Do I need an agent to by resale HDB?

[ahyeo]

While it is possible to diy and do the paperwork on your own to buy a resale HDB, does it make sense to engage an agent to help you source for a flat?

Was told that the agent can help to negotiate for a better deal, and when there are multiple offers, the agent can help to clinch the deal should all buyers offer the same price.

It just doesn't make sense. Seller agent promise to sell as high as possible, buyer agent promise to negotiate as much as possible. Someone has to give in eventually.

So as a DIY buyer, how do u ensure that u are not paying too much COV and how do u stand out among all the other buyers while ensuring that u are not over paying?

 

[Kunkka]

Tiagong go carousell find for sale by owner.

 

[ahyeo]

Carousell also a lot of seller agents.

 

[Evil_Boss]

u deal with the seller agent thats all u dont need to pay what

 

[zzzzzzz]

i buyed reasle without agents

 

[virtualape]

I bought and nego with seller agent. Sell wise get an agent. Let them do the marketing. Diy also can. I treat the comm paid as for the buy and sell transaction.

 

[Spike]

Better deal is subjective.. a good one will try to get u a better deal, a bad one will focus on closing the deal fast with the highest commission.

 

[ahyeo]

i buyed reasle without agents

But how u negotiate from the listed price? How do u know much how to offer without looking like a carousell low baller?

 

[zzzzzzz]

But how u negotiate from the listed price? How do u know much how to offer without looking like a carousell low baller?

check recent transacted prices using hdb website
check the usual property portals for similar listing price - anyway u would also likely have viewed similar units in the area and would roughly know the asking price
offered the best price i was willing to pay based on the circumstances and hope for the best

 

[Edixfan]

Even if you have agent, how do u ensure your agent will act in your best interest? U quickly buy, agent finish job earlier collect comm earlier.

For selling, you can at least set a minimum selling price. So your agent has to work hard to achieve it

 

[buttbERry]

seller will use agent

so still have to deal with agent

 

[ahyeo]

There are instances where the agent will tell u that he/she received many offers. How do u know if he is telling the truth? He could be just trying to create false impression to try create panic buying.

I presume is a blind bid where u don't know what others are offering so u just hope that u have the highest offer?

Do ppl actually pay more than the listed price?

 

[PiKa]

The best price is the price that you are willing to pay for and got the deal .

 

[PiKa]

There are instances where the agent will tell u that he/she received many offers. How do u know if he is telling the truth? He could be just trying to create false impression to try create panic buying.

I presume is a blind bid where u don't know what others are offering so u just hope that u have the highest offer?

Do ppl actually pay more than the listed price?

Yes. Of cos there is ppl who pay more.
For various reasons.
Like they don't want to wait for the dingdong (price neg) and get the OTP done.
Or they see the true value of the unit more than the other buyers, thus willing to pay more

 

[RandomPancake]

Buy no need agent la, recently bought mine, the transacted price > 90% of the past transaction, hdb also just match the price, no need pay cov.

Price still expensive without cov, but current day not much choice, everywhere also expensive, can only blame own self born too late

 

[ahyeo]

Even if you have agent, how do u ensure your agent will act in your best interest? U quickly buy, agent finish job earlier collect comm earlier.

For selling, you can at least set a minimum selling price. So your agent has to work hard to achieve it

Exactly. Buyer agent just wants to quickly close deal. There is no incentive for agent to help u negotiate. Agent gets 1% commission. U pay more for the flat, he gets higher commission. So why should agent help u to negotiate? He should make sure u pay more to buy. Or am I getting something wrong here?

 

[mooseolly]

Unless you very familiar with the market value, sometimes it can be very hard to decide quickly when you want the unit before other snatches it if it is a good deal.

 

[Tony.Manero]

While it is possible to diy and do the paperwork on your own to buy a resale HDB, does it make sense to engage an agent to help you source for a flat?

Was told that the agent can help to negotiate for a better deal, and when there are multiple offers, the agent can help to clinch the deal should all buyers offer the same price.

It just doesn't make sense. Seller agent promise to sell as high as possible, buyer agent promise to negotiate as much as possible. Someone has to give in eventually.

So as a DIY buyer, how do u ensure that u are not paying too much COV and how do u stand out among all the other buyers while ensuring that u are not over paying?

You don't need agent. Just browse listing and choose. Then go negotiate with seller agent. Pretend he is caipng jhk and bargain down to the last dao geh

 

[Resilas]

I bought resale unit without agent.
Almost hire an agent, but turned out the agent only gave me listing from property guru, which I could do by myself.
A friend bought a resale unit and got an agent to help with price nego, but turned out the agent was more like a messenger, didn't really nego on my friends' behalf.
Because of that, I decided to diy.
Checked hdb last transaction price and srx to get some idea. But I was lucky, seller did not ask for exorbitant price, so I didn't nego too much, didn't want to lowball them.

Btw, even if your budget is a little lower than seller's closing price, but if you have flexibility for the timing, seller's agent may try to meet you budget because they want to close asap. That's what happened to me once because seller need longer extension, but in the end I didn't take their unit because it didn't feel home to me.
Just talk to the agent. And trust your instinct

 

[Laneige]

If buyer then I prefer to sell to ppl with agent
No agent don’t seem serious
Because some spoil market can go ard with few 1k deposit

BUT u must get a gd agent else agent can sabo u
Just liked u can choose to buy

Those that want to sell and eg need to sell due to absd has to sell to buyer that they feel give them the most confidence
to follow thru

u can also low ball the buyers but rem low floor can be due to minority n their price diff is a lot vs Chinese quota
Get the wrong agent will sabo u

like agent said 6mthd ago is xx$ n u Shld rely on the past record
Then after sell realised not even cov n low ball sellers until v low
When u low ball n another buyers come along and even if they offer same rate as you or the prices they first counter offer to u… then u r taking the risk lo

anyway house also look for people so maybe missed this can find another one
Just make sure is always find the better one