I am still attending the agent course. Initially I was lured by the lucrative commission that an agent could get. After attending the course, my personal view is that it is not as easy to be an agent. I don;t think I am suitable to be an agent becos I am too softhearted and don't know the game rule well. Agent needs to know the market trend , rules n regulation, be knowlegeable and good negotiator so as to add vaule to their customers and not just be a middleman. Though agent get a 2% comm from seller, but think of the high advertising fee they've spent to market a flat, this could have come up to as much as $1000 for one transaction. If the house was not sold within the exclusive period, all their effort n money would go down the drain. Many times, they have to serve many buyers before they could get a genuine offer. People tend to see at the beautiful side of everything. As a buyer's agent, they need to gather info and searching for a hse that meet their customer's requirement and customers are getting demanding. The searching process is not easy either, you have to do lots of following up, callings and gathering of info and travelling. Likewise, an agent may bring a buyer to see many hses before a buyer decides on one and if u are unlucky, after serving many rounds, and buyer decide to buy from another agent. Base on the current booming market, its the seller's world. Thus, buyer will have lesser bargaining power. But HDB just annouced that more new flats will be out in the mkt today, thus this will mellow the resale prices. One can don't engage an agent unless u can get a direct seller who also don't use an agent. So both parties don't have to pay the commission. If the seller has engaged an agent to do the transaction, buyer will still need to pay agent a commission. But this is not a must, u can negotiate for a lower one. However,agent will choose to serve buyer who is willing to pay a comm. Its a demand and supply game rule. Thus, this will prolong yr searching process. My suggestion is u can advertise on the paper yrself to look for seller who also does not want to engage an agent.
2 2cents of thoughts
