House viewing (1)

Viewed 2 houses at Toa Payoh earlier. House viewing is fun but tiring lor.

Anyway, I didn't like both houses. Am hoping to have better luck later in the evening!

We went with another of our agent friend and he pointed out some pointers that we / buyers may never have otherwise taken note of:

(1) Buyers must be conscious of their feelings when they enter the house - Must not have that kind of 'mor mor' feeling.

(2) Feel if the floor is hot if viewing the house in the evening. If it is hot it means that the house has got the west sun. A house which gets the direct west sun will be very warm not only in the day but at night. This is because the trapped hot air would vapourise and seep out from the floor in the evening / night when the weather is cooler. So do not think that it is alright since nobody is at home in the day to get the sun. Real torture of the west sun begins after the sun has set!

(3) Buyers to refrain from saying that they like the house very much in the presence of the owner. Let the agent/s do the job.

(4) Have trust in the agent. Do not have the mentality that the agent will not do a good job in helping to get a better deal because they want to earn more commission. Seriously, it does not make a difference to them if the selling price for example is $450K or $470K. They will rather close the deal at $450K if they can get the seller to sell, get the 1% out of $450K (buyers have to pay the agent a commission of 1% of the selling price) and move on to other businesses than risk losing the buyer totally by worrying about the 1% out of $20K that they will lose out on if they help the buyer to lower the price from $470K $450K.

Confusing hor..understand?..yes?..no?? :P

(5) If buyers are still worried, then as motivation for the agent, consider rewarding him with some money (say $2000) for every $10000 that he helps to reduce off the asking price. Buyers will save $8000 while the agent is compensated in whatever commission that he will lose because of the lower selling price - this is what a friend taught us.

* Very important note: this is written from the point of the buyer.