Agent

Mr Buyer sir, do you know that you have to pay me a commission if you purchase the property?

Prospective buyer

Oh, is that so? Give me one good reason why I should pay you a commission? You did not find me or show me any other properties. My wife and I have been searching for properties on our own and we do not need any agents to serve us.

Agent

First thing first, sir, I respect the way you use your own Time and your own notion that you know the inner-working of a property deal. I supposed you have done some studies on real estate deals and know the inherent risks in buying a property?

Prospective buyer

What has it got to do with paying you a commission? Are you saying that if I don’t pay you a commission,you are going to hide things from me?

Agent

No sir. What I mean is that my service comes with many after-sale protection programmes that stretch all the way to 24 months after you have become the owner of this property. Do you like to know how the protection programme can protect you?

Prospective buyer

No! We can see for ourselves whether the house is worth buying or not. We do not need your service, whether now or later. In other words, we are not paying any commission to you!

Agent

You see sir, when a property seller is represented by a professional agent from a professional agency, many protection features and warranty programmes are already packaged into the deal and it protects all the parties involved in the deal, including the seller, the buyer and me – the agent.
I hope that in your own studies and research on buying a property, you have come across such protection programmes against all risks, especially unforeseeable risks in the future. I will be very surprised if you tell me that you do not want any protection for your own good. Would you like me to explain to you how the protections work, sir?

Prospective buyer

I don’t think I need the package. A house is a house – how different can it be? Just show me the house.

Agent

But sir, it is my duty to explain to you the benefits that I am offering to you and the inherent risks that you may be exposed to after becoming the owner of this property. If you have no knowledge of the service package that I am offering, I am afraid the property is not suitable for you yet.

Prospective customer

Tell me Sam, is it true that, according to the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE), I have the right to ask you to itemise your service so that I can decide how much to pay you?

Agent

Yes, sir. It is true that CASE said that; and the advice is based on the universal principle that CASE is using for doctors who are general practitioners (GPs), law firms, accountants and many other professional practices that are very different from real estate sales and brokerage.
At the end of the day, professional real estate agent differentiates himself from others based on his skills, circle of influence, and reputation which you cannot quantify meaningfully and list down on paper and put a price next to them.

Prospective customer

Why can’t you simply list down your expertises and price them accordingly?

Agent

As I have said, agents are different from one another. Good and experience agents make the deals look very easy because they are highly skilled and they solve the problems even before the problems become apparent. Can I have your permission to quote one simple example of potential problems that skilful agents can solve before it even appears?

Prospective customer

I don’t see how problematic selling a house can be. I think you are just exaggerating the matter!

Agent

No sir, a high percentage of real estate transactions come across practical challenges during the ‘vacant possession’ stage – which is commonly known as the ‘moving-in’ or ‘moving-out’ stage.

Prospective customer

What problems can there be? I thought YOU are supposed to put everything in writing in the first place and prevent the problems from happening?

Agent

If I may briefly explain to you the four stages of real estate transactions, i.e. Option stage, Contract stage, legal completion [or title stage] and vacant possession [or the final stage of handing-over of property].
A highly experienced and skilful agent, such as myself will pre-empt all the potential problems that can crop up at the final stage of the transaction based on both the seller’s and buyer’s PRACTICAL REQUIREMENTS [such as whether he is renovating the property, simply doing a minor touch-up, doing an Additions and Alterations (A&A), or redeveloping the land entirely]. In any case, I would need to know whether I will have to facilitate the purchase of building plans from the Building Control Authority (BCA)* or to make necessary arrangements for other consultants [e.g. architect, contractors, surveyors, valuers, interior designers, geomancers, movers etc] to come forth sooner or later.
[By the way, purchasing of building plans from the BCA, by itself, presents a challenge to both the seller and the buyer due to hidden risks in the structural aspect of the property].
On the seller’s side, maybe he might need to stay a few weeks longer after the legal completion so that he could renovate the next house he is moving into. [This is commonly known as ‘extension of stay’ on the seller’s side]
On the whole, I would also need to know how much flexibility both the seller and buyer have in terms of time and alternative place of accommodation. A highly experienced and skilful agent will invest time and effort to coordinate the final stage of the transaction at the very early stage of the marketing and qualify potential buyers accordingly.

Prospective customer

Isn’t what you have just said ‘part and parcel’ of your job as an agent?

Agent

Precisely, but it takes years of CONTINUOUS TRAINING and practice to do it right. In fact, many inexperienced agents do not even know that they need to coordinate such arrangements; and not every agency has spelled out such details in the service package they present to their customers.
What I have just mentioned is the lesser known aspect of property deals that many customers think lightly of. Agents such as myself have invested much time, effort and money in acquiring and practising the skills to ensure that problems will be identified, prevented and solved early. We have to be continuously trained by our agency and the Institute of Estate Agents (IEA) to ensure that we get everything right in every deal.
This is the reason why I would prefer that you examine the TOTAL SKILL PACKAGE of an agent instead of looking at the minor details of services which many untrained and uneducated agents can also offer.