To date, we are working with 3 real estate agents and tomorrow we meet our fourth. In Hanoi it is not uncommon to work with several Realtors, even at the same time.
When we call a company to meet with a real estate agent, they will call us back about a time to meet to see houses. They have to call the owners, as the owners will have to meet us at the house (no lock boxes). We then decide on a meeting point - we never go to the real estate office.
When we go to see the house, if the agent we are working with is not the one listing the house, the person who listed it in their company also comes. As the owners are meeting us at the house, most of the time the agent is calling them as we leave one house to let them know we are coming to their house. Sometimes we have to wait for the owner to show up, as we get to the house before they do. Today we had to wait at one house for about 20 minutes.
Some of the houses we see are down very narrow alleys (enough room for two motorbikes to barely pass each other). When we get into an alley like that we immediately start thinking about how the piano will be moved. Getting to some houses is like going into a maze and we are thankful we are following the real estate agent back out.
Today we met with two different companies. The first one met us with two motorbikes. The agent was on a motorbike with a driver and Ann rode on the other motorbike with a driver and I rode our motorbike with Brittany. At times it felt like a motorbike group - with the roar of the three engines as we came off a small alley to the major road. Well, "roar" for motorbikes here.
The second agent was on a motorbike herself - and I had Ann and Brittany on ours. At the second house we saw with this agent - the owner let us know she has other houses that we could look at. A number of owners, whose houses we saw today, have one or more other houses. Amazing.
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