DIY sell my HDB flat. Good idea?

WaUmZai

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Agents are unnecessary. At least not at the price they charge.
It should be a fixed rate of a few hundred dollars.
A few thousands to tens of thousands is :s22:

Their job involves scouting for places and paperwork. Don't see how that is worth few thousands per deal.

They are necesary for those big bosses who no time to sell their million dollar assets.
Maybe for transact of hdb they should charge a standard rate since its DIYable.
 

WaUmZai

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HDB does not need agents to sell BTOs but
private developers need them . :s11:

It was only early last year when some kumgong developers raised the commissions of the property agents for them to push the leftovers.
The developers rather not to lower the price &
make the buyers happier.

Many developers of new private projects
should market themselves directly rather to pay these agents & get cut in their profit .
:o :o


Maybe bto are much affordable thats why easy to sell, not much advertise required.

For private development only attracts small pool of loaded buyers maybe thats why engage agent easier for them to push their property.

Sorry to say this, u seems agitated by it. Buyer no need to pay commission to agent for buying new EC & new Condos de.. Developer settle with them.

Or u meant such cost eventually added on to buyer thats why they price so high?
 

punkster

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hi TS, any update? I'm also thinking of doing DIY, do share your experience!
 

fotoudavid

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i engage an agent to sell my jumbo, as i felt some times it's better to let agent handle instead. Imagine while working few calls comes in:s13:

But less then a week only my unit on the market, so see how's the results go, if one month still there i shall engage more agents:s13:
 

damianuuu

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i engage an agent to sell my jumbo, as i felt some times it's better to let agent handle instead. Imagine while working few calls comes in:s13:

But less then a week only my unit on the market, so see how's the results go, if one month still there i shall engage more agents:s13:

When i diy sell my hdb, i bought another prepaid sim card. Once sold i threw away the sim card haha..
 

flatsale123

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Theoretically should be easy to sell DIY. Especially Central area. But online clicks at free sites very few. 3 months still no buyer. Nobody said my price expensive. Yet I talked to agent & he advised lowering to below last selling price for same floor area that was sold. Agent just want to sell. Don't care if unfair price. DIY buyers must contact sellers directly. Don't use agents. Why let agents earn so much like they are so indispensable?
 

Hyruga

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Theoretically should be easy to sell DIY. Especially Central area. But online clicks at free sites very few. 3 months still no buyer. Nobody said my price expensive. Yet I talked to agent & he advised lowering to below last selling price for same floor area that was sold. Agent just want to sell. Don't care if unfair price. DIY buyers must contact sellers directly. Don't use agents. Why let agents earn so much like they are so indispensable?
The selling agents will share with the buyer's agent 50% 50% usually. If you don't get buyer's agent, then the selling agent will take 100%.

Buyer's agents are usually struggling agents but the selling agents usually have a lot to sell.
 

kiatme

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Theoretically should be easy to sell DIY. Especially Central area. But online clicks at free sites very few. 3 months still no buyer. Nobody said my price expensive. Yet I talked to agent & he advised lowering to below last selling price for same floor area that was sold. Agent just want to sell. Don't care if unfair price. DIY buyers must contact sellers directly. Don't use agents. Why let agents earn so much like they are so indispensable?

If you used agent, you probably have had your unit sold long ago (if the unit is as prime as you mentioned).

Not indispensable, just like you can DIY design and build your home, why want to hire ID? You're paying for a service, that's all.
 

Hyruga

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Theoretically should be easy to sell DIY. Especially Central area. But online clicks at free sites very few. 3 months still no buyer. Nobody said my price expensive. Yet I talked to agent & he advised lowering to below last selling price for same floor area that was sold. Agent just want to sell. Don't care if unfair price. DIY buyers must contact sellers directly. Don't use agents. Why let agents earn so much like they are so indispensable?
Easy to sell 10k lower without proper marketing and negotiation.
 

Vkrishnan

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Wonder why u said that. Are u an agent?
Definite i will share.
Everything start from tough & thats life.
Now i juz need contact.

Got new one called Propxy (propxy.com) offering 0% and they will help list on PropertyGuru, 99.co all.
 

RMCWMR

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Agents are unnecessary. At least not at the price they charge.
It should be a fixed rate of a few hundred dollars.
A few thousands to tens of thousands is :s22:

Their job involves scouting for places and paperwork. Don't see how that is worth few thousands per deal.

Not really. Their job is to also filter out all those no intention to buy ones, look see look see ones, or those make appoitment then aeroplane ones. Tgey also help to do the sales talk and negotiating. Buyers sure lowball 9696 while sellers want as high as possible. So they act as a third party making both expectation meet in order for a sale to happen. Then they also help with admin side of things dealing with lawyers, sellers and buyers.

So unless you have alot of time, patience and contacts better get agents.
 

Manasa62

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hi TS, any update? I'm also thinking of doing DIY, do share your experience!
Here's how I see whether you can DIY or not:



1. Paperwork - It's possible to learn what to do and how with some time investment. If you don't have the time, don't DIY.
2. Price your property - here's where it gets a bit tricky. There should be 5 different things to do before pricing. (i) Look at online valuations (ii) look at past transactions, (iii) comparable blocks, (iv) other listings, (v) condition of unit. For the owner, it a bit hard to dissociate themselves from the issues in the house. Eg: original condition unit cannot always market for same price as extremely renovated unit. But owners may not know how to price it differently from the average, and will find it harder to adjust the price based on certain circumstances (eg: it's been 6 months and only 2 enquiries - will they be able to drop the price? Do they know how to do those 5 steps?)
3. Negotiations - several enquirers start with low ball offers and point out defects in the unit. You need to be able to be strong and logical here, and not allow emotions to seep in. If you can do that, go ahead and DIY.
4. Exposure - this is the biggest factor. PropertyGuru, 99.co, SRX, iProperty -> these sites have the highest buyer eyeballs. All only allow agents to advertise. Without exposure on these sites, it will be very slow/hard to find a buyer on other sources. If you have the time, it's ok. If you don't, get an agent.
5. Paperwork for buyers - sometimes the buyer you find may not know what they're doing either, which could cause the deal to fall through. Agents can, even if it's not in their "scope", advise them enough to get the deal to go through.
6. Agent commission - $0 if DIY, 2% on regular market, 1% with Propseller.

Having said all this, I completely understand that incompetent agents are worse than DIY.

You should try Propseller if you're considering getting a good and competent agent.
They do all the steps above, they do it well and you'll get a free valuation report first before you have to decide if you want to engage them, so at least you get something out of it if you eventually wanna DIY.
 
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microtek

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If buyer wanna do viewing when you're at work and you don't have anybody to open the door for them you may lose a potential buyer. Agents are there to help you to do all the in between boring viewings when you're trying to sell your flat. Imagine you took leave from work then the buyer MIA during the viewing? Some money you just can't save. But you do have to find a good agent instead of a crappy agent as it really makes a lot of difference.
 

cscs3

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If buyer wanna do viewing when you're at work and you don't have anybody to open the door for them you may lose a potential buyer. Agents are there to help you to do all the in between boring viewings when you're trying to sell your flat. Imagine you took leave from work then the buyer MIA during the viewing? Some money you just can't save. But you do have to find a good agent instead of a crappy agent as it really makes a lot of difference.

You can always arrange an agreeable time. Even you go thru agent. Agent also need to do the same unless you agent has no other case to handle.

Always, DIY is best and you save the commission. Either seller make more or benefit the buyer. No other hands in between.
 

microtek

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You can always arrange an agreeable time. Even you go thru agent. Agent also need to do the same unless you agent has no other case to handle.

Always, DIY is best and you save the commission. Either seller make more or benefit the buyer. No other hands in between.

When buyers realise that you have no agent, they may use it as an excuse to push your price down a bit more since they know you're saving on the commission. At the end of the day, to each his own. I have a very competent agent whom I gladly pay his commission because he has helped me a lot with regards to my property matters.
 

henrylbh

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Seller's commission is a huge amount to want to save. In most cases, it's more than your one month's salary for working 9 to 5 and Mon to Sat.

But the biggest hurdle in DIY is reaching out to all potential buyers.

As for HDB paper works, it very easy for seller but not so for buyer. If your buyer blur without agent, then there may setback or derailment.
 

JuniorLion

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1-2% of the price is huge. I would definitely advocate DIY. What's there to lose, unless you're in a hurry to dispose of the property.
 

henrylbh

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DIY? Where to find potential buyers?

Without access to those popular advertising sites, one will take almost forever to find a buyer. DIY buyer like me only search property guru and very seldom other sites or newspapers. My last 3 DIY purchases all through property guru.

And my sales were through agents and sold within 2 weeks, the last being in Jan 2019. I am very satisfied with the last sale as the price may be the bench mark for other sellers :s13:
 
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