Real estate brokers' chaotic tricks to attract customers

Customers are "spinned like tops"

For the past few months, every weekend, Mr. Nguyen Tung (45 years old, residing in Dong Da District, Hanoi ) and his wife have been looking to buy a house. Currently living in a house in the city, the couple is saving up to sell all their assets to save money to buy a townhouse in a modern urban area.

Looking at some adjacent houses in suburban projects in the west of Hanoi such as Lideco, Hinode Park, Geleximco (Hoai Duc District), Mr. Tung was enthusiastically invited by many brokers. However, up to now, he and his wife have not yet decided on any house.

Loạn chiêu trò 'chăn' khách của môi giới bất động sản - Ảnh 1. — Nowadays, it is not easy for customers to buy villas and townhouses in the west of Hanoi because brokers have many "tricks".

"It's not that my husband and I are too picky, but every time we like a house, when we get to the final stage of bargaining, we feel like we're about to buy it, the broker tells us... someone has already deposited. There are ^even townhouses of about 100 square meters that they are advertising for 9 billion VND, I paid 8.7 billion VND but before we could close, just a few days later the broker tells us someone has closed, only 50 million VND more than my husband and I, if we want to buy it back, we have to pay 8.9 billion VND," Mr. Tung indignantly shared.

According to Mr. Tung, there were at least 3 times when he and his wife failed to buy the house like that. The details in the negotiation process were all similar: after viewing the house, agreeing, bargaining until the "final" stage, the difference between the two parties was only about 100 million VND, or at the stage of agreeing on whether the buyer or seller would pay the cost, then suddenly the car was "turned around".

Most recently, in early August, Mr. Tung closed the deal to buy a 120 ^m2 townhouse in Geleximco D area for 11 billion VND. When he came to pay the deposit, both the homeowner and the broker said they would have to increase the price by 300 million VND to sell because the market had "warmed up"; real estate was being supported and cleared by the Government and the State Bank.

Not agreeing to pay more, about a week later, Mr. Tung asked another broker about the same townhouse and was informed that the owner was selling it for 11.5 billion VND, but the negotiation was not more than 11.3 billion VND, because someone had offered up to 11 billion VND but the owner had not sold it yet.

Ms. Hoa, Mr. Tung's wife, questioned whether this was a "testing" tactic by brokers and homeowners when the real estate market was "frozen". People with real housing needs were taken advantage of by brokers and homeowners to test market demand.

The common trick of brokers and homeowners is to find every way to increase the selling price. Every time they connect with a broker to buy and sell in any urban area project or real estate area, customers are constantly "terrorized" with information that this house has just been bought or sold to stimulate the psychology of buying quickly before it is gone; the road is about to be completed, if they do not buy, the price will increase...

In the same situation, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hao (40 years old, residing in Cau Giay District, Hanoi) said that at the beginning of August, he had reached an agreement on the purchase price of a semi-detached villa in Geleximco B area for 15 billion VND. But when he met the homeowner to make a deposit, he was given a condition that he had to pay at least 70% within 1 week, if he could not meet the condition, he would not sell, which was very unfriendly.

"For nearly 4 months now, I have been looking to buy a villa or townhouse in the western area of Hanoi, but I have not been able to close the deal because I have been fooled by the "weird tricks" of brokers or homeowners at the projects. My friend, because he needed it urgently, had to pay nearly 400 million VND more to the broker to close the deal on a townhouse in the Ha Do Charm Villas project (An Thuong commune, Hoai Duc district). So, those who are really interested can only buy a house if they are willing to pay more money," said Mr. Hao.

According to research, the above "tricks" of real estate brokers are not only applied to townhouses and villas, but also to apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and land plots, which are very popular, putting people with real housing needs in a very difficult position to close the purchase or have to accept losing more money. Real estate prices are therefore also pushed up a lot.

Be alert to tricks

Ms. Nguyen Thu Hang (36 years old, residing in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi), a real estate broker who has changed her profession, said that normally, land brokers have many tricks to force buyers to buy at high prices. During the market crisis period of 2008 - 2012 or even now, to stimulate prices and push the market, many brokers do not hesitate to "join hands" to use tricks to "inflate" prices. Stories in the market like the cases of customers mentioned above are not rare. However, the "tricks" of brokers are increasingly diverse and sophisticated.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS), said that looking at the macro situation, it can be seen that the real estate market is still in difficulty. Liquidity, legality, capital sources, cash flow… have not improved. While many businesses are under pressure from maturing bonds, in the market, lending interest rates for real estate have not decreased.

"Banks have reduced interest rates but interest rates are still high. Not to mention, accessing credit capital at this stage is not easy, the review conditions are very strict; especially real estate is not a priority sector for loan consideration.

In addition, legal issues, laws governing and regulating real estate such as the Land Law, the Real Estate Business Law, the Housing Law, etc. have not yet been amended or supplemented. Based on those basic factors, it can be clearly seen that there is no clear motivation to say that real estate has "warmed up" and liquidity has improved," said Mr. Dinh.

According to Mr. Dinh, it is not uncommon for brokers to advertise that the real estate market has been "warming up" for a long time, and it happens frequently to create virtual waves. There are even groups of brokers, homeowners, and investors who do not hesitate to "shake hands" to buy and sell, and even present notarization to create virtual transactions, "left hand" selling to "right hand".

Homebuyers and investors need to be alert to the tricks of real estate brokers to avoid losing more money or having their goods "stuck", especially in a "frozen" market like now.

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