I cut my losses only to encounter greedy brokers.

One property, multiple prices.

For over a year now, the real estate market has faced numerous difficulties. Among them, the two biggest problems are that despite drastic price drops, liquidity has almost completely disappeared. To improve liquidity, many investors have resorted to cutting their losses even further. Unfortunately for them, they've encountered greedy real estate brokers.

Currently, on many real estate forums, it's not uncommon to find a plot of land or a house being advertised by multiple brokers at vastly different prices.

Most recently, in a group about farmland and suburban land, a house in Phu Tho with a total area of ​​7,100m2 (including 400m2 of residential land) was advertised for sale at 600 million VND. However, two other brokers offered significantly lower prices of 550 million VND and 500 million VND.

The same plot of land is being advertised for sale at 500 million VND... (Screenshot)

...but some places are asking for up to 600 million VND. (Screenshot)

It remains to be seen whether the minimum price of 500 million VND quoted by a real estate agent differs significantly from the amount the homeowner would receive if the transaction is successful.

That product received a lot of attention from members of the real estate group. Most condemned the brokers for being too greedy.

However, this is not an uncommon phenomenon; it occurs not only in suburban areas but is quite prevalent even in the heart of Hanoi , where customers have access to better information through various channels.

Mr. Le Hoang (Cau Giay District, Hanoi) shared his arduous journey of buying a house. He recounted that in 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, land prices also increased sharply. He and his family decided to buy a townhouse through a friend who was a real estate agent.

“My friend said the price he offered was the best on the market because he was just helping me out and not taking any profit. Just as I was about to finalize the deal, my mother discovered another real estate agent was selling the same townhouse for 9 billion VND, 2 billion VND less than my friend’s asking price. Worried, I focused on researching and found out the other agent was selling it for only 8.5 billion VND. Even within the real estate agents themselves, the price difference was 3.5 billion VND. And compared to the homeowner’s asking price, I can’t imagine how much bigger the difference is. Real estate agents are just too greedy,” lamented Mr. Le Hoang.

Mr. Hoang added that with some of the properties he later found, there were also multiple prices, and these prices varied considerably.

Controversy surrounding "selling real estate through a trading platform"

In mid-April 2023, the real estate market was abuzz when the draft Law on Real Estate Business (amended) was discussed by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly at its specialized legal session in April 2023, on the morning of April 12th.

One of the new additions to the draft law compared to the current law is the provision for real estate transactions conducted through real estate exchanges.

The Standing Committee of the National Assembly's Economic Committee is concerned that requiring transactions to be conducted through real estate exchanges will create more intermediaries, increase transaction costs, and factor these costs into the transaction price.

At the same time, this regulation could potentially lead to the exploitation of legal provisions for monopolies or collusion between real estate exchanges and one of the parties involved in the transaction, disrupting the market and failing to accurately reflect supply and demand and prices.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Le Hoang offered his perspective as a consumer directly involved in real estate transactions: "I agree that this regulation may increase costs. But this additional cost might only be a small fraction of the price difference that real estate brokers have been inflating."

Mr. Le Hoang shared that if he had finalized the purchase of a townhouse from a real estate agent – ​​who is also his friend – he would have paid at least 3.5 billion VND more.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/kho-nhu-chu-nha-thoi-bat-dong-san-ngop-tho-da-cat-lo-lai-gap-co-an-tham-post255238.html