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Asia USA Realty
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asiahomes.com Pte Ltd -
Singapore Condos, Apartments
& Houses
Estate Agents Licence No. L3007306B
28 Feb 2011
Focus: We get for you affordable Singapore homes.
Rent or Investment
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NASSIM REGENCY
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CASE STUDY
FOR ASIAHOMES.COM REALTORS
The
kind boss intervenes to close the case.
"You handle the case exclusively and refer everything to me,"
said Mr Perez in his usual calm and friendly voice. He was the
boss of a representative office start up in Singapore and had
brought in several expatriate employees, all of whom used
various realtors, including me to find housing. Mr Perez
had used me solely to find him housing as his wife, being a
relocation realtor in Europe, understood the complications in
using multiple realtors.
"The negotiations had broken down after six weeks and now
Roberto could not get the condo his wife saw with you."
Roberto's wife had fallen in love with a new condo with a
panoramic green tree and city views but her husband had
requested Realtor John who had found a condo for his colleague
to handle the negotiations.
However, John did not show this condo and therefore, it would
be unethical of him to proceed further. John had given Roberto
a deep impression that he knew the Landlord very well and that
he "controlled" the new condo, being there "most of the time".
The realtor was confident that he could close two deals so
that the colleagues could live in the same condo.
Roberto did not want me to lose out since I had spent much
time showing him and his wife various condos in Singapore.
Yet he did not want me to pursue his case.
There was no point explaining to this newly arrived expatriate
that I could do a job as well as John. I told him
that there was Realtor Shirley involved and it would not be
right to cut her off. She was not on good terms with John and
might upset the negotiations.
John said he would not be taking any commissions in Roberto's
case but his associate, Kerry would want to share the
commissions. What had Kerry got to do with this?
Apparently, Kerry was told by Roberto not to show any unit on
Sunday and would have had shown this unit if given time.
If Kerry did not get a cut, John hinted that he would not be
dealing with Roberto's case. Roberto said
persistently: "It would be better if John handle both cases."
Expatriates relocating to Singapore do get several agents to
find them their ideal home. In this case, Roberto had seen the
new condo on Saturday and had told me to show more of certain
specified units to his wife on Monday as he would be working.
"Call all agents," he said. "Only the unit facing
greenery."
I presumed Roberto and his colleague would be resting on
Sunday after a hot and humid Saturday viewing. Sundays
are always a risky day for the rental realtors as expatriates
do view condos with other agents.
Roberto had had gone to see the condos with realtors John and
Kerry. There were no units for him, except for the one I
had shown his wife and he had not seen it with John and Kerry
as both did not have the keys to the apartment then.
Kerry had said to me that he had units Roberto wanted and I
made an appointment with him on Monday as well as with 3 other
agents, namely John, Shirley and William. This would ensure
that Roberto's wife would see all the units available.
Kerry cancelled the appointment at the last minute when I was
at the hotel to pick up Roberto's wife to view the condos,
saying his car had just broken down. Nothing wrong with
a car breaking down. "Can you take a taxi to the condo?"
I asked Kerry. This was an opportunity for Kerry to co-broke
and close a case since he had the last one or two units
desired by Roberto and his wife. He said no.
John could not be contacted by phone on Monday morning while I
was at the condo. He did not call me to check out the
appointment as would be expected of most realtors representing
the Landlord.
In retrospect, realtors Kerry and John "failed" to appear to
show the units as they would have to co-broke with me and
share the commission. Unfortunately realtor Shirley had
the keys to the condo and it was the only one Roberto's wife
liked. It was the unit John and Kerry would be able to show.
How to resolve this situation? The unit Roberto and his
wife wanted was shown by Shirley and myself on a co-broking
basis. But Roberto did not want me to proceed further
and if he was not a honourable person, he could just ignore me
and told Kerry and John to proceed.
Now, if I objected to his request, Shirley and I would end up
with nothing. Kerry and John would then co-broke and
close the case. Since he wanted John to call me to
resolve the problem, John could not now just handle the case
quietly.
If I told Shirley, the whole deal would flounder as she had a
strong competitive temperament and would bring the whole
matter up to the Landlord.
Now, Roberto insisted again that John would be the most
capable person to handle his closing. He needed a prompt
reply over the mobile phone on that Monday evening.
He was at the condo with John and Kerry who now had the keys
to show him the apartment seen by his wife in the morning.
The Landlord had given keys to Shirley and other agents.
Should I be stubborn? What would be the best solution?
Was there a solution to satisfy all parties? John said
he would not be getting a share of the commission as he had
Roberto's colleague to handle.
Provided Kerry had a cut of the commission. If Kerry who
had not shown the apartment had a cut, would John not get
something from Kerry? I did not voice this sentiment.
Decisions must be made on the spot. The only prompt
solution to this situation would be to get John to agree that
the commissions of Roberto's case would be shared equally by
me, Shirley and Kerry. John agreed verbally but would
not be tied down in writing.
The negotiations were conducted for six weeks. Nothing
was heard from John. The deal fell through as Roberto did not
want to pay more than the standard two months' security
deposit. The Landlord wanted more than two months
because Roberto's company was a representative office in
Singapore and not a full fledged office.
When I called John after Roberto's boss spoke to me, he said:
"I know what you would be thinking. Since I don't get
any commission, I did not work hard to close the case."
Superficially any one would think that he was not motivated to
find a solution since he had nothing to gain.
Actually, it was not his fault but only if he had taken the
trouble to touch base with me. "Now, Roberto is open to all
agents," he commented and said he had returned the good faith
deposit which was held by the Landlord for a long time.
I did not want to pursue Roberto anymore as he would be using
multiple agents.
There were no more units Roberto desired and he wanted to move
in within 10 days.
John said he would give me the owner's telephone if I kept him
informed of the outcome. I declined the offer.
It just become more complicated.
"Can you resurrect the deal?" I asked John. There was no
other choice units for Roberto from John or Kerry when I
called them. None from the other 3 agents I contacted.
John had said he would call me back the next day. The
call never came. Why? I do not know. I guess John felt
that it was no use flogging a dead horse.
Shall I walk away from this case too? Just too bad for
Roberto. It was his fault entirely. If only he would pay
up the more than 2 months' security deposit. It
might be an extra half a month if he would consider.
Since his boss had made a personal call to me to help find
Roberto, now in Europe, his choice apartment, I checked out
all agents. There were none of the choice units within
his budget, even after six weeks. The 4-bedroom units
was asking $6,000 per month. The lowest might be $5,500, one
thousand and four hundred dollars more per month.
It would mean more commissions for me, but would this be the
budget Roberto really wanted to spend? He might be
willing to increase his rent to $5,000 but there were no
choice 4-bedroom units available. The choice units had
to face the greenery, not just any unit.
From Europe, Roberto had contacted a Singapore agent,
Madeline. She had only the 2-bedroom units and promised she
would contact him if she found any of his choice units.
Very few agents would phone him in Europe as there was a high
probability of failure in closing such cases.
Left with Hobson's choice, I decided to contact the Landlord
of the unit in which Roberto and his wife had liked. The
unit now had an offer to lease.
"A letter of intent is no use. Roberto's company can pay
you the deposits and sign the tenancy agreement today," I
said.
"A representative office is not credible. Besides,
Roberto will be renting on a personal basis and I prefer a
company lease." the Landlord said.
"It is a representative office but the company has established
branches in China, Australia and Europe," I explained.
It was not a small dot.com start up. It was a manufacturer.
"In addition, the office in Singapore is a proper office in
that the company does not use temporary office spaces where
the Secretary is shared by all others."
I elaborated further since I could not get the brochures to
this Landlord who was overseas. "It has a website which
would explain its background." The internet is really
useful nowadays.
A dialogue with the Landlord was opened. There was no
firm rejection. There was some hope for Roberto. And
there would be a bidding war, I know from experience.
"Can Roberto commence tenancy on January 10, instead of
February 1?" the Landlord asked. It was already January
13 now.
Roberto said no. He would only be in Singapore on
January 25. He felt that he should let go of this unit
as the Landlord was not fair. His career might suffer if
he had got the wrong apartment. How, I don't know.
Was this the end of the deal? This Landlord might not
treat him well if he could secure the lease.
"Why not ask for January 20?" Roberto said okay
pessimistically from far away Europe. The Landlord was still
considering the other offer and had no response. I just had to
follow up. This was a 90% chance of success, I said to
Roberto.
"Look for other units. Regrettably I may have to give up
this unit," he emailed me.
So, did he want this unit or not? The signals from Roberto
were confusing. Should I abort the negotiations and call
it a day? A bidding war might take a while to win. The
4-bedrooms were too highly priced and he would regret it since
he did not need so many bedrooms as he had no children.
"Your payment of an extra one thousand dollars per month to
live in this condo could be used for a holiday with your wife
to Bali, Indonesia. To ski holidays" I advised Roberto who was
sun tanned. "Or to rent a car," Roberto suggested.
This was a case where it would not be in the expatriate's
interest to rent a 4-bedroom when he needed a 3-bedroom and
when he had already set a target of around $4,000.
"Can you start the tenancy on January 15?" the Landlord
responded after a few days. Roberto would say no, I was
almost sure. I dared not phone him in Europe. I
had to talk to his boss. The boss said all right.
No response from the Landlord for another three days. She was
considering the other offer. I could not blame her
for getting the best rental deal by holding a bidding war.
"I give Roberto a $1,400 budget to install curtains. Do you
agree?" Would $1,400 be enough for a 3-bedroom 1400 sq.
ft apartment? Yes, if Roberto does not go for fancy day
and night curtains. Roberto had no idea how much would be
sufficient.
We agree to the curtain budget. "I offer $2,300 to buy
the washing machine, dryer, oven and microwave as I had done a
survey to find out the cost. Now, regarding this request
for an oven and a microwave," the Landlord said over the
crackling phone call from Shanghai. "Can Roberto take
just a microwave and no oven?"
The Developer had not provided an oven and most Europeans love
to have an oven. I am sure Roberto would pull his hairs out
from his head and say to hell with this Landlord.
It was fortunate he was not in Singapore. Emotions could
run very high with this piece meal type of negotiations.
One harsh and loud response and the Landlord would withdraw
her offer. She might not be desperate enough to rent out
her beautiful condo, knowing that there were no more choice
units left. "There's the combined microwave oven
nowadays," I explained to the Landlord. She was willing
to wait till Roberto comes to Singapore before deciding on
this appliance.
It was midnight when the Landlord agreed to lease the unit to
Roberto 7 days before his arrival in Singapore. Getting
what the expatriate wanted was not easy once a bidding war
started. Not all Landlords are agreeable to every
request from the Tenant with an inflexible rental budget.
This was one of those highly charged emotional house-hunting
cases that had the whole Singapore office personnel following
it up. Was it worth Roberto's while to get this
particular condo?
Fortunately Roberto had a good boss who had the welfare of his
employees at heart. Without his timely intervention and
agreement on the January 15 commencement date for the
tenancy, this would be just a residential realtor's
nightmare. Lots of time spent, overseas trunk calls made and
no reward for a self employed realtor.
"Can you take over 3 days later while I get back the keys from
the agents?" the Landlord said, after signing the tenancy
agreement. No objections. It had taken a lot of
patience and love from the expatriate boss to close this case.
No problem waiting 3 days more.
This kind expatriate boss (a German with Brazilian background)
understood the aspirations of his subordinates and helped to
smoothen their relocation in Singapore. He could have left
them to look after their problems since they were given a
housing allowance. However, he intervened and got the
subordinate the kind of condo he wanted.
This airline company expanded under his start-up. A lot of
travelling for him but the company grew in the Asia Pacific
region. He was promoted and went to the head quarters.
Somewhere in this case study, there is a lesson for leaders of
companies.
