A bit about the system. Realtors with high "net worth" clients, i.e. those with rental budgets you are seeking usually scan newspapers a few days before viewing and get around 10-20 properties at 15-minute/property viewing during OFFICE HOURS. Weekend viewings may also be conducted. Seldom do we do evening or night viewings for such clients. Some clients are exclusive to the realty company and some are not.
Yesterday, I had only 2.30 - 5.45 p.m viewing for a Dutch couple and if I could not produce what they like (i.e. location and no. of bedrooms), the next agent would benefit from the time I had spent with them since they had seen what they didn't like. The expatriate wife plays a great part for Caucasian couples; if you know how to provide good landscaping and make the home cosy according to Caucasian taste, you just beat your neighbour hands down, especially if the rental is competitive.

Many Owners have no time to show apartments during office hours and at short notice because they are working. During weekends, they have to relax and play golf. One told me he does not work on Sundays. Another one is contactable at home only after 6.30 p.m.

I remember this UE Square Owner very well. He scolded me for interrupting his golf game; his handphone or pager peeped when he was playing golf on a Sunday morning.

"What do you want? I am putting!!!" he practically shouted at me. Probably lost money as his concentration was interrupted by me and several agents who had paged for him.

He is the "house-husband" type handling the property rental for his Owner wife who is busy operating an auditing firm. He advertised his UE unit for rent and therefore all agents paged for him. Also, he must be fed up with showing the apartment.

The "house-husband" did rent his 2-bedroom at $4,000 on January 1 to my American client even though the unit's defects have not been fully rectified by the Developer. He was fast and had minimal vacancy rate. .

Hope you will be kinder and more courteous to realtors as nowadays, I avoid unfriendly Owners and Managing Agents since more units of UE Square are released. Remember, even if you are contactable, you still need to have somebody available to show the house especially during office hours as realtors who really have "clients" will just give your place a miss if there are alternatives. Good luck.

y.. wrote:
Dr Sing, thks for the advice, will advertise more often as u suggest. i now have my handphone with me all the time.

At 02:38 AM 1/20/98 +0000, you wrote:
Jan 20

Should be no problem for you to rent at that budget. Usually it is the timing. I always ask Owners to advertise 3 times/week themselves and be contactable at all times. That seems to be the fastest way to get tenants from agents all over Singapore or direct. I have 3 European couples but they are not your type. Your target will be American School families. Will keep your unit in mind.

Best wishes.

y… wrote:
At 04:12 AM 1/19/98 +0000, you wrote:
Jan 19

We spoke sometime ago about your house. American couple took a bungalow in Braddell at $8,000 fully furnished, with Koi pond etc. Your son did a good job of the house.. He forgot to take pictures of living and dining rooms and bedrooms. What scanner is he using?

How about your Grande Vista Penthouse? Any pictures will be appreciated.

thks for your feedback. will get my kid to add pictures of interior for Beechwood (after i put in lights, soon, i hope). Will also put some pictures of Grande Vista. We have a HP Scanjet 5P at home.

The woodlands rental appears high compared to your Braddell Bungalow, but American oil company and i know the budgets for our expats are in region of $8-9k/mth for majority of them and higher for higher level managers.

i had my first viewing today - a American lady working part-time at the school. the agent indicated they have budget of $7.5k so this was the rental i asked for as a start. i hang around the Woodgrove area quite a bit on weekends and i see more and more expats looking around and moving into the houses there last Sunday afternoon, i bumped into one and found out he was looking to rent a bungalow in the woodlands area - he had two young kids with him. hope info is useful to you.

Regards

Advertising as "Owners" by Managing Agent is common nowadays.

If Owner is extremely busy, find a reliable courteous Managing Agent; pay full commission to any other agent who gets the Tenant but pay the Managing Agent some fees to provide the manpower to show the place. That would be my best recommendation.

Managing Agents become unfriendly or impatient when they have no monetary motivation when they advertise as "Owners". I had a case in UE Square in which the Owner told me to contact his "Agent" who displayed prominently his pager. He said he would show the place and the Owner himself would pay the full commission. This agent could not be contactable when paged. I advise Owners to pay the Managing Agent some fees even though they may be relatives or close friends, otherwise they are not so reliable.

See other articles in www.asiahomes.com
(Surfer’s Girl Tips for Landlords – Owner advertising).

Misrepresentation. I have come across cases where the Straits Times advertisement said "Owner" but actually it was the realtor who misrepresented property as Owner hoping to lure co-broking agents to be interested in their properties. There are "Owners" who are actually agents when I arrive with clients but they disclose their identity and said that full commission will be payable.

There are also agents who own properties and know that the fastest way to rent out their own property is to expose it to all agents by advertising as "Owners" in the Straits Times. I know of one case of one-bedroom in UE Square rented at $2,600 within a short period of time. Of course, rental budget must be flexible as most Owners of UE Square one-bedrooms are asking from $2,900 to $4,000 rental!