Sunday, July 26, 2009

Excuse Me, Are You A Property Agent? (6)

"I've just returned from overseas, and I've been eyeing Pacific Mansion for a while. If you have anyone wanting to sell Pacific Mansion at $1,000 per sq. ft. or less, call me and I'll give you a cheque," someone said on the other end of the phone.

It is extremely annoying when you receive calls from unrealistic buyers such as the purchaser above. He sounded somewhat arrogant about his having been abroad. What has being abroad to do with getting a property at his desired price.?

I was in the thick of a discussion with a client on a property in River Valley, and although annoyed, I tried to be patient as I explained to him that a unit in Pacific Mansion had just been transacted at $1.5M.

"There's no such transaction....the URA showed only transactions at $1.2M.", he declared, and sounded somewhat rude with his raised voice. I reiterated that I was the agent who transacted the last unit at $1.5M.

"I don't care what price it is last transacted at. I want to buy only at $1.2M. Please call me if you have any such unit,".

"If I do have such units, Sir, I would not call you, but I would call my good friends or favourite clients," I could not resist answering, and hung up.

I was wondering if indeed the buyer had been eyeing Pacific Mansion, then why did he not buy the property when it was much cheaper at $900 psf? Why was he bulldozing his way into getting the price he wanted, when the market has already increased to almost $1,130psf?

When buyers are not realistic in their offers, they will continue to miss the boats.
And when they analyse till they get paralysed with fear and confusion, they will miss the ocean liners!

In the poignant words of a friend, Shari, "Papa had been house-hunting for years....and by the time he passed away, we were still living in a rented apartment."

Gan Chau

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bravo!

I (a housing agent for 4 months) also get many such calls from buyers 'who just returned from abroad' requesting for ridiculous prices, and making unrealistic comparisons between Singapore and 'whatever place they return from'.

It's annoying! It's as if they are the only ones who have seen the world, so they can dictate the price they want to buy a piece of property at.

Well... too bad.

Firstly, the market has moved.
Secondly, a repeat of 1997/98 and 2003 is unlikely to happen.
Thirdly, interest rates are so low - buying real assets make so much sense.