How To Start Selling Own Flat

[Piggy07 0]

We are going to sell our flat, and I have read thru some topics here saying the agent is not so good.

any recommandation on whether engage agent?

and if need agent, normally how many agent to engage? and how to look for good agents?

if sell on our own, how to classify who is the sincere buyer, and who is coming for viewing only?

and anyone can share some ideas for self selling?

thanks a lot!

[zirhk3355 1]

With agents, you either:

1. Put your flat on what they call "open listing" and let all agents with buyers to come and view. This is akin to self-selling already, will elaborate more later.

2. Engage one exclusive agent, but like you found out, this is not really recommended unless you can be very sure that this agent is good and honest. This is because once you signed an exclusive agreement with the agent, even if you found a buyer on your own, you still have to pay him/her comm. There are alot of black sheeps out there who just go around signing exclusive with sellers and leave them alone, waiting for money to drop from the sky.

For self-selling, a good start is to read the HDB website! There are alot of information and you can get most of it on the website. Then go sign up for the resale seminar and learn more about the paperwork. After that, just call up the Classifieds, put an ad and you are on your way!

But when you are self-selling, there are more to it than just paperwork. You must really do alot of homework on the pricing, past transacted prices and check on the buyers/agents carefully. Also beware of agents using your flat as "showflat" to let their buyers view because the actual flat they want to push for is not available for viewing.

Do not price your flat so high that is totally off market price, because you will end up as the "neighbourhood hero", ie helping your neighbours sell their flats instead of your own.

[zirhk3355 1]

Filtering or screening buyers/agents is an acquired skill; you really got to use your intuition.

But certain tell-tale signs are like:

1. Do not know what type of flats they want. Eg 3-rm, 4-rm, 5-rm all also can! Usually buyers who are ready to buy will know what they want, ie strictly 5-rm only,

2. No budget. Just asking them," Huh, no budget?? $1 mil can?" All sincere buyers will have a budget in mind.

3. Did not ask much questions, just want to come and view. These people are usually just window-shopping and look-see only.

Another thing I want to share is the sincerity of those calls that come in as result of your classified advertisement:

Let's say you will be advertising everyday in the classified until you sell your flat. My advice is only those who call within the first two weeks after your first advertisement are good buyers who are ready to buy. Why do I say that?

Just put yourself in the buyers' shoes; if you are looking for a flat and poring over the classified for a few days/weeks already, you will soon recognise some flats that you had either seen or crossed out; you won't call them again, of course. And after a few weeks, you would have seen what you want to see and be ready to commit. Everytime a new flat is put on sale, you will definitely noticed it and call up the seller/agent straight away.

Hence, such buyers are those who will be your first few callers, and who are tired from weeks of searching but still cannot find the right flat. So they are the most ready to buy if your flat is right for them.

Then what about those who call you after you had already advertised everyday for two weeks? These people are the NEW buyers, who had just decided to buy like one day ago. They had just flipped open the fresh classified, calling up every ad, not knowing which ad is old and which ad is new. So put yourself in the shoes of the buyers again, if yesterday you had just decided to find a home, would you commit to the first few flats you view, even if you liked them? Definitely not, you will want to see more first, right?

In brief, once you start to put classified ads, be especially alert to those first few callers because usually one of them will be your buyer in the end.

Edited June 7, 2008 by zirhk3355

[papbestdad 0]

Filtering or screening buyers/agents is an acquired skill; you really got to use your intuition.

But certain tell-tale signs are like:

1. Do not know what type of flats they want. Eg 3-rm, 4-rm, 5-rm all also can! Usually buyers who are ready to buy will know what they want, ie strictly 5-rm only,

2. No budget. Just asking them," Huh, no budget?? $1 mil can?" All sincere buyers will have a budget in mind.

3. Did not ask much questions, just want to come and view. These people are usually just window-shopping and look-see only.

Another thing I want to share is the sincerity of those calls that come in as result of your classified advertisement:

Let's say you will be advertising everyday in the classified until you sell your flat. My advice is only those who call within the first two weeks after your first advertisement are good buyers who are ready to buy. Why do I say that?

Just put yourself in the buyers' shoes; if you are looking for a flat and poring over the classified for a few days/weeks already, you will soon recognise some flats that you had either seen or crossed out; you won't call them again, of course. And after a few weeks, you would have seen what you want to see and be ready to commit. Everytime a new flat is put on sale, you will definitely noticed it and call up the seller/agent straight away.

Hence, such buyers are those who will be your first few callers, and who are tired from weeks of searching but still cannot find the right flat. So they are the most ready to buy if your flat is right for them.

Then what about those who call you after you had already advertised everyday for two weeks? These people are the NEW buyers, who had just decided to buy like one day ago. They had just flipped open the fresh classified, calling up every ad, not knowing which ad is old and which ad is new. So put yourself in the shoes of the buyers again, if yesterday you had just decided to find a home, would you commit to the first few flats you view, even if you liked them? Definitely not, you will want to see more first, right?

In brief, once you start to put classified ads, be especially alert to those first few callers because usually one of them will be your buyer in the end.

You seems experienced. Why don't you help the threadstarter settle it.

[zirhk3355 1]

You seems experienced. Why don't you help the threadstarter settle it.

Settle...what?

[Piggy07 0]

hi papbestdad, thanks for your reply.

I have found that most of the agents will ask you to sign the "exclusive", otherwise won't market it for you

for self-selling, the two important things are, you need to classify the buyer and the selling skill... as a seller, I don't think we have the skill as good as the agent. for eg. they can sell maybe 10k more than you, then that worth of the agent fees already.

but is there any tricks you will encounter as a seller?

[chronograph 0]

hi papbestdad, thanks for your reply.

I have found that most of the agents will ask you to sign the "exclusive", otherwise won't market it for you

for self-selling, the two important things are, you need to classify the buyer and the selling skill... as a seller, I don't think we have the skill as good as the agent. for eg. they can sell maybe 10k more than you, then that worth of the agent fees already.

but is there any tricks you will encounter as a seller?

I will be going for my first appointment both for selling and buying and till today my agent has never asked me to sign any exclusive papers other than the OTPs.

Agent also got good and bad ones.