Room Tour #
I’m currently planning to relocate and recently went on a room tour near my workplace. The space I viewed was quite small with no windows and restricted to female tenants only. The landlord is an elderly gentleman who isn’t familiar with modern banking methods like recurring transfers or even ATMs. I contacted his agent after seeing the listing for 12.5k TWD per month.
Three days after touring the room, I made a counteroffer through the agent: I’d be willing to rent the space for 10k TWD if the landlord would agree to that price. Initially, I expected to be rejected immediately. After all, it seemed quite likely that the landlord could find someone willing to accept the full asking price of 12.5k TWD per month on a one-year lease within a three-month period, which would ultimately earn him more money than renting to me at my reduced rate.
However, the agent said he would discuss my offer with the landlord and hasn’t responded yet.
What Motivates Real Estate Agents? #
This situation reminded me of something from Freakonomics: agents are often more likely to accept lower offers than property owners themselves. The reasoning is that the marginal benefit of securing a higher price is relatively small compared to the time and effort invested in waiting for better offers. In this specific case, the agent would only earn an additional 2.5k TWD by continuing to show the property to many potential tenants. While that extra money has some value, maintaining landlord satisfaction might be more important.
For a small agent working within a larger agency, landlord satisfaction could be a crucial KPI. This makes me curious about the real motivations and interests of these agents and the agencies they represent. Are they truly working to maximize rental income, or are there other factors—like efficiency, relationship management, and long-term client retention—that take priority?
Understanding these dynamics could provide valuable insights for both renters negotiating deals and landlords setting realistic expectations about the rental process.