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Advice, La Rossa and Dodgy Agents
Posted by RachRobin (55 days ago)
We are interested in renting an apartment (probably 2 bed) in La Rossa at Tung Chung. Does anyone out there have any advice/opinion on this property?
We have looked at the other complexes and judging from what is available, Coastal Skyline would be the only other complex we would consider.....
ALSO!
Is it just me, or do real estate agents tell bare faced lies about rental prices?
My husband and I collected various flyers with advertised flats & prices last week. On the same day, we asked to view the advertised flats (made an appointment to do so). When we met the agent, we were told all the advertised flats had been rented, and the agent proceeded to show us flats outside of our budget.
Is this usual behaviour that we just have to expect or just this particular agent??
Posted by Patrick Yiu (54 days ago)
Agents behavior varies from area to area. I think this is due to education level and moral standard of certain area. I notice the gap between real listings and faluse listings are wider in N.T. HK island seems to advertise closer to the truth.
If this is the practice of Tung Chung, find another agent, don't ask for the advertised listing, just tell him what you need and how much you expected to pay, he will give you the truth of current market.
Posted by elysium168 (54 days ago)
send you a p.m. on your mailbox. I can recommend an agent that has work for us several times already.
Posted by RogerR (52 days ago)
Every single agent has tried it on with us over the past 4 years, good relationship or not. Whether its prices of recent sales, lettings prices, commissison charged or situation of the landlord, to make the sale treat everything they say as dubious.
We now still have good standings with a few but there is an understanding we will check everything they say and have everything disucssed written into the contract.
Having said that we have negotiated some very good deals contrary to what the agent has told us will not be accepted. Unfortunately its up to you to make sure the pricing is in line with the market
Posted by oldhand (52 days ago)
I have found over many years that ALL agents (yes including your firm Patrick) make-up/invent adverts, it is too much of a coincidence to find that suddenly the advertised property is no longer available at that price. Similar to the advertising for "cheap" flights that are strangely already fully booked......
I agree with RogerR 100% you need to do your own legwork take everything from an agent with a health dose of skepticism.
for reasons behind it, I think, and it's my personal view, Real estate has a very low barrier for entry, geting a license is not hard. There are thousands of agents and firms, looking for commission, no transaction = no pay - yet even during the boom there are actually few transactions to spread amongst the thousands of agents.
Posted by Patrick Yiu (51 days ago)
I talk about this topic in this forum before. The advertised property no longer exists due to the following reasons.
(1) Landlords refused to answer our calls once it has been sold/leased. We are not aware of the status.
(2) Landlords told not to call him too often to update which bother his work/life, we can only call once in two weeks or when we have client for viewing, but sometimes one month no client ask for it even it is listed in market price.
(3) Some agents delibrately lower the asking price to attract customers as they claim other people do the same, if they advertise the landlord asking price they are the most expensive in the entire newspaper, no one will call.
(4) Some achieved a bottom price from the landlord when they have had someone offered but the deal turns sour. They advertised the bottom price, not asking price for new clients. In the mean time, the landlord changes his mind about his "bottom" as he receives more offers and think he must have listed too low. This "bottom price" advertisement becomes a fault unintentionally.
This situation can be resolved if landlord appoints only one agency to deal with one property like US/Canada. On the contrary, landlords here like to appoints 5-7 agencies in different time and even different prices.
The one gets the listing first usually gets the highest price, a few weeks passed, no one interested in his property, he lower the price and appoints more agencies, but the first one still have the old price.
This is such a "free" real estate market in HK.
Posted by RogerR (51 days ago)
and:
Agent forgets what he quoted last week and price mysteriously jumps 1 million before suddenly dropping again (NB: always write prices down)
Agent forgets what he promised while showing the flat and tries to refuse to write these clauses into the contract on signing
Agent forgets to put offer to landlord/owner and tells you they rejected it (Makes for an interesting discussion if you eventually talk direct to the owner)
Agent tells you construction site outside only works Monday to Friday 9-6pm
Agent wants more commission so asking you to re-sign a new agreement where you pay more commission ( agent got fired for this one)
Agent tells you owner moving out of Hong Kong but actually are moving into a house he is also selling them down the road
Patrick - you get paid for dealing with all these things you mention - Its called earning your commission.
Only after a long time have we found "trusted" agents to work with and we return to them time and time again wherever we move to in HK (to their longterm benefit)
Posted by ldavy (51 days ago)
RogerR, why do you feel the need to point out that Patrick gets paid for dealing with things? He wasn't complaining, simply explaining how difficult it is to get accurate information sometimes. Don't always blame the agents, landlords can be extremely difficult to deal with, and they don't always tell the truth either. I'm glad to hear you've found an agent you trust, and of course it's to their long-term benefit, which is why any agent with a grain of intelligence should be trustworthy.
Posted by RogerR (51 days ago)
Everyone has difficulties in their line of work but not everyone sits down and has a moan about these pretty obvious issues in a tough marketplace.
Too many dodgy agents out there from bitter experience to get my sympathy
Reminds me of one more: Two Agents having a fisticuff fight with a competitor on the footpath over whose territory it was. What a circus, what an industry....
Posted by WP Renovation Ltd. (51 days ago)
RogerR
Patrick didn't moan rather tried to explain why this business is like it is.
Posted by Christian_Moore (51 days ago)
Most of the agents I have come across in HK are nothing more than school drops outs who can do no more than stand outside the MTR harrasing people like a pack of wolves, 99% of them tell lies along with the developers, they never seem to know the price of any new development on sale while you are looking around, only when they call over 2 more people to bully you do they tell you the price and its always far higher than it should be.
As far as showing you what you want to see, it is often much more than you can afford. One time I went with a friend to see some brand new flats in Kowloon, he told the agents his budget was $15m, they proceeded to show 2 flats in this budget and 2 for about $45m, just in case when he gets home and puts his hand down the back of his sofa, he might find another $30m that fell out of his trouser pocket.
Can you imagine dealing with these agents for a major purchase like, back home you would have a professional person to speak to, here they don't seem to know anything, they are just brain washed by these robbing property developers.
Posted by ldavy (51 days ago)
Christian, you're talking about a different kind of agent here - I can't comment! My company doesn't do first sales so we never deal with developers and never stand around outside new buildings. Yes, there are some bad agents out there but there are people in every industry who are not as professional as they should be.
Posted by walkup2 (51 days ago)
There are also time-wasting buyers and difficult sellers. It takes 3 to tango... The most important strategy for serious buyers is to do their own homework and develop a clear idea of what they want and have access to the necessary funds. It is the property which should be the deciding factor, not whether the agent is nice or not so nice.
Posted by RachRobin (51 days ago)
But, I am looking to RENT a property. I have a firm budget, have decided on the area / complex / size I am looking for, and yet they still insist on showing me stuff I am simply not interested in. All advertised properties that look like they fit the bill are 'already rented' or 'they don't have the key'.
By the way, I am 7 months pregnant, not really that appreciative of making appointments with agents in TC that 'aren't available' when I show up (having travelled from Wanchai).
Having said that, I have met one young reliable agent who has been of assistance and no BS factor.
Posted by walkup2 (50 days ago)
Buyers and sellers/renters and landlords: the mix is similar. However all the points you make RachRobin are eminently fair. I think some of the agents are showing you stuff you don't want because that's all they have, want to keep you interested and most importantly they know from experience that many buyers/tenants are more flexible than they let on. The better agents can spot the client who is sticking to a precise agenda and back off with the other stuff after the first tour of properties.Missing appointments? No excuse.
Posted by Patrick Yiu (50 days ago)
Thanks Idavy and WP speaking out for me. I only wanted to point out the system in HK sucks, it doesn't give you the opportunity to achieve accurate information, then we are the one to blame. Of course data can be better organized with experience and diligent work.
I don't complain my job or my client, it won't change the reality. The environment won't change for you, you are the one to adapt the changes.
To a certain extent, Christian Moore is right, many street-agents I knew never heard of "word" or "excel". That's why they have to stand out there 8 hours a day and bugging pedestrians, hoping their fate will change in one day.
Showing $45M to a $12M client is a cultural difference. I've seen many locals who can afford $45M but only want to invest $12M for this trip, didn't find anything they like, end up bought this $45M place.
Westerners are more straight forward people, if $12M is want they want, this is what they want.
Have you ever come accross that these agents are forced by their superior to find a client to view this $45M place. How on earth can you find such a billionair out of the blue?
Posted by Moppet (49 days ago)
RachRobin
Go to Ricacorp at the far end near the 7 11 and ask for Juliet (62004848) she was brilliant and showed us only property that we stated in the price rage we told her. she went the extra mile at all times and we where very happy. We ended up buying a property in CC. If the phone number is not correct drop in and see her.
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