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4 Reasons For Singaporeans To Hire A Property Agent

There are some people who have tried to avoid paying commission to the property agent by being do-it-yourself (DIY) and sometimes they ended up being shortchanged in the market or faced with legal issues from the other party arising from the unfamiliarity with the buying and selling process.

Market practices in Singapore call for agents to be paid 1% to 2% of either the buying or selling price when it comes to buying or selling of properties.

For example, when buying a resale HDB, the buyer pays the agent up to 1% commission, whereas in the private residential market, the buyer does not have to pay commission to the agent as the buyer's agent will receive commission from the seller's agent.

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As for selling of HDB and private residential property, the commission payable to the agent is 2% and 1% of the selling price respectively. Agent commission fees are negotiable and are not cast in stone.

To help you GET more for your money, we at GET.com are listing the 4 things that you can benefit from hiring a property agent, despite the commission fees.

1. Professional Client Care

Agents must comply with the Code of Ethics and Professional Client Care (CEPCC) established by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) on 15 Nov 2010 which covers how agents must perform their work in accordance with applicable laws and be equipped with the relevant knowledge to perform their estate agency work with a high level of professionalism.

Hence with, you should expect a reasonable level of professionalism from your agent.

2. Advertising

Agents must comply with the Duties in Respect of Advertisement requirements set forth in the CEPCC that must not cause or allow any advertisements to contain any offer, proposal or information, representation that is misleading, false or inaccurate.

If you are considering DIY, think again.

Besides just advertising in the newspaper, your options are quite constrained compared to what an agent can do. Agents are equipped with the necessary software tools to ensure that your property gains as much exposure in the market as possible (property websites, SRX Agent connect, etc), thereby increasing the chance of multiple competing offers from many buyers.

Agents also have up-to-date comprehensive information pertaining to the recent transactions, comparable listings and price trending analysis which could also prove useful when it comes to tweaking a marketing strategy on an on-going basis to improve results -something which a DIY person may find difficult to accomplish and DIY person may end up getting shortchanged in the market.

3. Price Negotiation

Agents are in a better position than a DIY person to negotiate prices due to availability of timely and accurate market information derived from SRX database. A DIY person may end-up being shortchanged due to lack of timely market information.

4. Buying And Selling Process

The buying and selling process can be quite complex and daunting for someone who wants to DIY. Buying and selling are all part of contract and they are legally binding. Save your a headache by engaging an agent to do the paperwork right for you.

This article was originally on the GET.com blog at: 4 Reasons For Singaporeans To Hire A Property Agent.

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