Best agent recommendations or sell privately?

Hi all,

I am looking to sell my 1 bd unit in Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, QLD, and sitting on the fence as to whether save some $$$ on commission and sell privately, or get an agent.

I've done some research, and found a number of companies that will get my add on realestate.com.au and I have the time to take people through, have access to all the facts about the property, or can get them, can get pro photos done for free by a friend, so the costs come down to pretty much the ad and contract. From research, what threw me off selling privately is that given a good agent is selected, they can potentially negotiate a price up, thereby covering some of not all of their commission, or that's one way to look at, and no hassle there with the agent. On the other hand, I will have to pay for advertising if I go with an agent anyway...

On the other hand, I've done some research on how to select an agent, so I know it is best to pretend to be buyer at first, go to open homes, check realestate.com.au for recent sales to see which agency and agent in particular sold most of the similar properties, and check current listings for best ad presentation, request information from them on how many sales they done lately, how long their properties were on the market, what was the initial and final price, their approach to marketing and whether I am comfortable with that, etc.

So, can someone either recommend an agent that they've sold through recently and were pleased with them or share their experience at selling privately?

Would greatly appreciate your responses :)
 
Hi Ivanka,

I was trying to think about negative points of selling privately, and this is what I came up with:

1. When a buyer sees, that the property is for sale by owner, he/she expects a bargain price. They assume that you will sell your property much cheaper than market price, as you are saving on commissions (commission might be $7K, but discount expectation would be be for around $15K :) ).

2. Buyers will tell you all the nasty things about your property and the property location. They do it to negotiate the price down. Those negative comments are not easy to take. Some sellers give in and discount the property heavily.

3. Forget about your weekends.

4. If the property has tenant, you will have to deal with a grumpy and unhappy person. :)

If you are tough enough to deal with them, then do the private sale. At least you will have a bit of fun. :) You can always change your mind and hire an agent to sell your property for you.
 
Thank you for your response, Genia! Certainly, these are factors to consider when thinking about selling privately. I am in process of selecting an agent, never been comfortable with sales people, but what has to be done, has to be done...

Still yet to make a decision regarding which way to go, but next week should be making a decision.

Would love to hear more thoughts, recommendations, opinions, anything!
 
Hi all,

I am looking to sell my 1 bd unit in Kangaroo Point, Brisbane, QLD, and sitting on the fence as to whether save some $$$ on commission and sell privately, or get an agent.

I've done some research, and found a number of companies that will get my add on realestate.com.au and I have the time to take people through, have access to all the facts about the property, or can get them, can get pro photos done for free by a friend, so the costs come down to pretty much the ad and contract. From research, what threw me off selling privately is that given a good agent is selected, they can potentially negotiate a price up, thereby covering some of not all of their commission, or that's one way to look at, and no hassle there with the agent. On the other hand, I will have to pay for advertising if I go with an agent anyway...

On the other hand, I've done some research on how to select an agent, so I know it is best to pretend to be buyer at first, go to open homes, check realestate.com.au for recent sales to see which agency and agent in particular sold most of the similar properties, and check current listings for best ad presentation, request information from them on how many sales they done lately, how long their properties were on the market, what was the initial and final price, their approach to marketing and whether I am comfortable with that, etc.

So, can someone either recommend an agent that they've sold through recently and were pleased with them or share their experience at selling privately?

Would greatly appreciate your responses :)

Going through the exact same myself now and have opted to give it a crack myself first, what have I got to lose?

I think a lot depends on the dwelling and area too. I'll be selling 2 dwellings in 2 vastly different areas this year but both are quality dwellings in fast moving and popular areas so I figure they'll probably sell themselves to an extent.

Good Luck.
 
Going through the exact same myself now and have opted to give it a crack myself first, what have I got to lose?

I think a lot depends on the dwelling and area too. I'll be selling 2 dwellings in 2 vastly different areas this year but both are quality dwellings in fast moving and popular areas so I figure they'll probably sell themselves to an extent.

Good Luck.

Thank you littletee! This gives me a bit more confidence that I am not the only one thinking of going at it alone. How are you planning to advertise and it through whom? There are so many companies I've found online that promise to put the ad on realestate.com.au and other sites for various different prices, that its a bit of puzzle which to choose.

One other thing that we may need to consider, is that if we don't sell our selves, than we need to pay twice for marketing of the property. But I suppose it is worth a shot!
 
Best to hand it professionals.. it takes out emotions out of calculation.

Thank you for your input mlying! Sure, professionals are certainly better at it, but there are so many things that raise the flag even when you are trying to pick one... For example, every agent I spoke to so far tries to bypass quoting a price, thereby taking a little insurance policy out for themselves that they may sell it for cheap as chips just to close the deal and pocket the commission. On top of that most agents "recommend" a marketing plan worth around $2k+. So one has to wonder - do they want to market it as much as possible (at your expense) to get a quick sale (for their benefit)?
 
Thank you littletee! This gives me a bit more confidence that I am not the only one thinking of going at it alone. How are you planning to advertise and it through whom? There are so many companies I've found online that promise to put the ad on realestate.com.au and other sites for various different prices, that its a bit of puzzle which to choose.

One other thing that we may need to consider, is that if we don't sell our selves, than we need to pay twice for marketing of the property. But I suppose it is worth a shot!

Haven't chosen yet but it'll be b/w realprivate and buymyplace - my cousin sold her place recently through buymyplace and she got top dollar for hers and had a good experience. Are there other companies than the attached that you know of that can put it on realestate.com.au?

I've already sold 2 places myself easily, there's no way I'd pay an Agent $30k to this is on my behalf but I will use them for pre valuations, tips etc before I put it on market :)
 
My mother was a successful (albeit retired) REA but when time can to sell her PPOR she used an agent. The $30K mentioned in the previous post would be for a sale considerably over $1M in Brisbane (without doing the math - I am still in bed :D).

I understand the desire to save agent fees but a good agent will almost certainly get you more than you will get yourself IMHO.
 
My mother was a successful (albeit retired) REA but when time can to sell her PPOR she used an agent. The $30K mentioned in the previous post would be for a sale over $1M in Brisbane (without doing the math - I am still in bed :D).

I understand the desire to save agent fees but a good agent will almost certainly get you more than you will get yourself IMHO.

Correct Wylie - it'll be for 2 properties equalling around $1.2M

Understand the above but knowing the market that I'm selling and my properties, I highly doubt an Agent will be able to get more than what I'll be able to sell privately as to make up the $30k. Each to their own I guess.
 
Good luck with your choice.

A REA giving you a price means nothing, unless they are buying it. The price is determined by the market. What you should be looking at how and why they market properties in a certain way and how they negotiate.

Anyone can sell their own property but saving 10k might cost you more, otherwise why hire an agent?
 
Good luck with your choice.

A REA giving you a price means nothing, unless they are buying it. The price is determined by the market. What you should be looking at how and why they market properties in a certain way and how they negotiate.

Anyone can sell their own property but saving 10k might cost you more, otherwise why hire an agent?

Thanks, but I'm pretty confident I know my market well and pretty much what they should go for. I've research my areas for years and keep researching it constantly so fairly confident I'll be infront :)
 
Correct Wylie - it'll be for 2 properties equalling around $1.2M

Understand the above but knowing the market that I'm selling and my properties, I highly doubt an Agent will be able to get more than what I'll be able to sell privately as to make up the $30k. Each to their own I guess.

Absolutely, and you will never, ever know. We just sold with an agent. Could we have sold privately, yes. I do believe the agent's negotiating skills got us considerably more than we would have got privately. To each his own.
 
Haven't chosen yet but it'll be b/w realprivate and buymyplace - my cousin sold her place recently through buymyplace and she got top dollar for hers and had a good experience. Are there other companies than the attached that you know of that can put it on realestate.com.au?

I've already sold 2 places myself easily, there's no way I'd pay an Agent $30k to this is on my behalf but I will use them for pre valuations, tips etc before I put it on market :)


Hi littletee! How are you going with the sale of yours? I have come across 'buymyplace' before, saw some ads on RE and checked their website before. Their basic package is $650 which provides listing to a whole lot of different website + for sale board + 4 hrs of support, seems like a good deal. There is also realestateyourway with different options, including much cheaper options. There are also companies such as investor mentor (unclear how much they charge), agentinabox and nomorecommission, from my research, but need a closer look. Through whom did you sell your other 2 places? Hope this helps and feel free to share your experience and tips ;)
 
there's no way I'd pay an Agent $30k to this is on my behalf but I will use them for pre valuations, tips etc before I put it on market :)

And this is why it can be seen to be expensive to use an agent, unfortunately it is the people who take a lot of time up with this sort of thing, that vendors who end up listing have to pay for. In a contingent based profession agents have to make a living and this is why the high perceived cost for vendors who do list with an agent.

This may be seen as a biased opinion, and I by no means am aiming this directly at you, but it is the unfortunate truth.
 
Hi littletee! How are you going with the sale of yours? I have come across 'buymyplace' before, saw some ads on RE and checked their website before. Their basic package is $650 which provides listing to a whole lot of different website + for sale board + 4 hrs of support, seems like a good deal. There is also realestateyourway with different options, including much cheaper options. There are also companies such as investor mentor (unclear how much they charge), agentinabox and nomorecommission, from my research, but need a closer look. Through whom did you sell your other 2 places? Hope this helps and feel free to share your experience and tips ;)

Hi Ivanka,

Haven't listed yet but will probably start the process on Sunday, just got to clean a bit up first. Thanks for your tips, these are the companies (including yours) I'll have to research on who I end up going with-

http://realprivate.com.au/
http://www.buymyplace.com.au/
http://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/
http://propertynow.com.au/
http://realestateyourway.com.au/
http://nomorecommission.com.au/
http://www.investormentor.com.au/
http://agentinabox.com.au/
http://www.sellmypropertynow.com.au/

Hopefully will compare them all on Sunday and then make my decision and list on that day or early next week.

Very exciting times, I can't wait to do it :)

How are you going with yours?
 
You could use Coronis. Just ensure they get a blood, semen, dna and stool sample, an eye test, along with family tree back to 1736, bank balance from primary school dollarmite account, and 3 sunripened tomatoes from potential purchasers to deem them worthy of making an offer.
 
Hi Ivanka,

Haven't listed yet but will probably start the process on Sunday, just got to clean a bit up first. Thanks for your tips, these are the companies (including yours) I'll have to research on who I end up going with-

http://realprivate.com.au/
http://www.buymyplace.com.au/
http://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/
http://propertynow.com.au/
http://realestateyourway.com.au/
http://nomorecommission.com.au/
http://www.investormentor.com.au/
http://agentinabox.com.au/
http://www.sellmypropertynow.com.au/

Hopefully will compare them all on Sunday and then make my decision and list on that day or early next week.

Very exciting times, I can't wait to do it :)

How are you going with yours?

I have decided at last to sell privately too! If it doesn't sell after a month (i.e. if I don't get any good offers) then off it goes to agent.

Did you list yours yet? Who did you end up choosing? I am leaning towards RealPrivate, their Bronze package. Seems like a cheap deal, provided I get to do edits if needed on ads, it is pretty much all I need - get the ad online for 1 month. Will call them tomorrow to find out whats included in their Bronze package, otherwise ready to go! Price is set, least $ I want to get is set, online ad text done, brochure done, open house sign done (just need to send it off to printers), copies of bills done, CMA (stats in my favor) from RP data check, legal documents almost put together just awaiting on 3rd parties to provide me with those I have to pay for, conveyancing solicitor I have, just need to confirm with him tomorrow, and need to get inventory list up to scratch with values of all the goods in the unit, as it is fully furnished and self contained. Apparently the best day to list property on RE is Tuesday, so given it all goes well with RealPrivate, it will be listed oh so soon! Exciting!
 
Hi Ivanka,

Haven't listed yet but will probably start the process on Sunday, just got to clean a bit up first. Thanks for your tips, these are the companies (including yours) I'll have to research on who I end up going with-

http://realprivate.com.au/
http://www.buymyplace.com.au/
http://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/
http://propertynow.com.au/
http://realestateyourway.com.au/
http://nomorecommission.com.au/
http://www.investormentor.com.au/
http://agentinabox.com.au/
http://www.sellmypropertynow.com.au/

Hopefully will compare them all on Sunday and then make my decision and list on that day or early next week.

Very exciting times, I can't wait to do it :)

How are you going with yours?

Hi Littletee! How did you go with these companies? Did you list your property yet? Who did you end up going with?

I've at last decided to give it a go at selling privately! I was going to go with RealPrivate, their basic Bronze package, but after this morning I am not so sure... Sent them an email asking a whole lot of questions about their company and the package, and it response I got a short email stating that I am best to go to another company and none of my questions answered... So I called them just to see why such poor attitude, and couldn't get a hold of the person who sent me that email, but spoke to someone who did respond to my all questions, however, still refused to provide me with their real estate license number... So warning lights are off twice and I am back to drawing board with who to go with...

Otherwise, everything is pretty much in order! Advert price is set, minimum amount I want to achieve is set, most of the legal docs I have, just waiting for the 2 I need to pay for and to update the inventory list as the unit is fully furnished and self contained, online ad text done, photos done, brochure done, copies of water, rates and body corp bills check, open house posters done, just waiting for the printers... So its only the main part of the ad that seems to be holding me back! Or am I missing something?

Hope you are going well with selling your properties and got some good offers already if you've progressed that far by now :)
 
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