 1% commission without knowing that their property is sold below potential value) and buyer will be paying for higher commission than required.

When you sell house, you hope that agent does not collect commission from you and collect all commission from buyer so that you can keep all sales proceed. But when you become buyer, you feel that you should not pay commission since you glance thru newspaper yourself and make enquiries yourself. Hence you should not pay even 1% comm. and let alone another 2% for seller’s agent commission. So with the above, please advice who will the agent get fund from to invest in advertisement in order to market your property to its maximum value. And where will you see the advertisement to call, enquire and buy your dream home then? So do you think agent’s job is easy to survive in between the above kind buyer and seller? When agent does not collect from seller, seller says he is a good agent and buyer will say he is a con-man because he collects too much commission unnecessarily. But when he collects commission from seller, seller wants to choose agent who do not collect commission from him. So what do you suggest agent to do? What do you think if agent sells your house without collecting commission from you but when you buy another house from him, he collects 3% commission from you? Do you still regard him as a good agent? Trust me, if agent does not collect fee from you when you sell your house, you will never buy any property from him that is marketed by him. In all the forums, everyone is commenting only from one point of view, either as seller or buyer. Try to discuss in a more democratic way as seller and buyer, you will see different point of view. Or better still, put yourself in the shoe of agent. Since IEA sets the commission guideline, they had did a thorough calculation on how much is it justifiable to collect from each party base on amount of time and money invested. The 1% commission payable is for the documentation, time, transport, telephone, salary for agent. Seller pay additional 1% is because of advertisement and time spent on market study. Agent needs to pay for Newspaper, internet, mobile, car installment, phone, petrol, subscription fee of certain channel of marketing tools, flyers, flyers distributor, etc…. And please take into consideration that they are all doing it WITHOUT a basic pay. If agent job is so easy, do you think you have the courage to forsake your current job with high basic pay and become an agent and start pumping in the ABOVE COST without basic pay? Since agent takes the risk, like investing in share, they should get reasonable return on the risk they take. Moreover, this month they may clinch 3 deals giving them a nett commission of S$15000 after splitting with the company, they may be closing nothing for the next two months which means they make approximately S$5000/mth to COVER THE ABOVE COST. If you are an employed worker earning 5000/mth, what do you spend it for compared to agents? I only feel that agent should remain to collect commission as per IEA guideline and consumer should still pay as per guideline base on the below conditions:- 1) If an agent collects 2% from seller, they should not deal with direct buyer so as to stand on one side and fight for the best price for seller unless agree by both seller and buyer. 2) If agent is acting for buyer with 1% commission, he should not promote property he is selling unless agreed by both buyer and seller. 3) If agent sold the property he is marketing to direct buyer, he should only collect commission from the seller. 4) Try to avoid agents from same company who act for seller and buyer as they may be in a team, which is a norm nowadays, and making a show. 5) Always be around during negotiation and listen to what your representing agent say in the negotiation when the opposition agent is from the same agency or if the same agent is representing both seller and buyer. The commission guideline should not be disposed but to reinforce the above mention in 1-5 in conjunction with the commission guideline so as to protect the benefits for both buyer and seller. Because by disposing the commission guideline, it will only bring the whole market into chao. Like now, buyer is paying unreasonable commission. Beware seller, you will one day become buyer. Seller who meets up agents who do not collect commission or collect less commission from you should SHUT them OUT straight away because these are agent who do not have principle and who do not have any professionalism. Please think about it, if the agent is capable of providing the best quality service, why does he need to lower down his commission? And after he lower down his commission, for instance, S$ 5000 become S$2500, how much will he spend to market your property. If you still dream that this agent is cheap and will find the best price for you, then dream on. Logically, just treat yourself as agent and ask yourself what you will do with S$5000 of marketing fund as well as S$2500 of marketing fund. More often then not, you will let go the property as fast as possible so as to minimize your cost because maximum selling price is no longer your priority as the property does not belong to you. Alternatively, you will not co-broke with other agents even if the price is better for seller because you will want to seal the deal with direct buyer so as to earn the 1% commission from buyer even if the price is lower than what is offered in the cobroke. End of the day, seller who looks for cheap agent will lose more than the 1% or 2% in the deal. For Instance a deal of S$300000 property, 2% is S$6000, are you going to lose 10-15k just because of S$6000? Of course, I have to agree that there are a lot of bad eggs in the property industries. Even as a property agent, I do encounter this kind of agents who show no professionalism in their work. If seller had signed exclusive with this kind of agents, please call me and I will try my best to be of assistance to you wherever possible. Don’t worry, you need not let me sell your property after that. It will be a favour to you. Concluding the above, I trust that all the buyer and seller here are more than willing to pay the 2% and 1 % as long you get a fair deal end of the day because for every extra S$1000 you earn or save, you are only paying extra S$10-S$20 to agent. And Buyer and seller should choose agent base on the abovementioned 1-5 because the above will safeguard your interest more than the lift of commission scheme. As for agents, I presume that the guideline will not be lifted for nothing. So do go for your CEHA if you do not have one. Think of what will happen once market become chaotic. Someone will step out and become “Mr Nice Guy” and dig into your pocket. If he manage to dig 1K per year from each agent, he will be making MILLIONS of dollar each year just sitting in the office and issue papers. I hope I did not offend any Buyer/Seller/Agent in my above penny of thought. Should any buyer or seller need my assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at <edited>. I will be more than willing to be of assistance to you. Cheers. zirhk3355: We welcome your comments to defend the agents' industry, but as ethical as you are, I believe you should refrain from advertising for yourself.