A question I was going to ask an REA ...

[Kevmeister]

Have been looking at houses for sale in my area. Called an agent today about one of them. Probably needs a revamped kitchen and possibly bathroom, even though I haven't inspected the place yet, but that's another story.

The price seems about $20K-ish too high for me. Perhaps even more. It's an ex-rental property currently untenanted.

I was tempted to ask the agent on the phone the following question:

"Do you think an independent valuation would put the price of this property around $265,000?" (ie. the asking price).

Some sense of politeness prevented me from asking... Is is worth asking something like this - anyone think I'll get an honest answer?

I guess I'm still coming to grips with talking to agents - (which perhaps means I should prepare myself a checklist of questions to ask real estate agents).

I also asked the question "How negotiable are the vendors on price" which got "deflected", along the lines of "well, all you can do is put an offer in...".

 

[see_change]

Kevin

Practice , practice , practice.

We started looking for a PPOR in mid 2001. This was about six months after discovering this forum and concepts like low balling .

We went around and looked at a lot of houses and made low offers on houses that we were only vagley interested in , to see how we reacted to giving and how the agents reacted to our offers.

If you only make offers on houses that are ones you really want you don't get the chance to sit back and watch the process unemotionally , however if you're making an offer on something you don't care about ... it makes it a whole new ball game.

We were told that offers were too low and they wouldn't be passed on . We told them they had a legal obligation to ( not sure if they do , but they seemed to believe us ).

We had several other replies as well. Usually there was a pause after the "I know they want more than that " ( who doesn't ) while they tried to get us to give an immediate increase. Followed by "we'll pass it on".

When there are no emotions involved , it can be an interesting and informative way to spend a day or too.

see change

 

[bundy1964]

Originally posted by Kevmeister
The price seems about $20K-ish too high for me. Perhaps even more. It's an ex-rental property currently untenanted.

I was tempted to ask the agent on the phone the following question:

"Do you think an independent valuation would put the price of this property around $265,000?" (ie. the asking price).

Hi Kev

I would offer the 20K-ish under the quoted price at least. Offering 30K under may get you a line drawn in the sand as to what an acceptable offer would be. If the bottom line is too high then it is time to walk away from the deal which may make them chase you and that puts you in a better position.

bundy

 

[asy]

By all means, ask...

In fairness, they probably won't know what the valuer will say, but it's always worth the question.

Agents and valuers price things in differrent manners. As you know, the valuer must be confident that their price is achievable and definate. And agent will tell you what they believe the market will bring. The agent gives you a price including market sentiment, and a valuer excludes it.

I guess it's like the differrence between analytical/fundamental trading and technical/predictive trading.

asy