agents

I'm not entirely sure what it is with agents, but they seem to operate similarly.

Many of them ask you to let them be their 'sole agent' to view flats so that you won't need to go through the papers & go through the trouble of searching for the homes you want on a daily basis. Why they ask you to do this, is of course more for self-interest than real interest in your convenience. Why? Well, if you only use their services, it pretty much means that they will be able to find you a flat eventually & get the commission off you for it. If you had multiple agents show you flats, the agent knows that only one 'lucky' agent who shows you a flat you like would get the commission. (ie: showing you around would potentially waste his/her time)

However, when push comes to shove, I find that many of them don't deliver on what they promise (ie: give you the service you want), perhaps simply because they might be too busy to do so.

For example, I've realised that many agents don't want to bother with you till after you tell them that you've recieved your HLE. They can also be very nosey & will ask for you & your partner's income details, etc. You DON'T have to answer them if you don't want to. Just tell them that you are earning above/below the income bracket, & that YES you know all about the grants etc already. (Please read my previous posts if you need to know more)

Many of them also tell you that you HAVE to be married by a certain time in order to buy a resale flat, that you will HAVE to apply for your marriage cert by xx amount of time, etc. However, this is NOT necessarily true. I know of a few couples who have managed to seek an extention of 6-12 months from HDB in that regard, in order to have their love nest well feathered before they get married & so that both solemnisation & traditional wedding can happen on the same day. Of course, you must prove to HDB that you have the intention to marry & show them sufficient info in that regard. Request for an extension can apparantly be done on the 1st appointment date after you exercise the option to buy a flat.

Also, many agents I've met so far don't necessarily show you flats that you want to see. The bf & I have told many of the agents we've spoken to that we only want corner units which are either 4 or 5 room, in specific areas (we even gave them the block numbers). However, many of them after hearing our specs, still try to coerce us into seeing maisionettes, or multiple corridor units, which we don't want at all.

In addition to that, many of them don't give 'up to date' viewings for flats that are available on the market. (ie: the newspapers have adverts on available units that interests us, but the agents don't call you till a week or so later to arrange for a viewing of that particular flat) So my suggestion is this: if you want to work through an single agent, all fine & good, but keep a look out in the classifieds for units that interest you (it takes less that 5 mins to flip to the page & do a quick glance through)& make sure that you get your agent to bring you there. :)