Sell Your Hdb Without The Agents

[xiaob 0]

Just to share my experience.

I bought an EA. The purchase of the EA was done without any agents, seller advertised his unit and I so happened to be looking for a place.

Encouraged by this outcome, I did the same when I was selling my 4rm. The end result is that the buyer's agent also represented me. Reason being that she brought along a client which put in a net bid (after 2% commission) which is 9k above the best offer I got so far at that point in time.

From my experience of being on both sides of the transactions within a span of few months, I feel it is worthwhile to do the leg work yourself be it buying or selling. The following are purely opinions of my own based on my experience and I do not mean to offend anyone:

1) Your interests as a buyer or seller are not really aligned with the agent. As most agents just want to close the deal and move on next. The few extra k difference is not going to incentivise them much further.

2) With this misalignment, you never know if the agent is telling you the truth. This is especially so when selling. If you are relying on just a few agents, your communication with the market in general will be filtered through these agents. By opening up communication to the market in general, i.e. you have unfiltered information. Buyers with agents will deal with you directly and you can set the terms with the buyer agents or better yet direct buyers. And any offers you receive are for at least coming directly from the horse's mouth. Most of the time, I just state the last best offer and its just a matter of whether are the buyers willing to better the last offer.

3) DIY with HDB is really not that hard, and the officers are generally tolerant of mistakes in the forms. For my direct purchase, I submitted the option form after expiry but they still accepted the forms and allowed the sale anyway. On first appointment date, I forgot to bring the original option form (for DIY registration of sales and booking of first appointment date is done online, there is no submission of any physcial paper until first appointment). For my sales, the agent screwed up on the forms, still the sale went ahead!

4) You save on commission fees and have direct access to the buyer/seller. I feel as long as both sides are reasonable people and talk things over, its pretty easy to settle stuff.

To sum it all up, be fair to yourself, only you can look after your best interests, do the legwork, it is worth it. At least you know you aren't taken for a ride. Agents do have a place in the world, they really have alot of contacts which can help to accelerate the sale and bring up the offers.

FYI, I see alot of people who place tremendous trust on these agents, be it buyers or sellers, they just believe everything the agents said! One lady who came to view my 4rm told me she needs to contra and she is selling her place (16 flr unblocked 3rm, 3 blocks away rom my place) at 4k above valuation. Before she could continue the agent quickly cut the conversation, I had told him before hand that my last best offer is 25k COV.

For those who wish to DIY, one tip is to get a prepaid HP number. Once you advertise your number on the newspaper it gets stuck on alot of spam lists, trust me its worth it. Now I get all sorts of sms about units for sale or commissions for referrals of home loans. Even 2 months after the sale of my flat, I still get enquiries.

[sepultura 0]

Absolutely agree with this one about getting a separate prepaid phone for your property transactions. I can't believe the number of calls and SMS's I am getting on my second line these days.

I started by selling my HDB flat DIY, but fielding the calls, entertaining agents, screening buyers, dealing with the frustration etc became too much of a distraction from my day job, so ended up engaging a sole agent. If you have the time, energy and patience, you save on commission though.

As for engaging an agent, I feel the most important factor is that you are comfortable with the agent, you are able to trust the agent, and you don't keep having to second-guess the agent. A trustworthy agent will not try to hide facts from you, or try to prevent you from doing some groundwork and information gathering yourself. If you are not totally comfortable with the agent before appointing him/her and signing the dotted line, walk away. It's a lot of money, and a lot of headache if something starts going wrong.

For those who wish to DIY, one tip is to get a prepaid HP number. Once you advertise your number on the newspaper it gets stuck on alot of spam lists, trust me its worth it. Now I get all sorts of sms about units for sale or commissions for referrals of home loans. Even 2 months after the sale of my flat, I still get enquiries.

[zengyz 0]

Just to share my experience.

I bought an EA. The purchase of the EA was done without any agents, seller advertised his unit and I so happened to be looking for a place.

Encouraged by this outcome, I did the same when I was selling my 4rm. The end result is that the buyer's agent also represented me. Reason being that she brought along a client which put in a net bid (after 2% commission) which is 9k above the best offer I got so far at that point in time.

From my experience of being on both sides of the transactions within a span of few months, I feel it is worthwhile to do the leg work yourself be it buying or selling. The following are purely opinions of my own based on my experience and I do not mean to offend anyone:

1) Your interests as a buyer or seller are not really aligned with the agent. As most agents just want to close the deal and move on next. The few extra k difference is not going to incentivise them much further.

2) With this misalignment, you never know if the agent is telling you the truth. This is especially so when selling. If you are relying on just a few agents, your communication with the market in general will be filtered through these agents. By opening up communication to the market in general, i.e. you have unfiltered information. Buyers with agents will deal with you directly and you can set the terms with the buyer agents or better yet direct buyers. And any offers you receive are for at least coming directly from the horse's mouth. Most of the time, I just state the last best offer and its just a matter of whether are the buyers willing to better the last offer.

3) DIY with HDB is really not that hard, and the officers are generally tolerant of mistakes in the forms. For my direct purchase, I submitted the option form after expiry but they still accepted the forms and allowed the sale anyway. On first appointment date, I forgot to bring the original option form (for DIY registration of sales and booking of first appointment date is done online, there is no submission of any physcial paper until first appointment). For my sales, the agent screwed up on the forms, still the sale went ahead!

4) You save on commission fees and have direct access to the buyer/seller. I feel as long as both sides are reasonable people and talk things over, its pretty easy to settle stuff.

To sum it all up, be fair to yourself, only you can look after your best interests, do the legwork, it is worth it. At least you know you aren't taken for a ride. Agents do have a place in the world, they really have alot of contacts which can help to accelerate the sale and bring up the offers.

FYI, I see alot of people who place tremendous trust on these agents, be it buyers or sellers, they just believe everything the agents said! One lady who came to view my 4rm told me she needs to contra and she is selling her place (16 flr unblocked 3rm, 3 blocks away rom my place) at 4k above valuation. Before she could continue the agent quickly cut the conversation, I had told him before hand that my last best offer is 25k COV.

For those who wish to DIY, one tip is to get a prepaid HP number. Once you advertise your number on the newspaper it gets stuck on alot of spam lists, trust me its worth it. Now I get all sorts of sms about units for sale or commissions for referrals of home loans. Even 2 months after the sale of my flat, I still get enquiries.

Hi,

I recently signed the OTP to sell my HDB flat without engaging any agents. After signing the document and receiving the option fee $1000, I asked the agent of the buyer to do the paper / leg work for me by promising to pay him $500 after the completion. Since I found this agent seems quite new in this line, I am not so sure if he can do everything properly for me. I am happy to find people like you sharing your DIY experience in this forum, thus would like to ask a few questions.

(1) I still have outstanding home loan with a bank, how the outstanding mortgage be discharged? It is required to fully redeem the loan from the bank before the resale completion date? Or I just leave it to HDB to handle? According to the bank, if making full redemption, a three- month notice must be given to the bank and engaging a lawyer is required. If I wish to let HDB to handle it, what I need to do?

(2) If the buyer simple fills up the Acceptance on the OPT without notice me and he also does not pay me the deposit (Excise fee), can the buyer submit the application form and whether this OPT is a valid contract?

Look forward to your reply. Thank you in advance!

[dokiesim 0]

Hi,

I recently signed the OTP to sell my HDB flat without engaging any agents. After signing the document and receiving the option fee $1000, I asked the agent of the buyer to do the paper / leg work for me by promising to pay him $500 after the completion. Since I found this agent seems quite new in this line, I am not so sure if he can do everything properly for me. I am happy to find people like you sharing your DIY experience in this forum, thus would like to ask a few questions.

(1) I still have outstanding home loan with a bank, how the outstanding mortgage be discharged? It is required to fully redeem the loan from the bank before the resale completion date? Or I just leave it to HDB to handle? According to the bank, if making full redemption, a three- month notice must be given to the bank and engaging a lawyer is required. If I wish to let HDB to handle it, what I need to do?

(2) If the buyer simple fills up the Acceptance on the OPT without notice me and he also does not pay me the deposit (Excise fee), can the buyer submit the application form and whether this OPT is a valid contract?

Look forward to your reply. Thank you in advance!

1. You should enquire with your lawyer (be it pte or HDB) on the correct procedure/timing to settle the bank loan. Countercheck with your bank as well. HDB procedure are very standard (for non-complicated cases), so a call to HDB call centre may be all it takes to clarify your doubt.

2. Did the buyer accept the OTP on or before the option period (stated in the OTP)? To be binding, it must be accompanied with the payment (cash/cheque) as consideration to you (the seller). A prudent buyer would insist that you acknowledge receipt of the Option exercise form and payment, stating the date/time to do so as time is of the essence in OTP/exercise.

Hope the above clarifies.

[ANDiLaLaLa 2]

hi Move,

this is nice,....will have a look at it later.

gotta sell my unit soon...real soon.

can share with us how you did yours thru them?

Edited November 29, 2013 by ANDiLaLaLa

[ahBengahSeng 0]

I sold my unit on my own and buy it via agent. To speak the truth, all these can be done by ourselves. It a little time consuming though. My experience of selling is very clear cut. Seller checklist follow by OTP blah blah blah.

When I buy another unit, why I chose an agent? Is because, I can use the agent bring me around to view the short listed flats. But a thing in particular, I chose the agent with car. So he will bring you for an island hunt. Normal practice agent will ask for a 1% commission of the transaction, but again trust me on this, nowadays, thousands and thousands of property agents on board................

Negotiate before the selling or purchasing, ending up, we won't be paying the full 1%. No harm trying right ? If don't agree, ask another agent another another........

This is what I did, I paid an estimated of 0.5% on my purchase. Some might ask, why is 0.5%....... There's a will, There's a way!

[gemini 8]

I bought my first house without a buyer agent and without attending HDB free workshop. The process is not too difficult, all the information are provided in HDB website.

All along I wanted to do without agents to save on commission. But past experiences proven it is sometimes worth going through agents (buy/sell/rent) because of their wide contacts. There is still a big pool of sellers going through agents for various reasons such as:

foreigners - usually foreigners engage agents because they are not familiar with local requirement, and you will be amazed at the purchasing power of those contacts of the agents .

old folks - they usually engage agents because of language issue (mostly speak dialects).

Hence no harm to do own advertising and engage agents at the same time because no commisison if deal is not closed.

Edited January 15, 2014 by gemini

[tanmeng 4]

Actually selling should engage agents to save time and money. The commission might look big, but considering the time and adverts they put in, it saves the time to talk to just one or two agents. Moreover, it is caps the downside of sinking in advertisement cost. Buyers can just flip the adverts by the agents to buy. no need agents.

[VictorOng2014 0]

So far, my experience with agents is that they just want your $. Most don't bother to showaround.

Found this book with good advice on how to buy without agents :

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Peter_Tan_Buying_My_First_HDB_Home_A_Guide_on_HDB_?id=XVpHAgAAQBAJ

[sforshor 84]

So far, my experience with agents is that they just want your $. Most don't bother to showaround.

Found this book with good advice on how to buy without agents :

https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Peter_Tan_Buying_My_First_HDB_Home_A_Guide_on_HDB_?id=XVpHAgAAQBAJ

Actually it's all luck. I met a dedicated agent upon buying...... most patient lady I ever come across.

[CuGu 12]

i think only use agent for buying cos you want him or her to act as your advisor..

if you use the correct experienced, honest, want to build up his reputation type of agent, he can help see thing that you don,t see..like fresh paint over certain area to hide water leakage, poor location etc

For selling, my personel view is if you are selling high value flat like EM that goes into the 800k then as I am poor, i am willing to entertain many calls and arrangement myself cos the commission to pay at current 1.5% is 12k..

[Batman 0]

Just like doing reno.. if u have the all the time and efforts to spare, then by all means DIY and make all the arrangements yourself. However do not forget that shold anything go wrong, u may be on the losing end.

Good luck to all bros/ sis in chasing their "dreams"!

[gemini 8]

Just like doing reno.. if u have the all the time and efforts to spare, then by all means DIY and make all the arrangements yourself. However do not forget that shold anything go wrong, u may be on the losing end.

Good luck to all bros/ sis in chasing their "dreams"!

I feel safer when DIY because I will ensure everything is done properly. I've seen how my other friends got screwed up by agents. Whether to use an agent or not, we still have to do our part and work. Can't rely on agents unless you are prepare for surprises .

[bluecyberman 0]

I actually signup for HDB resale seminar and paid 25 sgd. I am listing my 3rm hdb property everywhere but seems like buyer are not in sight.

Anyone with a successful case on selling or nailing a buyer? Cheers!

[Rose0414 0]

On 2016/2/26 at 4:14 PM, bluecyberman said:

I actually signup for HDB resale seminar and paid 25 sgd. I am listing my 3rm hdb property everywhere but seems like buyer are not in sight.

Anyone with a successful case on selling or nailing a buyer? Cheers!

I have same experience with u.I have also selling my 3I hdb flat near bedok mrt.Also nodody reply me.I just post on gumtree.Hope we both can find buyer earlier.Cheers!

Edited March 11, 2016 by Rose0414