The old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” could just as easily apply to the alliances that developers in Pattaya form with some of the city’s real estate brokers, writes Dave Buckley.
Substitute the word “trust” for “Rome” and the picture becomes clearer. Trust is earned over a period of time and, along with it, mutual respect develops.
Take the relationship that has grown between developers the Iguana Group and brokers Northern Thai over recent years.
I sat with the managing directors of both companies in Northern Thai’s new office in Jomtien. Iguana boss Miki Haim was keen to emphasise that his company have a high regard for brokers (“we love them,” he said) and is keen to ensure that the feeling is mutual.

Deliver promises
“We want agents to think of us as one of the more reliable developers both in how we interact with them and in the way we deliver on our promises overall,” said Miki.
“Agents need to be confident that the units they sell will actually be built so they do not disappoint their customers. We provide that confidence.
“We want agents to view us as being more reliable and with greater integrity than some of the developers they work with.”
Miki’s assertions were supported by Northern Thai MD John Seymour. He said: “Iguana are fantastic to deal with. They are very professional and I think they have the best agent support system of all the developers in town,” he said.
How does this support system work?
“Well, we are never short of brochures or promotional material to help promote sales of their projects,” said John. “And we get great support from their key accounts manager.
“Staff at Iguana are always ready to be present to supply information to help us complete a sale. But they never try to ‘take over’ the client from us.”
Miki is quick to admit that when Iguana arrived on the local scene a few years ago they had no credibility or track record to point to. That took time – and the completion of projects.
However, one impact they did have early on was to get brokers on their side by initiating a change in the commission structure paid to agents.
“They were one of the first developers here to offer really good commissions,” said John Seymour. “Five, six maybe seven years ago commissions were between half a percent and one-and-a-half percent. Iguana helped revolutionise all that and we were delighted.”

Timely payments
Miki Haim added that Iguana always pay commissions on time (some developers can take up to three months) and never quibble with an agent over which company “has” the client.
He explained: “Recently a customer bought one unit through an agent and then returned to buy another direct through us. When this was pointed out to me we paid commission to the agent straight away. The buyer was their client. We don’t play games with agents.”
Iguana do, however, produce projects that agents appreciate. The company currently offers condo units in Paradise Park, Sunset Boulevard and Hyde Park II. Northern Thai have little problem selling them.
John Seymour said: “Good quality, priced reasonably helps make it a whole lot easier for agents to achieve sales.”
The prices in the various projects vary, of course, but with one-bedroom units in Paradise Park in Jomtien starting at around the Bt1m mark you can understand why the Northern Thai team find it more easy to sell Iguana units.
Prices at Sunset Boulevard in Pratumnak are higher but you are not comparing like for like in room sizes or location. The first phase of Sunset is almost sold out and a second one is due to be announced in the near future.
Last word goes to Miki: “I don’t want to make it sound like we’re perfect. We’re not.
“Maybe we’re not the No 1 developer here. But, if we are only second that is good for me.
“But what we promise to do, we do. That’s why I think agents like to work with us and, together, we can make many customers happy with their purchases.” Ω