Ken Tan - Memoirs of a Realtor

29/04/2023

After multiple attempts, we finally secured a unit! Yay!

21/01/2023

New Year New Tenants! Efforts paid off after a gruelling 2 day process of viewings, vetting & negotiation; we managed to secure an awesome deal!

15/01/2023

Ended my viewings last night at 10.10pm, we had an Estonian family and an Indian PR family come for viewings.

I enjoyed the sharings about their lives, their livelihood & their concerns; always able to learn about others thru others.

Just learnt that Estonian is a country that is 63 times the size of Singapore but they have a population of only 1.3m and that there less than 50 Estonians working in Singapore.

Both really friendly & polite families. I would be happy if either one makes my unit their next temporary home!

30/09/2022

Congratulations to all Sellers and Buyers who secured their Options To Purchase before today and to Landlords in the near future.

Ministry of National Development

28/09/2022

September - my birthday month! Thankful that I managed to close 2 deals! Since the 2nd deal was just 2 days ago, I shall talk more about this unit.

Challenge No.1: Seller wanted to sell off asap as he would be collecting keys to his new BTO by the end of the year.

Challenge No.2: Seller wanted to break the record price.

Honestly, because of current market conditions, it wasn't that difficult to achieve those 2 challenges. There were challenges though and I felt that I could share a thing or two from what I have learnt from the objections of the potential buyers who came to view, hopefully it can come in handy for those who have taken time to read my post.

Objection No.1: For this block, there are 6 units per floor, the 4 corner units however, had their doors facing each other. This became a major objection point.

Objection No.2: My client's neighbour had quite a lot of potted plants placed on the corridor between the 2 doors. This was also a major objection, if not the main objection. So folks, if you are intending to sell your house and have got neighbours who like to grow their plants at the common corridor, do have a nice chat with your neighbour and seek their co-operation in keeping their plants arranged neatly. You'd be surprise about how a little arrangement can make or break the deal!

Objection No.3: Unfortunately, the MRT track for this stretch was not underground, and units in this block will be able to hear the MRT noise as the train passes.

Well, lucky us, the flat was accepted by a young PR couple who were really nice and found the plants and MRT noise acceptable!

The flat was transacted in 11 days and above Seller's expected price! Yeeha!

22/07/2022

Yesterday was the Completion for my clients' sale of their 1st home and I helped in collecting their cheque due to their work schedule; I was greeted by this gift from the Phillipines with a cute lil handwritten note! Thank you!

24/06/2022

Good read. What can we infer?

https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/the-man-who-helped-create-singapores-housing-boom-is-getting-worried-024848769.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL20uZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAECRZtUv0QHuzChateeFyHujkSROaOvSz4qw8prxnYSsTUTJD5NJfk4RTnl_jPt9Tq-QUroPavvaIbSGyzjdnYDW-Q-pgWVuFvf6oaf-q6eoiJ-aiEJ38O5nPl2iOihSnw74hq3LOaUNUn0YP7Hju9mT1_d9fhpgj5sQzsP-_-_Y

11/06/2022

Recently, I was out and about helping a client look for an investment property, today's sharing focuses more about the types of agents we met along the way. For those of you who might be unaware, usually for private resale properties, unless the listing agent gets a direct buyer, co-broking between agents must take place aka, the listing agent cannot don't co-broke unless explicitly indicated in writing by the Seller.

Obviously, while laws are in place, but we will always get agents who bend the rule so much they make it close to impossible for you to secure a viewing for your client so that they can get direct buyers for themselves; sacrificing their client's best interest by limiting potential good offers just because the Buyer is represented by an agent.

Type 1: They bluetick your whatsapp messages. Never say not co-broking, just don't bother to reply.

Type 2: They reply, with superficial replies, and then proceed to ghost you (double grey tick)

Type 3: They say no viewings allowed, can only purchase via virtual tour / home tour video but when contacted by direct buyers, suddenly the unit can be viewed.

Type 4: Inform you that tenants are overseas, hence viewings can only take place when the tenants are back, but unfortunately, seems like their tenants are never back.

The above 4 types are the negative experiences that we met, and it was honestly very frustrating because after 3 or 4 such encounters, as an agent, you will tend to feel guilty - are other agents preventing your client from purchasing their dream unit because of their own self interest? How would your clients look at you when they are able to secure viewings but you as their representing agent cannot?

Well luckily, the client was understanding and encouraging, and we eventually did meet a Roy Chew, who not only was willing to co-broke but was also very gentlemanly in his co-broke offer. So folks, moral of the story is, if you have an agent that has good moral ethics and world class character, cherish them. Agents earn our keep, but our keep shouldn't be the priority.

01/06/2022

Decided to dedicate this page of mine to share about my experiences and thoughts as a realtor instead of using it to run ads and sell koyok. If you have honoured me by Liking or Following my page, I thank you. Even more thanks if you have taken the time to read my posts.

So, had another small achievement for the month of April. Was privileged to be given the mandate by a customer then turned friend in selling off his flat that had reached its Minimum Occupation Period. It was in a prime area and demand was strong, and we took about a month to transact but it wasn't without its challenges. The number 1 objection we faced from the numerous enquiries and viewings was that the unit was sitting on a low floor.

Met different potential buyers of diferent races and at different days & times, I was lucky that most of them were nice. The older middle aged people were honest and straight forward about their thoughts and that is appreciated. Some were accompanied by their agent, most were not. There was a lowballer couple who tried their luck by offering $70k below valuation and there was a couple where they said they had already arranged for other viewings but dared not reply my text messages thereafter, which was rather irritating. And some of them, simply put, didn't have the capacity.

The good news for me was that, this friend of mine and his wife were realistic and not greedy. The price that was transacted at, to me, was fair value and slightly above what they had hoped to take back initially. Of course, this wasn't without a negotiation attempt by the buyer who had offered $100 more than the last rejected offer =D Both his agent and I were entertained to say the least. Anyway, willing seller willing buyer and this deal was a rather straight forward deal!

Every case & character is unique, every household has got their own book of mantra that is difficult to recite, and I feel touched when people share with me about their lives & situations; it adds value in what we do!

02/03/2022

4rm HDB at Bendemeer for Sale! Excellent, Friendly Sellers!

https://www.99.co/singapore/sale/property/10b-bendemeer-road-hdb-NjTD9GwhFUeZxdtdk36ab7

03/06/2021

All info within the video folks!

This unique boutique development with 4 individually accessed apartments, situated in the Heart of Katong, where Heritage meets Hip, Form meets Function and ...