The Pain And Frustrations Of Realtors In Pattaya.

By Town and Country Property Pattaya

The anxiety and stress. Who doesn’t want to be a real estate agent? These guys have a great life – easy job – big money – nice cars… wow! They don’t even need a license to operate their property agency: Isn’t that convenient? Everyone can do it! And such an easy job: Just bring a client to see a home or condo. If the client likes it, they buy or rent it and the deal is done! FAT commission into the pocket of the agent. That’s real easy money!

Yes, it is the ideal dream job for those adventurous hit’n’run cowboys that want to be quick-cash millionaires!

However, the average life of a real estate broker in Thailand sucks.“Yeah, right” I hear you say but here’s the reality: No matter how efficient you are, most of your daily business remains unpaid. No matter how organized are, you are still regarded as sloppy. No matter how honest you are, you can still be considered untrustworthy. Why are most brokers classed as “used car salesmen”? Why do most people not feel sorry for them and think that’s a description they really deserve…?

Imagine you own a shop with every shelf, fully stocked, and a perfect inventory ready to sell. Your shop is open all day, properly staffed with friendly employees looking after your inventory. They keep everything fresh and clean, and you work hard to motivate them to keep your customers happy. You are on call 24/7 with your fully stocked shop but your inventory has unpredictable expiry dates. Stuff keeps going missing…how frustrating!

You market your products with advertising campaigns, websites, on social media etcetera. When there’s finally a client that visits your shop who would like to have one of your products (3rd from the bottom on the top shelf), you proudly pull it out and ask if he wants it wrapped or as a surprise gift? Then DISASTER hits! It has passed its expiry date. It can no longer be sold./the client is not happy as you can imagine. “You are a jerk”, is what the client thinks when he walks out of your shop.

Realtors in Thailand source and maintain an inventory with homes and condos for sale and rent, mostly on a “nonexclusive” basis. This means that a similar portfolio is also kept by multiple other agents. All of them going through the same procedures: Sourcing (farming), intake, photoshoot, listing, branding, promoting, advertising – the drill. All unpaid for.

Yet, there’s only one that makes it to the finish line and sells the property.“First come, first served” as they say. It is called an “open listing” system. How great is that? – It’s not.

How frustrating, if you keep hundreds of “products” in-store and you only sell 3-4% of them?

Glad you agree.

Now let’s look at it from another point of view- yours. You are looking for a property and have finally made it to 5-6 different websites, all claiming to be the best and biggest realtors around town. You make your inquiries. Only some respond in a timely fashion. Strange, but true. Some might not respond at all. Strange, but true.

From the properties, you select 50-70% are no longer available. Strange, but true.

You start to wonder why all these minions still advertise “old properties” that are no longer available? Clickbait? Laziness? Are they unprofessional? Dumb? Or a combination of both?

You start to understand it doesn’t require a license to operate a real estate agency. Strange, but true. With this system of “open listings” there is no “win-win” situation, is there?

Seems a “lose-lose” situation instead. You can’t really blame the agent for not having his portfolio 100% in order, can you? I mean: If you have sold yours, would you then inform all listing agents that your property is no longer available? You might say: “Yes, I would”, most others however do NOT. Such is the pain and frustration of realtors in Pattaya!