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Thread: Common TRicks Used by Property Agents

  1. #1
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    Default Common TRicks Used by Property Agents

    hi can anyone share experiences of tricks used by property agents you have used to buy and sell your property?

    good or bad? do share.

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    Quote Originally Posted by dingding
    hi can anyone share experiences of tricks used by property agents you have used to buy and sell your property?

    good or bad? do share.
    i only find my own tenants sometimes if i got the time....hehe...quite fun...but can aso be vy tiring especially during downturn....tenants super choosy...LOL....so during tat period better let agt do the legwork

    but i always let agts sell....

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    Default Buying property

    I am not sure how rampant this is but I know of agent who'll collect cheque from a potential buyer than keep the cheque for couple of days while he try to contact his other potential clients who haven't given any cheque and try to convince them to offer higher. As such, they'll get higher commission. They'll try to explain to the original buyer that the seller is away or out-stationed, etc. Think this is a violation of the rights of the first potential buyer.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ysyap
    I am not sure how rampant this is but I know of agent who'll collect cheque from a potential buyer than keep the cheque for couple of days while he try to contact his other potential clients who haven't given any cheque and try to convince them to offer higher. As such, they'll get higher commission. They'll try to explain to the original buyer that the seller is away or out-stationed, etc. Think this is a violation of the rights of the first potential buyer.
    tat buyer greenhorn bah??

    i always demand the LOO tat my offer will lapse within the next 24hr

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    Quote Originally Posted by ysyap
    I am not sure how rampant this is but I know of agent who'll collect cheque from a potential buyer than keep the cheque for couple of days while he try to contact his other potential clients who haven't given any cheque and try to convince them to offer higher. As such, they'll get higher commission. They'll try to explain to the original buyer that the seller is away or out-stationed, etc. Think this is a violation of the rights of the first potential buyer.
    This trick is quote common.

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    Quote Originally Posted by devilplate
    tat buyer greenhorn bah??

    i always demand the LOO tat my offer will lapse within the next 24hr
    . This is good, at most 48hours...for me

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    Default Another pattern

    I met another agent who once got the cheque and closed the deal, he'll disappear. He told the owner the wrong date they must vacate the unit. When I went down to check on the house on the deadline, the owners were still staying there. They said they've been told by the agent to vacate only the following week. I called my lawyer and he advised me to pursue the matter. However here is the downside, if I were to engage the lawyer to charge my agent for his apparent negligence, it'll cost me more than the compensation I can ever dream of getting from the agent. Not worth it....
    What was worse was the fact that the agent just refused to answer my call or to return my call. It was a totally unpleasant experience. Sigh. All these occurred before the government demanded that all housing agents must be certified. Hopefully this initiative changed the attitudes of these erring agents.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ysyap
    I met another agent who once got the cheque and closed the deal, he'll disappear. He told the owner the wrong date they must vacate the unit. When I went down to check on the house on the deadline, the owners were still staying there. They said they've been told by the agent to vacate only the following week. I called my lawyer and he advised me to pursue the matter. However here is the downside, if I were to engage the lawyer to charge my agent for his apparent negligence, it'll cost me more than the compensation I can ever dream of getting from the agent. Not worth it....
    What was worse was the fact that the agent just refused to answer my call or to return my call. It was a totally unpleasant experience. Sigh. All these occurred before the government demanded that all housing agents must be certified. Hopefully this initiative changed the attitudes of these erring agents.
    tats real bad....u can still forward ur case to CEA

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    Can Mr Funny make this thread a sticky?

    How about the not so common trick or rare tricks property agents used?

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    Trick 1:
    Pretending the property response is hot by arranging all buyers to view at the same time.Nothing wrong in a bullish market except when the agent delayed your viewings so that the rest of the other buyers can view at the same time creating false impression that the property is hot.

    Trick 2:
    Holding your check and several other buyers so that seller can consider the best offer. Nothing wrong here except when the agent showed all the checks to you and push you for a higher offer. Ethically, this is wrong.

    Trick 3:
    Accepted your offer and check BUT did not give you the OTP. This will make the confirmed buyer very mad because as long as you do not get the OTP, the seller can back up anytime and return you the check. It is best you immediately exchanged the OTP for your check. Agent will say troublesome, but that is his job to run to and fro, since when who said it is easy money here.

    Trick 4:
    Advertise a ridiculously low price/rental for a particular property to gather your phone number and check the response rate. Nothing wrong except when it wasted your precious time calling and when the owner never intend to sell at the low price. In addition, owner never want to sell but agent still advertise his property to gather your data.

    Trick 5:
    They tell you got enbloc "potential". Since when you know a plot got enbloc potential ? Except got potential usually only mean there is a possibility in going enbloc.

    Trick 6:
    Try to create peer pressure. This happened to me a few times.For example, once I went to a show flat with a celebrity. The agent called me after the viewing to say this celebrity already bought 2 units and hastened me to buy. The agent has no idea this celebrity is my best friend. I called him up and he said he did not book any unit in the project.

    Hope that helps

    Your humble little brother.

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    Quote Originally Posted by blackjack21trader
    Trick 1:
    Pretending the property response is hot by arranging all buyers to view at the same time.Nothing wrong in a bullish market except when the agent delayed your viewings so that the rest of the other buyers can view at the same time creating false impression that the property is hot.

    Trick 2:
    Holding your check and several other buyers so that seller can consider the best offer. Nothing wrong here except when the agent showed all the checks to you and push you for a higher offer. Ethically, this is wrong.

    Trick 3:
    Accepted your offer and check BUT did not give you the OTP. This will make the confirmed buyer very mad because as long as you do not get the OTP, the seller can back up anytime and return you the check. It is best you immediately exchanged the OTP for your check. Agent will say troublesome, but that is his job to run to and fro, since when who said it is easy money here.

    Trick 4:
    Advertise a ridiculously low price/rental for a particular property to gather your phone number and check the response rate. Nothing wrong except when it wasted your precious time calling and when the owner never intend to sell at the low price. In addition, owner never want to sell but agent still advertise his property to gather your data.

    Trick 5:
    They tell you got enbloc "potential". Since when you know a plot got enbloc potential ? Except got potential usually only mean there is a possibility in going enbloc.

    Trick 6:
    Try to create peer pressure. This happened to me a few times.For example, once I went to a show flat with a celebrity. The agent called me after the viewing to say this celebrity already bought 2 units and hastened me to buy. The agent has no idea this celebrity is my best friend. I called him up and he said he did not book any unit in the project.

    Hope that helps

    Your humble little brother.
    Trick 7:
    Agent advertise for a unit that is already sold or at a ridiculous price and when you call up to enquire, he'll say oh that unit's sold. 'Let me introduce other units to you.' Nothing wrong with that except wasting the buyer's time as the other units he introduce did not meet the buyer's requirements.

    Trick 8:
    As mentioned by me earlier, agent disappears once OTP is exercised. He'll ignore any questions and even tell the seller wrong information that may affect the smooth transaction on deadline.

    Trick 9:
    Agents who are eager to sell a unit will conceal any known problem in that unit like leakage problem and complaints from the unit below.

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    Trick 7:
    Agent advertise for a unit that is already sold or at a ridiculous price and when you call up to enquire, he'll say oh that unit's sold. 'Let me introduce other units to you.' Nothing wrong with that except wasting the buyer's time as the other units he introduce did not meet the buyer's requirements.

    ________________________________________________________________

    I 'kena' this Trick 7 before. There were 3 units of the same type put up for sale and I wanted the highest floor one. Agent told me that was just sold at XXXk and others are even more expensive, making it impossible for me to try to buy. I then found out through another agent that the highest floor one was not sold at all, so I bid and eventually bought it at a price cheaper than the XXXk the other agent claimed.

    That loser agent later had a hard time trying to explain to me why that unit he claimed was sold - was sold to me.

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    Default Wrong photo

    Some unethical agents post a wrong photo of the house. Bloody annoying !

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    I called up several agents to find that it was the same unit. Some agents pretended to have close contact with seller. But seller was always not in town. Once offered a price that seller had originally offered, I was told by agent that the price had increased by at least $50k! Another agent tried to delay the deal by saying seller was away. I wonder if it's a fake seller.
    Yee ha! Did I tickle your funny bone?


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    Agents are scum

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    This is not exactly a trick, but I'm getting irritated by all the unsolicited calls and SMSes that I am getting from agents.

    Especially when you are overseas....

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    Quote Originally Posted by sh
    This is not exactly a trick, but I'm getting irritated by all the unsolicited calls and SMSes that I am getting from agents.

    Especially when you are overseas....
    Yes, I also get that, don't where they get my contact number. kinda of irritating especially I spend substantial amount of my time overseas...wonder where they get my contact. And sometimes, at between 7-8pm, these agents even call my house number. Worst of all, just 2 weeks ago, an agent called and they even know I own certain property, asking me if I want to sell now or wait till TOP...kinda of wonder if someone is selling all these data...

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    me too.... especially when a development is near completion.... so many calls, want to sell, want to rent, etc.... someone must be selling the information. Should petition CEA to ban agents from making cold calls.:

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    Quote Originally Posted by land118
    Yes, I also get that, don't where they get my contact number. kinda of irritating especially I spend substantial amount of my time overseas...wonder where they get my contact. And sometimes, at between 7-8pm, these agents even call my house number. Worst of all, just 2 weeks ago, an agent called and they even know I own certain property, asking me if I want to sell now or wait till TOP...kinda of wonder if someone is selling all these data...
    The Real estate data system at real estate offices can check the owners' names if they have the property address. But not the reverse. That is, if they have someone's name, they cannot check which properties they owned. But if they have the address of a property, they can check who are the owners.

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    Quote Originally Posted by devilplate
    i only find my own tenants sometimes if i got the time....hehe...quite fun...but can aso be vy tiring especially during downturn....tenants super choosy...LOL....so during tat period better let agt do the legwork

    but i always let agts sell....

    u are super agent yourself ma

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    Quote Originally Posted by sh
    me too.... especially when a development is near completion.... so many calls, want to sell, want to rent, etc.... someone must be selling the information. Should petition CEA to ban agents from making cold calls.:
    Most probably you had called the number in Trick 4 innocently on an occasion as mentioned in my previous post.


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    Quote Originally Posted by land118
    This trick is quote common.
    yes, it is true, I saw a racket between a potential buyer and an agent at my tower squabbling over this ...teh potential buyer scream at the agent and I overheard everthing as I was at lobby....the agent said go and conplain la...this happened last year before CEA was up...

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    Quote Originally Posted by peterng8
    yes, it is true, I saw a racket between a potential buyer and an agent at my tower squabbling over this ...teh potential buyer scream at the agent and I overheard everthing as I was at lobby....the agent said go and conplain la...this happened last year before CEA was up...
    u mean ur colleague said tat to the buyer? u big ROD and he big BALLS?

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    Quote Originally Posted by ysyap
    Trick 7:
    Agent advertise for a unit that is already sold or at a ridiculous price and when you call up to enquire, he'll say oh that unit's sold. 'Let me introduce other units to you.' Nothing wrong with that except wasting the buyer's time as the other units he introduce did not meet the buyer's requirements.

    Trick 8:
    As mentioned by me earlier, agent disappears once OTP is exercised. He'll ignore any questions and even tell the seller wrong information that may affect the smooth transaction on deadline.

    Trick 9:
    Agents who are eager to sell a unit will conceal any known problem in that unit like leakage problem and complaints from the unit below.



    you are right especially Trick number 9..the most difficult to detect...they can arrange a bed to cover a broken teak flooring before potential buyers viewing...

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    Quote Originally Posted by peterng8
    yes, it is true, I saw a racket between a potential buyer and an agent at my tower squabbling over this ...teh potential buyer scream at the agent and I overheard everthing as I was at lobby....the agent said go and conplain la...this happened last year before CEA was up...
    An investor can get frustrated and nervous especially if he went looking for a property and encounter the same trick on almost every occasion when the market is hot !


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    Quote Originally Posted by devilplate
    u mean ur colleague said tat to the buyer? u big ROD and he big BALLS?
    I am resident ..xiao ar, u small rod and no ball

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    Quote Originally Posted by land118
    Yes, I also get that, don't where they get my contact number. kinda of irritating especially I spend substantial amount of my time overseas...wonder where they get my contact. And sometimes, at between 7-8pm, these agents even call my house number. Worst of all, just 2 weeks ago, an agent called and they even know I own certain property, asking me if I want to sell now or wait till TOP...kinda of wonder if someone is selling all these data...
    I heard from agent that caveats can 'buy' one... with all the owner contact info etc...

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    Quote Originally Posted by blackjack21trader
    An investor can get frustrated and nervous especially if he went looking for a property and encounter the same trick on almost every occasion when the market is hot !

    I still can remember the CB face of that agent... I pity that buyer if I were not one, I iwll push my ROD into his KNS mouth...and complian to CEA now...

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    Quote Originally Posted by mcmlxxvi
    I heard from agent that caveats can 'buy' one... with all the owner contact info etc...
    obviously got coy selling it....i was told the coy at TPY HUB.....isit legal to sell those info? any1 wana complain to CEA?

    i felt so naked during my first encounter when an agt called me and said ...hey, u bot this ppty at this date and at this price.....u can make this decent profit if u let go now...

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    One of the bad encounters I had with agents. There were few potential buyers for this house that I was interested in and I agreed to the original asking price but was later told unit was sold to another buyer who had offered higher but when I asked about the transaction price, agent said it was confidential.

    Few months later, I found out from the URA website that the house was transacted at a price lower than my offer.

    My friend told me agents could have accepted a pre-agreed "Ang Bao" from that buyer (in addition to the standard agent fee) to filter off all other offers and present only his offer to the seller.

    This is really too much. Not only did I feel bad for missing the opportunity to buy that house, I felt bad for the seller who missed out getting a better price.

    Such agents are disgrace and I really wonder where are their moral values?

    Overall, I have very bad impressions of property agents.

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