[Janetw]

I understand from reading through previous threads that agents get a % of the monthly rent value from both the owner and the renter so it is not in their interest to lower the $$$ but is rent normally negotiated ?? We are due to move over and have a good package and in the UK an agent would rather have less commission that none at all.

We are coming over in Oct to have a look around.

Can anyone reccomend any good agents who will not take me to a whole heap of properties that are unsuitable.... when we looked in the UK they drove me mad.
I said how much budget I had and how many rooms we needed and I was shown stuff over budget/ less rooms/ not in the right areas etc etc. As I am short of time in the visit and I do not want to be charged with assulting an estate agent ....

[discobay]

I can only recommend one in Discovery Bay. Reply and I will pm you.

[KnowItAll]

Drop the folks over at Sallmanns at a line.

res@sallmanns.com

They're one of the better expat agencies in town.

Right now, with the property market booming and the number of expats being brought in on good terms, the agencies are partying like its 1997. Not sure how negotiable they would be. Does not hurt to try though.

[carang]

i negotiated agent's fees two years ago(during SARS), but i don't think many of them will budge on fees...

rent on the other hand, NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE, NEGOTIATE!!!
make sure you ask for everything you want...ie. new refrigerator, better air-cons... floors redone, etc. (of course it will depend on your budget. ie, if your budget is $6000/month you have less room to negotiate than if your budget was $60,000/month)...my aunt and uncle rent a house in sai kung country park. when they looked at it 5 years ago, it had no appliances at all... they asked for one of two things. 1) free rent for two months so they could buy the appliances that they liked(and keep them if they move) or 2) the landlorad buy...oven, fridge, washing machine, dryer, dish washer...
the landlord chose the first one...they were only paying $15,000/month (still are for a 2100' house with 5 bdrm, 4 bthrm, roof and 2 carparks)

[suzieqstar]

Hi Janet,

At the moment it is an extremely tight market, with no signs of slowing. With all the expats coming / returning to HK, there simply isn't the supply. We have been told over and over by several agents the range we are looking at ($40k, approx 1800 sq ft) is reaaaally tough, but that said there seems to be pressure on all areas of the market. Less so if you have a mega fat housing package.

We arrived 2 mths ago and I have been 'hard out' looking 6 weeks and hope to finally sign a lease today..... thank god!!! Managed to secure an inclusive deal (above budget) with another 1k off as we will supply washing machine - no worries there! The property we have secured is 30% more than last year. The property I really wanted had people offering 10% over asking price and the asking was our absolute top price.....no chance!

All that said it depends on what your budget/ requirements are and where you want to live!

From my experience definitely go with an expat agency. I had a local agent working overtime for me, but showing me crap and then the odd potential appt. Where as an expat agent generally won't waste your time showing you stuff off spec, plus there is less chance of a communication breakdown.... which can be soooo frustrating.....

Good luck!!!

[Badzoo]

Do you think that ask a HK friend to negociate would be better? I was thinking that agency for expat would sometimes try to take your more money than a local one as usually, expat are quite rich (it's my feeling, I don't say that everybody is and I know that there is expat less rich, which is probably my case..)

[KnowItAll]

>> I was thinking that agency for expat would sometimes try to
>> take your more money than a local one as usually

Standard commission is half a month's rent. What makes you think they charge more? Not heard of any that do ...

Some of the better ones work harder for the commission than the locals. Having said that, if you have time and you're on a budget, the local agencies have better listings in the lower / middle tiers.

Then you have arseholes like Treasureland who do nothing but create hassles .. *years* after the first contact with them -- but then they're local idiots who pose as "expat experts"

[shoho]

I used the local agents, went in the 3 main ones in the midlevels area. After 5 minutes in each office I realised that they all had exactly the same properties for rent so went back to the first one.

After the first day the local agent knew my requirements and did not waste my time, they are used to dealing with expats. See as many as you can in the first day, and make clear what you do and dont like.

Ended up putting an offer in on two properties. The first one, was taken off the rental market and put up for sale instead, the second one refused my offer which was 7k under the asking price, I increases my offer by 2K and they still refused. I walked away, and started looking at new flats, and 5 days later the second flat accepted my offer 5K under the asking price.

I also know the landlady had an offer of the asking price for two single australian guys on the same property, but she refused and took our offer as we were a couple!

So once you have found the property you like, you still might not get it!

Also check out the buildings first, on www.hongkonghomes.com you can look at all the buildings within a certain area, look at floor plans and pictures. The apartment we ended up in was in one of the buildings I liked from the website.

Also make sure you have the deposit/first months rent in a HK bank account with a cheque book, you cannot use a visa debit card and a bank transfer from UK can take around 5 working days.

[Badzoo]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

>> I was thinking that agency for expat would sometimes try to
>> take your more money than a local one as usually

Standard commission is half a month's rent. What makes you think they charge more? Not heard of any that do ...

Some of the better ones work harder for the commission than the locals. Having said that, if you have time and you're on a budget, the local agencies have better listings in the lower / middle tiers.

Then you have arseholes like Treasureland who do nothing but create hassles .. *years* after the first contact with them -- but then they're local idiots who pose as "expat experts"

I dunno, it may be the way they are agressing you sometimes for renting this or that flat. So I thought that they would be working only for (your) money. I was not aware of the standard fees too..
My gf complained that her agent was too "commercial". I should go to an expat agent once to see, but still waiting for earning enough money to aford a rent in Hk.

Anyway, just for the rent, we should always try to negociate

[tonyaki]

agents fees can be negotiated... my agent offered to reduce his commission by 1500 because the landlord refused to budge on the price..