By Desmond Ng

YOU may be familiar with people hawking hi-fi speakers out of a van. Or even ice-cream.

But how about million-dollar properties?

A beat-up van pulled up into a car park lot in Siglap yesterday. Then a property agent began to assemble a make-shift table, some stools and two standees - much to the amusement of the lunchtime crowd.

He was quickly joined by five other agents.

Gave out brochures

These agents from Huttons real estate group then gave out brochures marketing Siglap V, a new condominium development along Siglap Road, that is expected to be launched next month.

The car park is at Upper East Coast Road, a five-minute walk from the new project.

The team leader in charge of marketing this project said it's not their first time doing a sales pitch at a car park and it had proven effective in the past.

He declined to be named, citing company policy, but claimed that his agents received two bookings over the weekend.

He said the two clients had given blank cheques, drawn in favour of the developer, to the agents to book a unit when it's launched.

When the project is launched, the agents will book the units on the clients' behalf, who will then be ahead of the queue.

He said: "Some agents do cold calls or send e-mails to invite potential buyers to condo previews. We prefer to do it this way."

One of Huttons' directors, who also didn't want to be named because of company policy, said the showflat will be ready next month.

So the agents are creating interest in this freehold project which will have 114 units. Prices start from about $600,000 for a 300 sq ft-plus studio apartment.

Said the director: "We're very careful not to disturb the people or harass them. We've done this before and we've not received any complaints from them or the authorities.

"They (the agents) are just handing out brochures and explaining the product."

Teacher Alfred Lim, 38, said he was surprised to see agents operating at a car park.

He said: "It's quite innovative, although I don't know if it'll work."

CB Richard Ellis estimates that as many as 14,500 new homes are expected to be sold this year, second to the record take-up of 14,811 units in 2007.

Turnaround

This is due to the unexpected turnaround in the property market in the middle of this year. PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said these informal roadshows are commonly done for new launches.

He said: "It's just another marketing tool. A person who is interested in this project may be eyeing it but won't have further details.

"And through a roadshow, he gets a better idea and probably gets the first bite during the preview because the developer will give priority to those who had registered their interest beforehand."

This article was first published in The New Paper.