Henry Ng Tong Hoi: Property Agent

I tend to be a loyal customer. I've no problems using the same product for 20 years - Imperial Leather Soap, Colgate, Jeypine. This sort of unswerving customer loyalty extends service providers and suppliers too - lawyers, fishmongers and property agents.

For more than a decade, I was loyal to Adeline and her husband, a property agent pair. After a while, we had actually become rather good friends. Then one day, I found out that she had sold one of my properties for 100K less than the price my neighbour obtained for hers in the same month of sale. The thing about Adeline is that she hates to share her commission with another agent. Hence, if a direct buyer offers her a price 100K less than an indirect buyer (speaking through another agent), Adeline prefers to lower price because whilst I earn less she actually earns more.

Henry Ng Tong Hoi appeared just when I was nursing my little broken heart. It isn't easy to get over 100K. That's so much money to someone like me, who won't even buy handbags costing more than $40.

Henry lived in the same condominium as I did, and I often saw him in the pool... or lounging around in shorts. However, when he appeared at my apartment to show it to potential buyers, he would be all properly togged out in office wear. Having been bitten once by a lady called Adeline, I was twice shy about Henry serving his own interests before mine. He didn't try the Adeline Trick.

I think that those who are new to selling properties would appreciate Henry a lot. He takes his job as a consultant seriously. He did the market surveying and arrived with print-outs about market trends for my apartment, which, as I recall, Adeline and her husband never did. He came by to advise me how to present my house - the aircon should be switched off, this clutter should be cleared etc... Actually, I didn't need him to teach me all this because it wasn't the first property I was selling. But I can imagine how those who are new to selling properties would appreciate it.

Next, he proposed and explained his pricing strategy. On my side, I had decided to never trust another property agent again, so I checked up on everything he told me about trends and competitors. It's quite easy to get transaction prices nowadays on the internet especially if you don't mind paying a little. As marketing proceeded, Henry would make it a point to apprise me of every offer that came in... and he never tried to press me to sell at a lower price. Adeline had the habit of pressing down my price expectations.

I really liked Henry. I think I'll stay with Henry at 90181689 for the next 20 years...