Give me your impression

[Susco]

I have a house for sale, in which I live, for few years already. Asking price is 8 million, and it has recently appraised for a mortgage by 2 different banks. BB appraised 10.3 million and SCB 11.5 million.

This morning I receive a call from a lady who previously was interested in the house, but could secure a mortgage.

She asks me if the house is still for sale, and when I answer positive, she says she now works for a real estate agency. One of the bigger ones in the Pattaya area.

 

She asks if she has a client if she can sell it, and if I agree to pay 5% commission.

 

My answer is that I can agree with 3% only, and only serious candidates are considered.

 

Less than an hour later, at 11am, she calls me again and says she agrees with the 3% and ask if she can come around with a customer at 1.30pm

 

I reply to her that this is impossible, as I want few days to give the house a complete clean up before I show to a potential buyer, and ask how she was able to find a SERIOUS candidate in less than an hour.

 

The story I'm told is that the candidate is a cash buyer and had given a deposit on a house in this area, but that the seller has pulled out of the deal.

 

The candidate was straight away seriously interested in my house, after seeing nothing more than some pictures.

 

So I told the agent that I need till Monday to get everything tidy as I'm busy, and also asked her by email to confirm that the potential buyer will be present on Monday, because I will not starting to clean before that and without the buyer they will not be allowed entrance.

 

The agent by coincidence fails to confirm that little question in her next email, in which she asks for a copy of the title deed and description of the house.

 

All this gives me a feeling that I'm wasting my time, and should just ignore all this, but I would like to hear from more experienced members if my feeling is right or wrong.

 

Before the trolls jump in, my property is large and if a buyer comes around I want it to be speckless clean, so it is not a matter of going with a mop over the floor.

[timendres]

Requesting the three days to sort the place is perfectly reasonable, unless there is a very special circumstance that prevents the buyer from waiting. Likewise, the request by the agent for a copy of the title deed seems reasonable from the point of view of ensuring the deal is possible - maybe that is related to why the previous deal fell apart. Insisting that the buyer be present is fine, as a way to ensure the agent has a real client, and is not working with ulterior motives. Since you find yourself in what I would think is a difficult market, I would do my best to accommodate any agent bringing legitimate and qualified buyers.

[Susco]

The reason I feel not comfortable with this is, if you go to the bakery shop for a brown bread, and they don't have any however you paid for it already, I can understand that you agree to have a white one.

 

If you paid a deposit on a 8 million Baht house, and the seller defaults on the deal, I have a difficulty to believe that you say, oh yeah then give me that one after only seeing a few pictures.

[Susco]

Just now, timendres said:

Requesting the three days to sort the place is perfectly reasonable, unless there is a very special circumstance that prevents the buyer from waiting. Likewise, the request by the agent for a copy of the title deed seems reasonable from the point of view of ensuring the deal is possible - maybe that is related to why the previous deal fell apart. Insisting that the buyer be present is fine, as a way to ensure the agent has a real client, and is not working with ulterior motives. Since you find yourself in what I would think is a difficult market, I would do my best to accommodate any agent bringing legitimate and qualified buyers.

Please look at post #3.

 

I know it is a difficult market, but I'm not desperate to sell, especially if I leave here I will have to find something else, and given the comfort I have enjoyed for 10 years, I know that gonna be diffficult

[Susco]

3 minutes ago, timendres said:

Insisting that the buyer be present is fine, as a way to ensure the agent has a real client, and is not working with ulterior motives.

That is my biggest concern, that I gonna waste time and money to get everything sorted, and they are just desperate for not returning the deposit and want to show the client 20 houses in a short time

[timendres]

14 minutes ago, Susco said:

That is my biggest concern, that I gonna waste time and money to get everything sorted, and they are just desperate for not returning the deposit and want to show the client 20 houses in a short time

A valid concern.

 

20 minutes ago, Susco said:

If you paid a deposit on a 8 million Baht house, and the seller defaults on the deal, I have a difficulty to believe that you say, oh yeah then give me that one after only seeing a few pictures.

That definitely depends on the buyer. Your trepidation is logical, but I have seen similar cases in other markets. In one case, the buyer needed their kids in a school district before the school year started. In another case, the buyer had already sold their home, and was feeling pressure to locate a new place. This is yet another reason to insist the buyer is present, giving you a chance to size them up.

[Airalee]

If I was serious about selling my house, it would be kept immaculately clean 24/7 until it sold.  Yes...it might be a hassle and a bit of an inconvenience, but when a potential buyer is presented, I would want to say “bring them on over” at the drop of a hat.   

[richard_smith237]

Most of the agents are a waste of space. 

 

I recall getting a call from an agent to book a viewing. 

My wife and I change our plans and ensure we are available. 

 

The agent brings round a family of 5 for a 2 bedroomed Condo....  the look of ‘<deleted>’ on the potential buyers face was obvious. 

I was pi$$ed off with the agent for wasting my time. 

 

All the agents seem to do is get as many properties on their books for as little work as possible. 

They ask for more commission, or to be the sole agent.

 

When renting they have taken me to completely unreasonable apartments and houses.

 

I’m sure there are good agents out there, but they are outnumbered by those who are utterly useless. 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

11 minutes ago, Airalee said:

If I was serious about selling my house, it would be kept immaculately clean 24/7 until it sold.  Yes...it might be a hassle and a bit of an inconvenience, but when a potential buyer is presented, I would want to say “bring them on over” at the drop of a hat.   

 

It took 2 years to sell our previous condo. It still has to be lived in and cannot be kept in ‘showroom’ condition all the time while living in it regardless of how many times a maid comes to clean. 

[torturedsole]

42 minutes ago, Airalee said:

If I was serious about selling my house, it would be kept immaculately clean 24/7 until it sold.  Yes...it might be a hassle and a bit of an inconvenience, but when a potential buyer is presented, I would want to say “bring them on over” at the drop of a hat.   

Three days to clean up and potential cash customer has got bored and looked elsewhere.  Hard to predict the agent's intentions but retain an open mind and open door.  

 

What sort of message does taking three days to clean up provide the potential purchaser?  

 

 

[Matzzon]

Seems to to me that you post that she was personally interested in the house before. Now she comes back and says she work for one of the biggest real estate agents. The first thing I would do is to check the legitimacy of that.

Everything else that you want to do sounds okay before any buyer comes, but you would have the place clean all the time if you really want to sell and catch the buyers.

The request of deed and other documents is ok as long as the legitimacy check turns out positive.

[BritManToo]

12 hours ago, Susco said:

I reply to her that this is impossible, as I want few days to give the house a complete clean up before I show to a potential buyer, and ask how she was able to find a SERIOUS candidate in less than an hour.

If I were a buyer, I'd give your house a miss on the viewings as you're clearly a problem seller.

[Susco]

11 minutes ago, Matzzon said:

Seems to to me that you post that she was personally interested in the house before. Now she comes back and says she work for one of the biggest real estate agents. The first thing I would do is to check the legitimacy of that.

Everything else that you want to do sounds okay before any buyer comes, but you would have the place clean all the time if you really want to sell and catch the buyers.

The request of deed and other documents is ok as long as the legitimacy check turns out positive.

She emails from company email, so I guess that proves her legitimacy.

 

If you are single, living in a 350sqm property, with separate unoccupied maids quarters, a pool and other amenities and 850sqm of gardens, it is not always possible to keep everything spotless all the time. Especially if you also run a business and interested people show up at a ratio of 3-4 a year.

 

In such a property there are also always small things to fix, like for example a pool light that doesn't work or gutter that has overflow during heavy rain and made small damage to the ceiling.

 

These are all small thing that don't bother me or hinder me living here, but they have to be fixed when a buyer shows up, and this takes time as I have to do it between other things.

 

Today for example is the weekly lawn cutting and garden cleaning, which sets me back more than half a day, and so it goes on

[Susco]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If I were a buyer, I'd give your house a miss on the viewings as you're clearly a problem seller.

If I was a moderator I would give your post a miss and remove it, as you are clearly an idiot and problem maker.

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, Susco said:

If I was a moderator I would give your post a miss and remove it, as you are clearly an idiot.

You asked for my impression, I gave it, and it's still the same.

You'll never sell your house, because no buyer will put up with you giving them the run-around.

 

PS.

I may be an idiot, but I'm not an idiot with a 10Mbht house I can't sell.

[ianezy0]

8 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

If I were a buyer, I'd give your house a miss on the viewings as you're clearly a problem seller.

Agree. Don’t place a property on the market until you are ready to sell.

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You asked for my impression, I gave it, and it's still the same.

You'll never sell your house, because no buyer will put up with you giving them the run-around.

Probably comprehensive reading was not your favourite subject at school, if you ever attended a school, otherwise you would have understood that my question was not in regard to my house.

 

It was to know if the agent has a serious buyer, or just want to get here with an excuse, to try make me sign an agreement.

[EVENKEEL]

10 minutes ago, Susco said:

If I was a moderator I would give your post a miss and remove it, as you are clearly an idiot and problem maker.

Get over yourself, you're not a moderator, you're someone selling a residence in need of TLC. If you were serious about selling and wanted max price you'd already have all this fixed.

[Andy from Kent]

17 minutes ago, Susco said:

She emails from company email, so I guess that proves her legitimacy.

 

If you are single, living in a 350sqm property, with separate unoccupied maids quarters, a pool and other amenities and 850sqm of gardens, it is not always possible to keep everything spotless all the time. Especially if you also run a business and interested people show up at a ratio of 3-4 a year.

 

In such a property there are also always small things to fix, like for example a pool light that doesn't work or gutter that has overflow during heavy rain and made small damage to the ceiling.

 

These are all small thing that don't bother me or hinder me living here, but they have to be fixed when a buyer shows up, and this takes time as I have to do it between other things.

 

Today for example is the weekly lawn cutting and garden cleaning, which sets me back more than half a day, and so it goes on

 

Why don't you use the time you spend on your computer and fix the things that need fixing?

[MJKT2014]

12 hours ago, Susco said:

my property is large and if a buyer comes around I want it to be speckless clean, so it is not a matter of going with a mop over the floor.

I wouldn't worry about 'speckless clean' or you'll be forever cleaning whilst waiting for that elusive serious buyer. Sod them, if they are serious serious buyers can fix the broken bits and dirty places themselves, or you can once a substantial deposit is made, otherwise just enjoy living there yourself.

[Logosone]

You're not going to get a guarantee from the agent or the buyer that the buyer is a serious buyer.

 

It certainly happened that a buyer can not proceed with a purchase. Happened to me with a property, the buyer just changed his mind so the sale was off. I then indeed had to quickly find another property.

 

I've recently sold a house and I did so within 5 weeks because of the excellent agent and because I set a competitive price. However, even though the house was amazing and there was plenty of interest, about 9 viewings, only one of those turned out to be serious and able to proceed. So you will always have plenty of clear-ups that are for nothing and yes it's very annoying. Small price to pay for a large sum of money.

 

I would only go with an agent that you like and that is trustworthy because he's a proven quality agent. That's the key. They'll have plenty of buyers on the books and if your house is good and well priced it should sell, though with Covid it's a different situation now.

 

So this is a time you really have to dance with the agent and buyer, and even if it can be annoying you have to think of the money you'll be getting. 

 

 

[Rimmer]

A troll post with rather nasty speculation has been removed.

 

Topic is also closed as per request from the OP