Togo Overpaid Real Estate Agents

post from Andy HoboTraveler.Com Travel Blog on 20 July 2007 11:01:00 PM. © Andy HoboTraveler.Com Travel Blog

Togo Overpaid Real Estate Agents
Lome, Togo West Africa
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com

I laugh at myself, this applies to me, and I was an overpaid Real Estate Broker or Agent in the USA. The value of the work I did was less than the amount of money I received.

This is the system of Togo Real Estate Sales and Rental of Home and Property. There are these chalkboards as best I understand all over the country of Togo and on the board is two sides, one is the homes for sale and other is the homes for rent, not that simple but you get the idea.

My friend Walt, so perfectly explained Real Estate, I can never stop laughing, he said,
- There are two things people think they are experts at, Sex and Real Estate, and there are two things they are never expert at, Sex and Real Estate. -

There are joke about the job of a Real Estate Agent, one is the comment,
- The person I pay to find the key and open the door. -

If you ask a Real Estate Agent what they do, they will probably say something close to this, I show people homes or real property. Then according to the agents understanding of Real Estate law, they will slice and dice the jargon.

Sadly this is true, 90 percent of real estate agents are in Key Management.

In Togo and as best I know, most of the planet is the same, for sure Mexico is the same, the only other place I have been involved in an Real Estate transactions, it has been ten years, I hope Mexico has change, but I highly doubt it. In Togo and Mexico agents do Key Management only.

Money, this is all about claims to money, or commissions. Agents fight over clients, who showed the property. This fighting over the showing of a property is the proof of key management, if they are fighting over who showed the property, they are fighting over key management, not over what should be their jobs, the arbitration between two groups and the creation of a valid enforceable contract.

A fight over commissions is some of the best fun I have experienced in my life, one of the most hilarious comedies of errors, when watching idiots fight it is maximum fun, like watching the Three Stooges.

PHASES of transaction in the USA.

1. Key Management or showing the property.
2. Signing an agreement or contract to rent or purchase.
3. Closing or signing the lease or contract.
4. Handing the keys to the buyer or renter.

TOGO?
They skip step 2, as it is verbal.

This means, the Agent is 100 percent in the Key Management business and almost worthless.

The closing is done here at the office of a Notary, this is more like a Lawyer in actual practice, and this is another comedy. You can agree to a list of conditions and the Notary will then go and change all of the conditions here in Togo. Then the negotiations start again, I get to negotiate with the Notary.

More or less this is his method of negotiations:
- Sign the lease and shut up, I do not want hear you talk, give me the money. -

Which reminds me of what Agents call a good closing Agent in the USA. I have never had a difficult closing, I have difficult offers to purchase and this is where the problems are meant to be resolved, not at closing. If there is a problem at closing 100 percent, sure the agent performed negligently. A bad agent loves a good strong closing agent to finish the job they never did, so they can make money they did not deserve.

Solution here in Togo. I have learned how to write a Lease in French, and I now have a Buyers Representation written in French. What makes this even more fun is there is no legal obligation of any type to pay the agent, other than the local custom of paying him one months rent. If I rented a property for 50 dollars per month, then I would need to pay 50 dollars.

I rent a room for one month, the agent wanted one month? hehehe.
I gave him one day.

My buyer?s representation contract pays him a fee for every home he finds that I go and see, if I do not go and see, I do not pay, and there is no commission, only the fee now.

What a mess, and what fun, however the great part, I can pay him what I believe is fair and not pay attention to what he said. The sad part is 90 percent of the white people now screw the agents out of commissions, because all things being equal both the buyers and the agents are crooks, not just the agent.

I have it easy, I am not a crook, I pay fair fees for fair services, and I do not allow words to get in the way, I will explain managing the keys is an annoying job, best done by the guard in front of the door and guit extortion does not work on me.

I personally think buying land outside my home country is rarely needed and 99 percent of the time stupid. Renting a home or land can be of value, however best done by a lawyer, not by humans, and the lawyer needed to go to Harvard, and top in his class, specializing in Real Estate, when I think there is not specialization in Real Estate law at Harvard.

What am I paying the Agent now? I am paying 20 US dollars to find the keys, name of owner and the telephone number of the owner. I must look at the property or I do not owe a fee, note I said fee, not commission.

Andy Real Estate History and Boring to Read:

I was a Real Estate Broker for 14 years, however, I became a Broker to buy, not to sell, and therefore I have not special love of Real Estate Agents. I became a Real Estate Broker because I did not like Brokers. If you buy a home, there are two Agents in involved, the Sellers Agent and the Buyers Agent.

I became a Broker to remove one of the idiots in the food chain. I became a Broker to be my own Buyers Agent. If I sold a home to myself, I saved half the commission. Therefore, if a home cost 100,000 and the commission was six percent or 6000 US dollars, I was paid 3000 and the net down payment needed was 3000 less.

I am also a Real Estate Broker or Sales instructor, which also bridges on insanity, because I did not teach people how to sell, I taught Real Estate Law or Real Estate Terminology and maybe 1 percent sales.

Togo Overpaid Real Estate AgentsClick Here to Read Blog Online Write letters to Andy

Read The Full Article:
http://www.hobotraveler.com/2007/07/togo-overpaid-real-estate-agents.html

Digg this

Jobs, Job sites and Recruitment Agencies

post from Mad About Shanghai on 20 July 2007 10:33:00 PM. © Mad About Shanghai

Recently, I have been receiving quite some mails from our readers relating to recommendations for job sites and recruitment agencies.

While there are numerous Shanghai / China job sites around, these are the few more reputable ones I would recommend, for reasons of database quality, ease of search and language options between Chinese and English:

1) www.zhaopin.com
2) www.chinahr.com
3) www.51jobs.com

For executive search and recruitment, you can try these 2 agencies:
1) www.wang-li.com
2) http://china.hudson.com/

(If anyone know of better ones, please let me know or post them in the comments sections. This might help some of our readers out there looking for a job in China)

Wang Li is the only executive agency in Shanghai I had prior contact with.

Some time back, I was approached by them for a senior position in a Fortune 100 US MNC in Southern China. My bio with them was one from 2 years ago, but they still managed to locate me. Subsequently, I cleared 5 rounds of interviews with the company, only to have them pull the plug due to a headcount freeze. No big deal I thought, cos I wasnt looking to move to the south anyway. Nonetheless, shortly after the recruiters in Wang Li knew about this, they came back to me with another prospective job and handled everything thoroughly.

Overall, I would say, throughout the entire arrangements, the Wang Liheadhunters had been very responsive and professional. They gave somepretty useful tips and advices throughout the interview processes too.

And if you have to know, I didnt accept the other job due to the smaller scale level. Anyway, thats another matter altogether.

There is another category of that of readers as well that asked for tips on securing jobs in Shanghai. They want to relocate to Shanghai but at the same time, speak little / no Chinese and doesnt have considerable work experience.

For these readers, my advices are:

1) Dont give up, keep looking. I have seen many cases of people with no Chinese language skills or work experience find good jobs in Shanghai.

2) Present your value proposition to the hiring manager clearly during the interview. Tell him how your "foreign skills" can help the company.

3) You might want to start the job search with with MNCs, embassies and companies from your country of origin. Generally, chances are better.

4) Never underestimate the power of networking in China. Word of mouth recommendations from friends can go a long way.

Happy job hunting!

Read The Full Article:
http://www.madaboutshanghai.com/2007/07/jobs-job-sites-.html

Digg this

Summer Swimsuits In Japan

post from Japan Probe on 20 July 2007 09:44:35 PM. © Japan Probe

A couple Mezamashi TV model girls [who, unlike the girls in the previous post, are of legal age] show us this summer’s popular swimsuits:

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JapanProbe/~3/135820804/

Digg this

Japan Photo of the Week: Inside Ride

post from Japan Probe on 20 July 2007 09:24:03 PM. © Japan Probe

Next to (and kind of part of) the Tokyo Dome is LaQue, a shopping, dining, and entertainment center. Besides having my favorite yakiniku restaurant, Jojoen, LaQue has this really interesting roller coaster ride that goes through the building and the “world’s first center-less ferris wheel.”At first I felt like this place was a little [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JapanProbe/~3/135815203/

Digg this

TV Report On The U-15 (Junior Idol) Boom In Japan

post from Japan Probe on 20 July 2007 09:17:48 PM. © Japan Probe

Yesterday, NTV’s Real Time News aired a report on the U-15 idol phenomenon, in which companies are producing photo books and DVD’s of girls under the age of 15 in skimpy clothing and sexually suggestive poses. The anchors describe this new trend as a problem and the report takes a critical look at [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/JapanProbe/~3/135815204/

Digg this

Le Centre Sheraton Hotel Last-Minute Summer Sale

post from TravelPost.com Insider on 20 July 2007 07:35:00 PM. © TravelPost.com Insider

Heading to Montreal this summer? Le Centre Sheraton Hotel is having a last-minute sale on its regular room rates. Use the rate code 2007SALE when making reservations through the hotel web site to save $50 off the regular room rate. That brings the nightly rate to $139. The hotel is only offering 139 rooms at [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.travelpost.com/2007/07/20/le-centre-sheraton-hotel-last-minute-summer
-sale/

Digg this

Recap: Best Maps of the Week

post from Gridskipper on 20 July 2007 04:40:35 PM. © Gridskipper

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gridskipper/full/~3/135755273/best-maps-of-the-week-28
0783.php

Digg this

All stations to wedded bliss

It's just taken over two and a half hours to get home from Gatwick this evening (Gatwick Express is a misnomer, District Line to Richmond screwed with NO replacement buses), and I'm not best pleased with public transport, so it's nice to hear of a pleasant Tube story rather an one based on delays and today's strike action.

Raj Dabasia the station control operator at Paddington proposed to his girlfriend Nimisha Siyani, over the public address system, while she waited on the Circle line platform for her train to work. He then went on to the platform in front of cheering passengers, got down on one knee and gave her a ring. He said "I had planned a proposal in a hot air balloon in June, but bad weather prevented that".

Luckily, bad weather wasn't used as an excuse to stop the Tube today, and luckily he chose the morning otherwise his girlfriend would have been making an alternative route home as the Circle line was screwed this evening. By the way, she said yes.

I will be in the sunny (I hope) South of France for the next week or so, so can happily say bollox to the Tube. Look out for the new sponsorship of buskers on the London Underground from Monday (the londonpaper & Capital FM: "We want to establish buskers as individuals and champion the role they play in making everyone?s journey more entertaining", they said). Apparently breakfast DJ Johnny Vaughan will be busking on Monday morning too, so please give him some foreign coins if you happen to be going past his spot.

Read The Full Article:
http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2007/07/all-stations-to-wedded-bliss.html

Digg this

Los Angeles: Marisa DiMattia's Guide to Getting
Inked in LA

Marisa DiMattia is the ultimate go-to source for all things tattoo. The globe-trotting New York lawyer and writer is co-founder and editor of Needled.com, which includes videos, photo galleries, and a forthcoming online community for tattoo aficionados. The Needled blog offers a daily record of tattoo culture ranging from news and events to artist profiles and reviews. This modern Greek goddess sports full sleeves, an elaborate backpiece, and much more. Most of her tattoos are custom blackwork done by her husband, acclaimed blackwork tattoo specialist Daniel DiMattia of Calypso Tattoo. Marisa keeps busy developing Needled, consulting for international law firms, and helping run Calypso with Dan. Somehow she found the time to put together her ultimate guide to getting inked in Los Angeles. While she could have included many more (Mister Cartoon is missing, solely because of his rapper and rock star-filled waiting list), here are 10 of Marisa DiMattia's top tattoo shops in LA.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gridskipper/full/~3/135746439/marisa-dimattias-guide-t
o-getting-inked-in-la-279977.php

Digg this

The TSA Says Yes to Breast Milk and Lighters

What a combo: breast milk and lighters. Normally, the two have very little in common, save their liquid contents. But the two are appearing in headlines together now that the TSA has announced that as of Aug. 4, 2007, both common lighters and quantities of breast milk over 3 oz. will be permitted in carry-on [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://blog.travelpost.com/2007/07/20/the-tsa-says-yes-to-breast-milk-and-lighter
s/

Digg this