Advise Needed On Housing Agents Matter

[Ah wong 0]

Hi all bro and sis,

Just found this great site on housing issue, need a little bit of advise from you all.

Here is my case.

I have engage an agent(recommended by friends, can't really remember whether we had sign any agreement with the agent on exclusivity, but verbally, we had agreed on a 15 sell, 1% buy basis) to sell our current flat and at the same time buy another resale flat.

This agent was rather aggresive in selling off my flat and he did it in less than a month, OTP signed and 5K deposit received. Now waiting for 1st appointment.

Now when come to looking for the resale flat, me and my wife done most of the seraching and inform him to make appoint for us, after viewing about 10 units of resale flats, we still not able to find our dream home. Then we decided to change our location to other estate which had more sellers as compare to the one we are looking at, it was then the agents went missing and we did not hear from him for more than a month, we know he is still active in selling cos saw his advertisement in strait time.

My doubts now is what can i do with this type of agents with un professionality in serving their clients, he did not advise us on anythings, only we ask he tell us, there are so many issues like bank loan and cpf....etc.....so many traps waiting for us to fall in if we did not see it clearly, we nearly commit a 5 rooms flat but luckily my wife dun like it.

My wife and i had discussed and we decided to still pay him the comm for selling, but are we still tie on to him on the buying?

It had crossed my mind that i want to refuse to pay him any comm, if he think he deserve, go get a lawyer to sue me......but it will like become him if i do that and for that couple of thousand.....not worth lor.....but still a bit TL for being playout by such people.

Any suggestion what other option we have, we planned to look for another agents after our 2nd appointment.

Thanks

[3kn3ca 0]

the agent by your admission did the selling part so its fair you pay him the comm due, as to the buying part get other agents asap as you will need a roof under you soon. The 1st agent unlikely to have a claim to exclusivity on your buying part now since he did disappear for awhile.

[gohleong 0]

Which area are you looking? I'm sure there are other agents who are happy to be of service, so read thr your exclusive agreement and checked what is the t&c.

[Ah wong 0]

Thks for the response.

But,should the agreement still be valid even if i did sign one with them (cannot recall or not too sure whether we had signed it, and also not wish to call him up for clarification), after they went disappear and no feedbacks nor update from them?

He did go thruogh with us a long list of do and dun's but we are not sure wether that's an agreement or not sure whether we had signed on it.

Definitely there are other agents keen to take up my case which already a few offering their service, but i would like to make sure my previous agent had nothings to claim further beside his comm for selling my flat which he entitile to, as we had verbally agreed to 1% sell and 1% buy, if he has fail his duty for looking a resale flat(which he had and disappear for more than a month), he will have no case for claiming additional comm for selling my flat which we initially agreed at 1%.

another question i had is, when paying comm to the agent, should i request for a official receipt with the company name he is representing or just issue a check with his name? What if he can't issue an official receipt, can i don't pay him.

Where can i report him to for his fail of duty, or if we are sure we did not sign any agreement with him, we can just ignore him.

Appreciate further enlightening..

[3kn3ca 0]

You must play your part and dig out the documents and understand them, nobody can help you on this. With regards to payment of the comm you should write the cheque to the agency because your agreement is with the agency. Never pay to the agent directly.

[quoo 0]

another stupid agent !

[JustMortgage 0]

It's normal to find fustration in the property market. Let me quote one example. I was assisting my secondary school friend to look for a property recently. I chanced upon an agent claiming to sell one for another client in the exact vicinity. Price was great. It was those 95% buy type of scenario if we were to view. I made 3 smses and at least 4 calls but no reply.

It dawned on me that this is another agent who was looking for "leads".

Any there were others that did not even reply sms etc. Some also mentioned in the kind of "don't waste my time attitude".

Regarding your case, exclusivity stands if you have signed with the agent. simplest option is to wait it out.

[zirhk3355 1]

You must find the agreement where you sign off the exclusivity rights; always keep a copy of what you had signed!

Go talk to the agent and negotiate to release you from the buying part, since he is also not keen to do liao.

But if he wants to stay firm, then tell him you will hold back his comm for selling the flat and see who can tahan. Exclusivity is not forever; ask him if he wants to play the waiting game. You can write in to his agency to complain, create a big hooha and get the agency to agree to release you. Also remember to threaten him that you will dispute this and dispute that to cut his comm even for selling the flat.

That bardy piece of exclusivity agreement with microscopic prints is always arguable anyway, ask him if he wants all the trouble, or just part happily with the comm for selling the flat, maybe next time still can use his service again. Tell him give and take la! But on your side, you also need to be steady to give him the comm once the 2nd appt is over.

Hehe...once he agrees, make sure you sign black and white that you are released from your obligations.

[Ah wong 0]

Thanks for the reply guy.

Me and my wife had been thinking hard this 2 days, quite sure we did not sign any exclusive agreement, and we dun intend to play hard on this agent as he is intro by friend, but still sibei TL kana play out ma.... so just want to find way to give this guy a lesson, if he does not want to continue servivice us, just drop us a msg is good enough, why go disappear and no feedback or update from him. I will still pay him his comm, maybe not full and drag till i found my new home, of course not by him anymore.

BTW, he is a senior associate marketing director of the "P" company, with "kelvin **** & associates printed on his namecard, who can i write to?

Anyway, this friday is my 1st app, we will see whether he turn up or not.

[zirhk3355 1]

No exclusivity agreement, even easier. Since you do not want to 'play hard', then why want to write in to anyone?

Brace yourself and just call him up to talk to him, face-to-face, man-to-man.

Ask him if he still wants your business for buying flat, if not make it clear to him that you will go find other agents already and won't pay him any comm.

But more likely than not, he will say he still want your business, of course. Then in this case come up with some service standards for him; eg how many flats are there on the market now that meets your requirements, ask him to show proof that he had searched all the possible avenues like newspapers, online databases, etc. Then ask him to give you a plan on how many flats he intend to bring you over the next few weeks/months, etc. If he cannot commit to these KPIs, then you will be free to go find other agents also.

[Guest Goobii]

Hi,

Maybe I could advise you abit

For selling since already going thru half way before 1st appointment, then just go ahead and continue the process.

As for buying you don't need to stick to him to purchase your next house. You just need to understand a few factor

1) Are you upgrading or downgrading?

2) Taking bank or hdb loan?

3) How much cash you decide to set aside to pay for the COV?

4) Which estate are you looking for? (The problem for current resale market, is that there is LESS supply but ALOT of buyers, so I am not impress that your house can sell off in less than a month.)

What is the problem now?

I forsee that your agent could have lost faith or too busy himself to find you a house. The houses you want might be limited and maybe out of your budgets. Anyway did your agent request for you time to find house and also extension after completion.

As I can foresee that you will have problem with your moving out issue if you cannot find a house in time before completion for your current house, UNLESS the house you are buying can early move-in and don't need renovation.

Need help just email or sms me.

[Ah wong 0]

No exclusivity agreement, even easier. Since you do not want to 'play hard', then why want to write in to anyone?

Brace yourself and just call him up to talk to him, face-to-face, man-to-man.

Ask him if he still wants your business for buying flat, if not make it clear to him that you will go find other agents already and won't pay him any comm.

But more likely than not, he will say he still want your business, of course. Then in this case come up with some service standards for him; eg how many flats are there on the market now that meets your requirements, ask him to show proof that he had searched all the possible avenues like newspapers, online databases, etc. Then ask him to give you a plan on how many flats he intend to bring you over the next few weeks/months, etc. If he cannot commit to these KPIs, then you will be free to go find other agents also.

Knowing his service level, i dun think so i will give him another chance to give me further headache. I doubt he is able to do what you had suggested because most of the houses we view are founded by me through newspaper or website, all he need to do is call them up to seek further info and arrange for viewing, if they are not happy with that, then i really no words to say leow...

[JustMortgage 0]

Knowing his service level, i dun think so i will give him another chance to give me further headache. I doubt he is able to do what you had suggested because most of the houses we view are founded by me through newspaper or website, all he need to do is call them up to seek further info and arrange for viewing, if they are not happy with that, then i really no words to say leow...

Isn't that a common issue that clients face?

Finding the right property might not be the easiest thing to do.

If you are finding the next property, you should exercise caution. First most important thing is always to negotiate the commission. coz service level you never will know. Get multiple agents to serve I guess would be easier but you run into the problem of maybe viewing the same property.

You shouldn't drag the commission payment because the payment is to the property agency. Plus sending letters probably won't serve any impact at all IMHO.

Good Luck.

[Ah wong 0]

Hi,

Maybe I could advise you abit

For selling since already going thru half way before 1st appointment, then just go ahead and continue the process.

As for buying you don't need to stick to him to purchase your next house. You just need to understand a few factor

1) Are you upgrading or downgrading?

2) Taking bank or hdb loan?

3) How much cash you decide to set aside to pay for the COV?

4) Which estate are you looking for? (The problem for current resale market, is that there is LESS supply but ALOT of buyers, so I am not impress that your house can sell off in less than a month.)

What is the problem now?

I forsee that your agent could have lost faith or too busy himself to find you a house. The houses you want might be limited and maybe out of your budgets. Anyway did your agent request for you time to find house and also extension after completion.

As I can foresee that you will have problem with your moving out issue if you cannot find a house in time before completion for your current house, UNLESS the house you are buying can early move-in and don't need renovation.

Need help just email or sms me.

Wow...you see what will happen, had happened....

Me and my wife sense things are going wrong when the agents arrange only 1 or 2 viewing a week, and eventually no update or feedback from him after we told him to look into other estate.....

Maybe i should call him as suggested by others, but why should i, people who i dun know, like yourself, offer your services, while on the other hand, this agents is intro by friend, so this deal is "pau chiak", so why he give such lousy services, only he know.

Mine requirements are not too much, not too low floor, whether corridor, corner unit not a maater, but the only issue is the main entrance door facing, it had to follow my feng shui sifu direction, and he know that for people who see feng shui will take a longer time to search for a suitable unit. And maybe you dun belive, though i had given him the facing i want, he can still arrange for viewing which the facing is totally out.... .....

Luckily, we had most of the issue settled, temp accomodatiom and store for our furnitures....etc

Thanks for your offer but for the time being, i will let things go by nature and see what happen next.

Cheers

[Ah wong 0]

Isn't that a common issue that clients face?

Finding the right property might not be the easiest thing to do.

If you are finding the next property, you should exercise caution. First most important thing is always to negotiate the commission. coz service level you never will know. Get multiple agents to serve I guess would be easier but you run into the problem of maybe viewing the same property.

You shouldn't drag the commission payment because the payment is to the property agency. Plus sending letters probably won't serve any impact at all IMHO.

Good Luck.

Aiya...i 1st timer mah....

Supposed to call you hor, down with diarrhea and fever, now resting at home, will definitely call you when get better.

Problem is i trusted him cos is intro by friend lor.

Well, if the agency can provide me a good reason for his failure in service, i may not want to drag, i still have to pay end of the day, he had work to earn it.