So I was house shopping and had found an agent to show me a few homes that looked promising. Since I didn't want to waste time, I had him line up a few in a row. I asked him if they were rented out currently, if the renter and owner were okay with the house visits, and making sure the time we scheduled was okay - to which he replied that there were no problems.

We went to see the first house which he said was vacant. Outside the house, he told us to say we were building inspectors (i think?). We thought something was wrong but we were already outside the complex so we followed him to the door. At the door, an American opened the door and asked why we were here. We kept silent and let the real estate guys talk, resulting in the renter calling the home owner. The home owner also had no idea we were visiting, though he verified that he actually hired these real estate guys to sell the home for him..

I decided to walk away from this visit. The real estate guys caught me walking away and told me that we can come back tomorrow because the owner's Ayi has a key. I yelled at them saying that someone is living there, all his personal things are there, and most importantly, they did not give permission- how is this ok??

Are all real estate agents like this? Is this legal in China? How can they lie to me so blatantly?

theorist wrote:Are all real estate agents like this? Is this legal in China? How can they lie to me so blatantly?

Oh boy. You are new, aren't you. Ah well...here goes...

Your concern and distress are entirely reasonable. The answer to all three questions above is: This Is China (TIC). Those three words explain everything.

The agent is not working for you. Actually, in this transaction, the agent is the "seller", the owner of the rental property is the "buyer", and you are just the "product". Once you understand this, the entire underpinning of the process should become clear to you.

In order to mitigate the effects of this situation, you need to get your own agent. Then, the dynamics are altered to make the landlord the "seller", you the "buyer", and the two agents - just revert to being "agents", as it should be.

Secondly, you must understand one of the most fundamental features of Chinese society: lying is not dishonourable. In fact, lying to save face is honourable, and lying to make money is considered the mark of an astute operator. In business, information is hoarded and never given freely, so you must basically disregard everything you are told until you see it in the form of a written contract (which you must never sign until you have had it independently checked).

As for legalities, anything is legal in China as long as one has guanxi (connections). As a foreigner, your guanxi can never rise above being poor to middling even if you have been here for decades. As a newbie, your guanxi is zero. Therefore anything you do which inconveniences the other side can be considered to be illegal, whereas everything they do is legal. Watch your step and do not openly challenge anything you are told, even if it blatantly obvious that they are lying through their teeth to you. Do you think they care that you know they are lying? They don't.

The above may seem highly depressing to you, but remember that in this complex and highly-evolved society, there is always a way to get things done. In this situation, the way to get things done is to secure the services of your own agent. DO NOT use a person assigned you by your company (unless it's an MNC). They will not be on your side.

PM me for a recommendation.

TIFC

Fify

tomorrow an american guy will create a thread that goes.. "My landlord is evicting me because he is selling his house." lol...

Haha, I decided to go with an agent my friend recommended instead. Hope all goes well. Thanks for the responses.

I wish I could tell that poor American guy to change his locks ASAP..

Miss Fugliness wrote:tomorrow an american guy will create a thread that goes.. "My landlord is evicting me because he is selling his house." lol...

Your and Idiot FUG... Go away

^Guess we found out who lives there...

nah, quite a lot but definitely not all.
Recently something similar has happened to a customer of ours, they're at home and some agent wanted to show the house, even said he had confirmed with the landlord.

I called the landlord who isn't selling, doesn't know anything about it, and went there with me to catch the guy.

Unfortunately they had already left when we arrived.

They're just showing you something so you believe they have something if there is nothing on the market, hoping that sooner or later something becomes available and you keep faith in them.
Or at least that's my theory