'Letting go' of brokerage activities causes 'disturbance' in the real estate market

Messy invitation information

In need of buying land in Quan Bau area to build a house, Mr. Dau Dinh Q, living in the military housing area in Nghi Kim (Vinh City) posted on real estate buying and selling groups (pages introducing real estate). Immediately after that, he received dozens of phone calls inviting, introducing, and consulting about real estate in the area he was looking for.

In addition, many companies and brokers also sent emails, Zalo, and Facebook to introduce land plots in many places with attractive offers. In the midst of that information matrix, he accepted a broker's invitation to go see the land.

According to this employee's introduction, land in the area is "hot" because there are many projects being implemented; there is a 72m road running through it, close to administrative areas... But when he learned about the introduced land himself, he realized that the broker's words were far from reality: That land is not located near the planning area; it is several kilometers away from the 72m road, quite far from the administrative center...

Since the 72m road was built, real estate in some places in Vinh City and Hung Nguyen District has fluctuated a lot. Photo: Lam Tung

Grasping the rising demand for real estate transactions, along the roads, on tree trunks, high-voltage lamp posts, traffic light poles and construction fences, signs, flyers and posters are hung and pasted with the content "land for sale by owner", "land for sale for project", "land for sale for business in Vinh market", "land for sale by the sea" with attractive offers such as: Beautiful land, cheap price, red book by owner, permanent pink book, price from 300 million VND/lot, free land viewing and phone numbers of land brokers, etc.

In addition, just posting information "Looking to buy land; buy a house; rent a premises"... on a personal page or Zalo will receive dozens of phone calls, hundreds of comments inviting and consulting. At the same time, many people post information about selling land and apartments online, showing that real estate brokerage activities are currently "a hundred flowers blooming".

Flyers and posters advertising land plots and project land are hung everywhere. Photo: Thanh Phuc

A person working in the real estate sector in Vinh City said that currently, besides reputable trading floors and brokers with business registration and practice certificates, the majority are still seasonal "land brokers" who operate in a business-like manner. In particular, many companies and real estate trading floors recruit employees and collaborators who are workers, civil servants, teachers, students, freelancers, etc. to work.

This recruitment does not require monthly salary, and can be effective thanks to the relationships of these collaborators. Although this team is mobile everywhere, sometimes they do not understand the market, analyze, forecast the market, orient customers and have a firm grasp of related knowledge as well as limited laws. There are real estate floors with up to 50-70 employees, but only 5-7 people have real estate brokerage certificates.

Besides, the number of people working independently in the field of real estate brokerage is quite large, but the provision of knowledge and professional ethics for this group is very limited. That is also a reason leading to the "noise" of the real estate market.

Currently, in the province, there are only 32 real estate trading floors licensed by the Department of Construction. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In the province at present, although there has not been any large-scale fraud, nor has it caused confusion or disturbance in the market, causing virtual fevers in real estate transactions, there have been some inappropriate phenomena.

Firstly, due to the nature of the work, income is based on commission in the form of product contracts, selling many lots and land, the commission is high, high income. Therefore, in order to sell a lot, it is necessary to solicit, advertise, "exaggerate" project information; misleading, inaccurate information about location, price or information about real estate law, planning... with the purpose of "attracting customers".

For example, that plot of land is located near a planning area, near a certain project, but the future for the project on paper to become reality is still far away, but the customer is advised that the project is about to be implemented; or in the planning, that plot of land is located dozens of kilometers away from the market, the bridge, the road, but it is "advertised" that there is a road, a bridge going through... to "paint" the item for sale with information that is not true to reality.

Second, many entities do not provide transparency in project information, causing customers to “buy the wrong thing”. For example, in many previous projects, due to the frozen market, the State created conditions for individuals to borrow money from banks, which clearly stated: “Until the house is built, it cannot be transferred”.

However, when consulting customers, brokers are not transparent about this information, only saying in general terms that "there is a cover". Many people do not research carefully so they buy for investment, but when they need to sell, they are caught up in the above regulations and cannot sell.
Third, there are many people who are temporarily called “land brokers” who operate freely and spontaneously as “informants” and “connectors” to bring customers to see the land and then collect a fee of 200,000 - 300,000 VND per visit. But in reality, there are many “virtual” pieces of land, and “brokers” connect customers to get paid.

Land prices in many places are heating up day by day, partly due to land brokers exaggerating information about planning and projects. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The whole province has only 152 people with real estate brokerage certificates.

Mr. Nguyen The Phiet - Head of Housing Management and Real Estate Market, Department of Construction said: Currently, there are 31 licensed real estate trading floors in the province, of which 2 floors have written requests to terminate operations, namely Trung Do Real Estate Trading Floor and SaigonSky Real Estate Trading Floor. The list of licensed real estate trading floors is posted on the electronic information portal of the Department of Construction. The Department has also granted real estate brokerage practice certificates to 152 people.

However, currently, many real estate trading floors seek to "circumvent the law" between real estate transactions and real estate consulting to avoid related regulations, causing difficulties in the process of checking and handling violations.

On the other hand, the issuance of real estate brokerage practice certificates is under the authority of the Department of Construction, but there is no mandatory sanction for whether or not brokers register to study and take exams to obtain the certificate.

A real estate transaction point. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Meanwhile, according to Article 62 of the Law on Real Estate Business, individuals have the right to conduct independent real estate brokerage services, which causes many difficulties in management. In addition, the real estate brokerage team is licensed by the Department of Construction of other provinces and cities to operate in the province, making management and supervision difficult.

To solve the above shortcomings, there should be some synchronous solutions: Promote training, grant brokerage certificates, and manage real estate floors for practitioners; for real estate trading floor managers, real estate trading floor directors need to raise the qualification standards to graduate from college or higher; There should be specific regulations to manage individuals practicing independent real estate brokerage.

In order to tighten real estate brokerage activities, recently, the Department of Construction has issued many documents directing the real estate market, including real estate brokerage activities: Document No. 576/2018 "on rectifying real estate business in housing construction investment projects"; Document No. 2519/2018 "on rectifying buying and selling activities, capital mobilization in housing construction investment projects, urban areas"; Document No. 2578/2019 "on requiring strict implementation of legal provisions on real estate and housing business".