To Sell Using A Real Estate Agent, And Pay 3%

[trogers]

Selling a landed property faces more hurdles than and a freehold condo when you want to target foreign buyers.

What is a "Landed Property" please?

A real estate asset in which the ownership title shows ownership of a piece of land and the structures built on it.

[tangoll]

I am only talking about condo units, and have dealt with several real estate agents in Bangkok. I have sold 2 condo units direct to buyers thru prakard.com, and have sold two units via an agent (same one on both deals). An agent in this market who can find and close a deal with a buyer is worth his/her weight in gold, assuming your property is reasonably priced for its location and value. Any agent can help you buy, but precious few can help you close a deal as a seller. On the first deal, I paid the agent 1.5% commission, and on the second deal, just completed two days ago, I consented to pay the agent 2.5% commission. In Bangkok condo sales, most deals with agents are on non-exclusive basis and most don't even sign any agency agreement with you, and upon a sale, you as seller can always negotiate how much the commission is. The big agencies, like CBRE, insist on 3% + VAT, but all the actual agents from CBRE that I have dealt with haven't come up with any solid deals or even offers. Same with Jones Lang Lasalle.

You have to find the agent that is a real hustler, but most are not, and only sit around hoping a buyer somehow shows up on his/her doorstep.

As a buyer, I will only deal direct or thru the agent who has sold something for me.

[haveaniceday]

In Post #5 CM Bruce said anyone can call them selves agents in Thailand or something like that, Is there any license one should ask to see?

CM Bruce seems to be more than on the ball on these things, I am just wondering is a farlang can (work permit permitting) be a estate agent?

[maccaroni man]

on all my land sales (many) I have done my own signs and waited for a buyer, when an agent called I told them what I wanted to net and told them to get as much as they wanted over my net amount and i would also pay the 3%. IMHO this is a great deal for the agent/seller and a good carrot for the hard working seller, sadly very few of these types around. my last sale i got my set price and the agent picked up 500k over plus the 3%. My wife was blown away and thought the agent got too much, I was thrilled I had a 4x mark up on my investment and everyone won.

[dave111223]

I think a lot also depends on the agency you plan to use.

When I bought our condo the sellers agent was absolutely crap; after making an offer and having it accepted we had to call the agent back 3 or 4 times over the next 3 weeks just to try and get the ball moving on the sale.

They seemed to have absolutely no interest in selling the property. I can only imagine how pissed i'd be to pay someone like that 3% to sell my property.

However i was later in the market for a townhouse and we looked at one which was listed through ERA agency. The agent was extremely helpful (we called and had a viewing later that day). The guy said they would also help to get bank financing for us (which i can imagine would be very useful considering what a pain it was getting a loan on our own).

We didn't buy the property but he definitely had us close to buying an otherwise crap townhouse. He'd be well worth 3%.

[dave111223]

Duplicate post

Edited May 11, 2011 by dave111223