pink, i flip classifieds, told friends that stayed in the neighbourhood tat i'm looking at, and my dad helped me keep a lookout in the nearby neighbourhood as well. i was initially looking at in laws area and was using the agent recommended by bro-in-law. it turned out to be a horror and the agent tried to con us and got me so pissed. so end up looking at the area near my parents.
my fren's mum heard from her neighbours tat the previous owner of my current pl is selling and she helped us to fix a time to view the flat. in the end, we liked it very much and negotiated a price with the owners. we decided to do the transaction without any agent lor. it is actually quite easy to e-file with HDB. coz the more tedious doc are taken care by HDB for us.
we saved a few grand of agent fees and treat my fren's parents for a good meal instead.
one thing to note is when u call the agent listed on the classifieds, if they tell u u gota pay X% commission if the deal is done since you got no agent to represent u, u can reject. there was an article last year tat mentioned this. in the past, everyone thot must pay agent even when u flip papers and call to view the place yourself. it is actually not true.
reale flat grant = 30k
resale flat and stay near parents = 40k
sometimes, through word of mouth easier. esp if you have relatives or frens' mum who are very active in the neighbourhood, they can find out easily. coz they can find out alot of stuff such as got loan sharks or any scandal.. they can even helped to bargain the price.. whahah
my fren's parents helped us to bargain the price via the relatives of the previous owners coz they are friends.. they helped me find out about tat family and the neighbours and helped to check on condition of the flat.. heheh.
morale of the story, never look down on auntie network!!
