Estate Agents Here

[keestha]

Been wondering why so many real estate selling ads in the Phuket Gazette end with "no agents please".

Edited April 8, 2010 by keestha

[unsuredebra]

I agree with people who will do their own marketing or have done, but where do you start?

I know on a previous topic about selling property it was mentioned to someone get a website and good seo, but I do wonder how many potential buyers will approach a private sale thru a private website, after all there are so many scams around in general. Has anyone ever sold thru their own web site.

Another option that could be done, is a poster up, but I know someone who done that, only to find them disappear.

I suppose a good networking set up would be good with trusting people where people worked together to help each other to advertise or pass on any information of properties that are for sale but where do you start? people in life generally because of how life has been have lost to trust, so to find a good way to market a property is not always easy.

There is the gazette, has anyone here managed to sell thru the gazette?

Word of mouth to people you know is prob the best endoursement.

Anyone with any ideas or anyone that can tell their story of how they sold private would be a help to many prob in this forum or just those just reading.

[Kiwi/Thai]

Had my place on the market with various agents, all as useless as each other. The valuations were way out, Siam was by far the highest. The young man who came round was very nice but very young and valued it at 26mil. This was a joke considering it cost 5mil 5yrs previously. Sold it in the end for 11mil through a Thai lady who owned our local bar. Definitely word of mouth. I sold to a Thai man, it was a wee bit tricky as there had to be two sales agreements, 1 for the house and another for the land. Get a good lawyer and spread the word.

[JOESHEAD]

Sorry, but Talang is not considered "well situated", if that is where your villa (read house) is located.

Says who??

If your requirements are to be well situated for the Airport, Phuket Marina, Laguna Golf Course, and the BIS, where would be a better district to live??

As people have said doing it yourself is by far the best way. After all, who's got your own interests to heart more than you?

Websites are cheap as chips. More photos the better. Who doesn't get frustrated when looking to buy something on line, be it a car, bike or house and they've only got one or two photos. I'd rather see 30 or forty, which include the whole street from all angles. In the past I have contacted several agents asking for a Google Earth location of a property and never got a single reply. I would definitely include that, along with accurate distances to other parts of the island and attractions. With an e-mail address for direct contact to the owner, who needs to be available at the drop of a hat for viewings, you're good to go. If the house is right for someone, and they're actively looking, they will undoubtedly find it.

[cdmtdm]

Sorry, but Talang is not considered "well situated", if that is where your villa (read house) is located.

Says who??

If your requirements are to be well situated for the Airport, Phuket Marina, Laguna Golf Course, and the BIS, where would be a better district to live??

As people have said doing it yourself is by far the best way. After all, who's got your own interests to heart more than you?

Websites are cheap as chips. More photos the better. Who doesn't get frustrated when looking to buy something on line, be it a car, bike or house and they've only got one or two photos. I'd rather see 30 or forty, which include the whole street from all angles. In the past I have contacted several agents asking for a Google Earth location of a property and never got a single reply. I would definitely include that, along with accurate distances to other parts of the island and attractions. With an e-mail address for direct contact to the owner, who needs to be available at the drop of a hat for viewings, you're good to go. If the house is right for someone, and they're actively looking, they will undoubtedly find it.

Hi Joeshead and other members , in reference to websites anyone have name that can be recommended to build a website fort he purpose of house sale ???

Cheers

[Irene]

This part also rings a very true note. They will blab on about the economy etc, nothing to do with their skills as marketers being sadly lacking.

Believe self-marketing, as suggested, only way to go.

A well described situation in this thread. However, there are a few who have been pretty good in having our property rented out. (no experience in selling our property because the last one was about twenty years ago without going through an agent). We had good experience with Richard Ellis and Plus. May be because we were lucky in having their right employees.

We know that most of them are just postboxes waiting for meeting of a property owner and tenant/buyer, hardly any services rendered. But we respect their contacts because in hard time some of them come out with surprises. So, on the contrary, we have the same feeling as yours but we do respect them because it is a wide contact that we need.

[taxin]

The problem is there is little exclusive deals, and everyone from clients to sellers try to wiggle out of commissions and strike private deals, so putting real money in to marketing something that everyone also has doesnt make sense. Its just throw a wide net and see what you catch.

livinlos is absolutely correct, only the smart developers/property owners understand the importance of giving exclusivity to an agent or marketing company, this is not just in real estate sales but in rentals too.

Inexperienced property owners & developers wont give exclusivity, they would prefer to give it to 10 agents who will not spend a single baht and put any effort into it, rather than give it to 1 agent who will invest a lot of time & money in marketing the property. Owners think the more people involved the better chance you have at selling something, they simply do not understand the real concept of marketing.

You cant blame the agents, it is the developers lack of understanding when it comes to marketing that is to blame for Phuket's poor real estate industry, they are the ones providing the poor service.

Agents will not provide you with too much info in fear of the client going round you and striking a deal themselves, or they could even be another real estate agent simply copying your listing or they have a buyer themselves. The chances of an agent showing a Google map of the property are zero, unless of course they have exclusive rights to market and sell the property.

Here is a scenario, agent 1 places an add in the Phuket Gazette for a condo for sale, the owner has offered 5% to the agent with no exclusivity agreement, agent 2 has a client who is looking for the same type of property, he sees the ad in the gazette and contacts agent 1. Agent 2 asks for a commission of 5%, of course agent 1 is not able to do this, so agent 2 simply tracks the owner himself and does the deal. In the end the agent who took on the expense and effort of exposing the property is not the agent who actually gets the commission on the sale. The owner will have no way of knowing this has happened, and will not really care.

I really do feel for the real estate agents in Phuket, it must be really tough !

[evanson]

The problem is there is little exclusive deals, and everyone from clients to sellers try to wiggle out of commissions and strike private deals, so putting real money in to marketing something that everyone also has doesnt make sense. Its just throw a wide net and see what you catch.

livinlos is absolutely correct, only the smart developers/property owners understand the importance of giving exclusivity to an agent or marketing company, this is not just in real estate sales but in rentals too.

Inexperienced property owners & developers wont give exclusivity, they would prefer to give it to 10 agents who will not spend a single baht and put any effort into it, rather than give it to 1 agent who will invest a lot of time & money in marketing the property. Owners think the more people involved the better chance you have at selling something, they simply do not understand the real concept of marketing.

You cant blame the agents, it is the developers lack of understanding when it comes to marketing that is to blame for Phuket's poor real estate industry, they are the ones providing the poor service.

Agents will not provide you with too much info in fear of the client going round you and striking a deal themselves, or they could even be another real estate agent simply copying your listing or they have a buyer themselves. The chances of an agent showing a Google map of the property are zero, unless of course they have exclusive rights to market and sell the property.

Here is a scenario, agent 1 places an add in the Phuket Gazette for a condo for sale, the owner has offered 5% to the agent with no exclusivity agreement, agent 2 has a client who is looking for the same type of property, he sees the ad in the gazette and contacts agent 1. Agent 2 asks for a commission of 5%, of course agent 1 is not able to do this, so agent 2 simply tracks the owner himself and does the deal. In the end the agent who took on the expense and effort of exposing the property is not the agent who actually gets the commission on the sale. The owner will have no way of knowing this has happened, and will not really care.

I really do feel for the real estate agents in Phuket, it must be really tough !

This is complete piffle isn't it? You're trying to sidetrack the issue of the general lousy 'service' provided most, if not all, estate agents on the island by dragging in developers.

This thread is about ordinary houseowners having a very bad experience with these 'agents' and their lazy lacksidasical and in some cases, downright arrogant to the point of complacent way of doing 'business', which rarely yields satisfactory results.

Most property owners here will initially list with just one agent, that being the norm 'back home'. But after their property's been sitting on that agent's website for a year or more, they figure they might just as well list with all of them only to find that they are all indeed as useless as each other. Nothing to do with poor dears being afwaid to invest in proper marketing.

You an 'agent' then?

Edited April 9, 2010 by evanson

[taxin]

This is complete piffle isn't it? You're trying to sidetrack the issue of the general lousy 'service' provided most, if not all, estate agents on the island by dragging in developers.

This thread is about ordinary houseowners having a very bad experience with these 'agents' and their lazy lacksidasical and in some cases, downright arrogant to the point of complacent way of doing 'business', which rarely yields satisfactory results.

Most property owners here will initially list with just one agent, that being the norm 'back home'. But after their property's been sitting on that agent's website for a year or more, they figure they might just as well list with all of them only to find that they are all indeed as useless as each other. Nothing to do with poor dears being afwaid to invest in proper marketing.

You an 'agent' then?

So if you advertise your house on a real estate companies website and it doesn't sell, this means they are lousy ? Its no surprise that so many of the bigger reputable agents in Phuket no longer list low end properties, especially when there are people like you around.

And no, im not an agent. I personally think that 99% of them should be shut down as there are far too many of them. I would particularly like to see strict regulation put in place that will limit the amount of them operating.

[unsuredebra]

One of the biggest problems I find is the variation in property prices and the fact that agents will not come and give a proper valuation and will ask for photographs to be sent to them.. that is bad business and sheer laziness.

I agree with the poster above, that there should be some kind of regulation also some kind of training, anyone can become an agent.

It still comes down to agents are not really interested in re sales unless they are at the high end and big comissions, the people I have spoken to who have re sales and are just not getting anyone round is just not good.

If you 'moan' you wont get anywhere, and as a lot of people bought for investment to sell on in X amount of time, the way things are many will be stuck with properties, then we have had the financial downturn, although some agents have said its only the high end properties that are selling but the lower end are not selling due to people not being able to re mortgage in their country as a lot of custmers were those that re mortgaged or people getting a mortgage for property abroad. Another agent told me that there is a lot of hostile selling where developers are offering incentives, cutting prices to attract buyers. I have seen but not many where there is a price reduction in new builds but it is most re sales that are dropping their prices.

I have wondered whether is worth offering an incentive after all money is money.

I would love to be a fly on the wall in an estate agents office lol

[SeanPhuket]

Sorry, but Talang is not considered "well situated", if that is where your villa (read house) is located.

Hmmm, I beg to differ there

You cant blame the agents

So the sometimes 8 to 10% commission on offer by the developer doesn't ever sway the professional agents then? Plus any other hush hush incentives on offer

Also knowing the developer will have their own sales team at hand ready to present the project so the 'agent' can just sit on his/her backside and do sums in his/her head as the 'agent' is totally incapable of doing any kind of presentation or sales pitch

Ok Ok, so you cant blame the agent after all with those monies on offer can you????

But then this just makes the whole point about these cowboys!

[KarenBravo]

Sorry, but Talang is not considered "well situated", if that is where your villa (read house) is located.

Hmmm, I beg to differ there

You can beg as much as you want. Doesn't change the fact that Talang has the cheapest land prices on the island and for a very good reason. It is a long way from the southern beaches and most of the tourist attractions.

[JOESHEAD]

Sorry, but Talang is not considered "well situated", if that is where your villa (read house) is located.

Hmmm, I beg to differ there

You can beg as much as you want. Doesn't change the fact that Talang has the cheapest land prices on the island and for a very good reason. It is a long way from the southern beaches and most of the tourist attractions.

Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices. It's a subjective term. I only use one beach south of Bang tao, and even then only rarely, so being in the south wouldn't benefit me much.

You didn't answer my question. If I have a boat in the Phuket Marina, a kid at the BIS, play golf at Laguna, and my favourite beach is Nai Thon, where would be a more "well situated " place to live than Thalang??

[billythehat]

Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices. It's a subjective term. I only use one beach south of Bang tao, and even then only rarely, so being in the south wouldn't benefit me much.

You didn't answer my question. If I have a boat in the Phuket Marina, a kid at the BIS, play golf at Laguna, and my favourite beach is Nai Thon, where would be a more "well situated " place to live than Thalang??

"Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices.".....

Oh, that English sense of humour never fails to crack me up.

[JOESHEAD]

"Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices.".....

Oh, that English sense of humour never fails to crack me up.

So you couldn't answer the question either then!!

What's well situated for one person may not be for another. The words well situated make reference to the things in the surrounding area and how far away they are. What those things are will be different for different people. The things you need and want to be near, may well be situated where the land prices are low, meaning there isn't necessarily a direct connection between land prices and a well situated property.

Prove me wrong by answering my question. Given those four facts where will the house be which is best situated, if not Thalang??

[KarenBravo]

Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices.

It has nothing to do do with a single person's preference, but, the majority. The majority of tourists are in the southern part of the island, therefore, more businesses and amenities open in the southern part of the island, thus, more tourists head to the southern part of the island.

Must admit, your statement about location has nothing to do with land prices gave me the best laugh of the week, but, then again, you argue that black is white, just like a previous poster called WOOHOO (are you related?)..

It's no accident that Patong has the highest land prices on the island.

Edited April 11, 2010 by KarenBravo

[JOESHEAD]

Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices.

It has nothing to do do with a single person's preference

Must admit, your statement about location has nothing to do with land prices gave me the best laugh of the week,

It's no accident that Patong has the highest land prices on the island.

If that's the best laugh you've had all week, then may I suggest you get yourself out a bit more!

A house being well situated has nothing to do with a persons preference??

Patong has the highest land prices therefor a house in Patong is well situated for the airport, or for the BIS, or the phuket marina??

What you're saying is, land in Patong is expensive because it's well situated for the amenities of Patong, but that land isn't worth a bucket of spit if you need to be within a 5 minute drive of the airport. For that, a house in Nai Yang is much better situated yet a fraction of the cost. Weather you can get your head around it or not, one does not always go hand in hand with the other.

Still waiting for an answer to my question by the way!!

[ladyboy69]

Being "well situated" has nothing to do with land prices, yes i agree so ture in this case this is a matter of how much one can get on where one is situated would you not agree,

i would also like to add if i may, there are more expensive areas than phuket in thailand dont you know.

[KarenBravo]

JOESHEAD, if you don't understand the concept of why there are differing prices for land in different locations on the island, then, I think it is beyond me to explain it to you.

[KarenBravo]

..........also, please re-read the first line of post #46. It may give you a clue.

[WOOHOO]

It has nothing to do do with a single person's preference, but, the majority. The majority of tourists are in the southern part of the island,

The majority of tourists are in the south. So if you were a retired couple in their late 60's, would that be the best place for your house to be situated?? Or perhaps the worst?

As always 'KB' your grasp of the English language and mine are extremely different.

The words 'well situated' mean exactly what they say. Something that's in a good location in relation to other things. For you to make the decision for everybody else, what those other things are, that they are tourist related, and land price related is simply wrong.

One will often go hand in hand but they are not exclusively connected.

Like most TV posters, you never answer simple questions that are put your way, when the answer doesn't suit.

Please explain to me. If I need a house that's within a 5 minute drive to the airport, because I fly to BKK several times a week, exactly why is it a house in the south is better situated??

[KarenBravo]

Well......now that we all know that JOESHEAD is WOOHOO, I'm certain that there is absolutely no point in getting in a discussion with WOOHOO, but, I'll give it one last try.

When you say "well situated", you have to qualify well situated to what. The OP never stated.

If "well situated" is left open-ended, it usually refers to somewhere near the main tourist areas. As Thalang is not situated near the main tourist areas, it is not considered one of the more desirable areas, which is reflacted in the land prices in that part of the island.

If the OP means well situated (as in close) to the airport, or, a myriad of smelly shrimp-farms, I would agree with him.

Last post on that subject.

Edited April 12, 2010 by KarenBravo

[steelepulse]

>>now that we all know that JOESHEAD is WOOHOO

LOL.

In defense of the the above dual identity poster, there is a difference between "well situated" and "prime".

[evanson]

Well......now that we all know that JOESHEAD is WOOHOO, I'm certain that there is absolutely no point in getting in a discussion with WOOHOO, but, I'll give it one last try.

When you say "well situated", you have to qualify well situated to what. The OP never stated.

If "well situated" is left open-ended, it usually refers to somewhere near the main tourist areas. As Thalang is not situated near the main tourist areas, it is not considered one of the more desirable areas, which is reflacted in the land prices in that part of the island.

If the OP means well situated (as in close) to the airport, or, a myriad of smelly shrimp-farms, I would agree with him.

Last post on that subject.

'The 'OP' never stated' what exactly?

This thread was about the general incompetence of those who call themselves 'estate agents' here, nothing to do with what would be considered a 'well situated' property

I think this thread (running to 3 pages) has done rather better than the last one. However, it really rather ran it's course around half a dozen or so posts ago, dontchathink? Time to stop flogging this dead horse.

But of course if the two or three, is it? remaining bickerers wish to carry on, please feel free to open your own thread on what is, or what isn't a 'well located' property.

Edited April 12, 2010 by evanson

[unsuredebra]

Good Morning..

I got chatting to the man about problems with agents.

He said he was getting together a web site for freelance and going to concentrate on the re sale area as he felt there is a market for this due to the lack of interest from agents, he mentioned his experience with agents.. I also mentioned Thai Visa and people were talking also about problems with agents.

He said he had been looking at the re sale market for some time and believes there is a market for his services and he is working with a SEO to get the site optimised.

I asked who had the most problem selling as in area and price range. He said from what has discovered to date, that the lower end market is where agents are not wanting to push property, the higher end there was not really much of a problem. He also felt that agents would prefer to sell in the area that they are working rather than go out to either south to north or north to south.

He also mentioned that a lot of foreigners do buy a basic Thai house be it on a project or on a road, some he said buy thinking they will make quick money others he said are just people wanting a small house as they have family over there and dont want to lash out a lot of money that this type of house is capped to how much it will go. He also mentioned how people buy and have not took on of what taxes one has to pay on selling, quite an interesting chat.

I gave him my phone number so that when his site is live he will contact me, and if anyone is interested once I hear from him I can pass on the site.. please pm me if you would like me to send the link when I hear, every thing helps and it does not hurt trying someone else when all else fails.

[steelepulse]

>>He also mentioned that a lot of foreigners do buy a basic Thai house be it on a project or on a road, some he said buy thinking they will make quick money others he said are just people wanting a small house as they have family over there and dont want to lash out a lot of money that this type of house is capped to how much it will go. He also mentioned how people buy and have not took on of what taxes one has to pay on selling, quite an interesting chat.

Probably true in most parts of Thailand, but in Phuket this is not the case. I don't know of anyone buying basic houses or shophouses here as opposed to most other parts of Thailand.

Back on topic, Ranking for "phuket property" "phuket real estate" "phuket immobiler"will be very hard for your friend with a new site to rank for, but good luck to him/her.

[katabeachbum]

>>He also mentioned that a lot of foreigners do buy a basic Thai house be it on a project or on a road, some he said buy thinking they will make quick money others he said are just people wanting a small house as they have family over there and dont want to lash out a lot of money that this type of house is capped to how much it will go. He also mentioned how people buy and have not took on of what taxes one has to pay on selling, quite an interesting chat.

Probably true in most parts of Thailand, but in Phuket this is not the case. I don't know of anyone buying basic houses or shophouses here as opposed to most other parts of Thailand.

Bungalows in Phuket Villa, Patak Villa, less than 2 mill. Detached just over a million. Bungalows Land & House Park 2,4 million.

Dont understand what "not took on of what taxes has to pay on selling" means, but taxes must be payed when transfering to new owner

[Old Croc]

Bungalows in Phuket Villa, Patak Villa, less than 2 mill. Detached just over a million. Bungalows Land & House Park 2,4 million.

Do the detached bungalows come under the 49% foreign owned rules?

[katabeachbum]

Bungalows in Phuket Villa, Patak Villa, less than 2 mill. Detached just over a million. Bungalows Land & House Park 2,4 million.

Do the detached bungalows come under the 49% foreign owned rules?

only place in Phuket I know about having detached homes according to Condominium act and thereby allowed farang freehold, is Boat Lagoon. Upmarket pricing though

[Old Croc]

only place in Phuket I know about having detached homes according to Condominium act and thereby allowed farang freehold, is Boat Lagoon. Upmarket pricing though

OK thanks mate.