Advice requested

[soloseaview]

I have a 4 bedroom house located near the Mapprachan reservoir in East Pattaya and I would like to place it on the market for sale. Can anybody recommend a good, proactive estate agent that I can place the property with. Also, should I just stick to one agent or place it with more than one and what should the rate of commission be.  

[petermik]

Plenty of free advertising on the internet.....have you considered this?

[newnative]

     With no MLS, I would list it with as many agencies as you can--starting with the biggest agencies and the ones closest to your home. Include good photos, description, contact/viewing  information, pricing, financing options, if any.  You can also list it yourself on sites such as Hipflat and Craigslist.  Commission is usually 5% with agencies, can sometimes be less with individual agents.

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, newnative said:

Commission is usually 5% with agencies, can sometimes be less with individual agents.

They may ask for that but it is entirely negotiable. I would never pay an agent that much anywhere.

[newnative]

8 hours ago, KittenKong said:

They may ask for that but it is entirely negotiable. I would never pay an agent that much anywhere.

     That sounds good on paper but in the real World things can sometimes be different.  If you only have one property and you have all the time in the World to sell you may be able to pay less than 5%.  Also, if you know some independent Thai agents they will often take less.  

     However, in selling 15 condos in the last 8 years, mostly through agencies, and mostly fairly fast, we have paid the 5% to get the condos sold, and all at a profit.  In a few cases we did use Thai independent agents and paid around 2 to 3%.  8 years later, there are a lot more projects and units chasing a limited number of buyers.

     Certainly, you can try to pay less but why  would an agent take a client to your property, where he will earn, say, 3%, when the guy next door is paying 5% with his listed property?  Unless the client asks to see your particular property, unlikely with no MLS, the agent probably isn't going to show your property, or even let the client know it's for sale. Why would he?

    With one condo we owned in a very large project with many units, we were finding that agents weren't showing our condo because it was on the market for less than 2.5MB; so, a small commission.  If they had a client, they took them to nearby new projects in the same price range that were paying 7% and more to agents.  So, to get them to show our unit, not only did we pay 5% but we also threw in an agent bonus.  You do what you have to do to get the buyer in the door.

[KittenKong]

50 minutes ago, newnative said:

With one condo we owned in a very large project with many units, we were finding that agents weren't showing our condo because it was on the market for less than 2.5MB; so, a small commission.  If they had a client, they took them to nearby new projects in the same price range that were paying 7% and more to agents.  So, to get them to show our unit, not only did we pay 5% but we also threw in an agent bonus.  You do what you have to do to get the buyer in the door.

That could be a never-ending spiral. I think I would be more inclined to give the property to some Thai agents at 2% and also do a lot of marketing myself.

I have been seriously unimpressed by the level of competence displayed by farang agencies here, in fact the phrase "complete bunch of ignorant and dishonest losers" springs to mind. They simply don't deserve such ridiculously high commissions for the nothing that they do.

[newnative]

2 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

That could be a never-ending spiral. I think I would be more inclined to give the property to some Thai agents at 2% and also do a lot of marketing myself.

I have been seriously unimpressed by the level of competence displayed by farang agencies here, in fact the phrase "complete bunch of ignorant and dishonest losers" springs to mind. They simply don't deserve such ridiculously high commissions for the nothing that they do.

   Certainly, if you know some Thai agents working for 2% by all means give them the listing.  But, in our experience it pays to be listed everywhere, including agencies charging 5%, because you have no idea which agency a buyer will choose to use.  With no MLS, you have to be listed with each agency for the agencies to even know your unit is for sale--that's half the battle. 

     There are a staggering number of projects in Pattaya now; long gone are the days of View Talay 1 thru 8 and not much else.  Even if you have the best unit in a project, which we usually do, it can be a challenge just to get a buyer through the door.  We try to keep all our options open to give ourselves the best chance at a sale.