Buying privately without use of REA

Hi all, whilst inspecting a unit at an OFI a week or so ago, i was approached by a middle aged lady asking me what i thought the property was worth, i was a little bemused and asked her reasoning and she explained she owned a unit on the same road and was looking at selling soon and would rather not use a REA and the property was not advertised as yet. Later that day she showed me through the property with the blessings of the tenants. My predicament is that, the original property i was looking at is going up for auction next week.. The lady of the unadvertised property asked me to get back to her and have a chat about a price and so forth, i imagine as she is not using a REA and won't have to pay advertising costs and so forth she would save a fair bit of money by selling this to me.
If for example the unit at auction goes for $300,000, and this unit is very similar, what would be a reasonable offer to this lady considering she will save a fair sum of money in the process of not using a REA with no OFI or auctions?
Also... does this all sound fairly above board to people and are there any major risks involved in not using a REA when buying?
Many thanks in advance
 
Hi all, whilst inspecting a unit at an OFI a week or so ago, i was approached by a middle aged lady asking me what i thought the property was worth, i was a little bemused and asked her reasoning and she explained she owned a unit on the same road and was looking at selling soon and would rather not use a REA and the property was not advertised as yet. Later that day she showed me through the property with the blessings of the tenants. My predicament is that, the original property i was looking at is going up for auction next week.. The lady of the unadvertised property asked me to get back to her and have a chat about a price and so forth, i imagine as she is not using a REA and won't have to pay advertising costs and so forth she would save a fair bit of money by selling this to me.
If for example the unit at auction goes for $300,000, and this unit is very similar, what would be a reasonable offer to this lady considering she will save a fair sum of money in the process of not using a REA with no OFI or auctions?
Also... does this all sound fairly above board to people and are there any major risks involved in not using a REA when buying?
Many thanks in advance

I have bought and sold property minus an agent many times. The only issue is having to negotiate directly on price which I have no problem doing. Often the REA gets money for old rope. I wish more people would sell privately and that they were not blocked from major sites like realestate.com. All you need is a land broker or solicitor which are waaaaaaaaaay cheaper.
JASA
 
You might save yourself a lot of time by just asking. Stop imagining scenarios and just ask.

"What would you sell your property for?"
(I would ask this question first)

or...

"I have X dollars to spend to buy a property would I be wasting your time?" (X being a very good buying price!)

In my experience the majority of people trying private sales have unrealistic expectations so find out what the owner is thinking first of all.
 
I have bought and sold property minus an agent many times. The only issue is having to negotiate directly on price which I have no problem doing. Often the REA gets money for old rope. I wish more people would sell privately and that they were not blocked from major sites like realestate.com. All you need is a land broker or solicitor which are waaaaaaaaaay cheaper.
JASA
Hi JASA, You will find quite a few agents who will list for you on the internet sites for a relatively small amount compared to a full fee sale ($500 or thereabouts) and you can handle the negotiations if you like, basically a private sale with an assist to get on the internet.
 
as she is not using a REA and won't have to pay advertising costs and so forth she would save a fair bit of money by selling this to me.

Most people who are selling privately hope to save paying REA & advertising costs so they end up with more money in their pockets.

Looks like she is hoping to save valuer's costs to by asking you to get back to her.

Personally, I would ask her what she is expecting to get and go to the auction as you are in the box seat as a purchaser. [you have $'s and the opportunity to know you can get unlisted property for x and if the auctioned place goes for less than x you buy it].

In any case get back to her so she gets some honest feedback.


Regards
Sheryn
 
Hi JASA, You will find quite a few agents who will list for you on the internet sites for a relatively small amount compared to a full fee sale ($500 or thereabouts) and you can handle the negotiations if you like, basically a private sale with an assist to get on the internet.

Thanks Andrew, If I were to sell another property I would do this, at the moment I am planning on buying and holding. Unfortunately the masses of people selling do not know of this option.
JASA
 
Hi JASA, You will find quite a few agents who will list for you on the internet sites for a relatively small amount compared to a full fee sale ($500 or thereabouts) and you can handle the negotiations if you like, basically a private sale with an assist to get on the internet.

Another option is landlordschoice.com.au, they will list properties for sale on both domain.com.au and realestate.com.au for $299. Highly recommend them for speedy service. I contacted them to list a rental at 9pm last night and it's already up (13 hours later)!!
 
If for example the unit at auction goes for $300,000, and this unit is very similar, what would be a reasonable offer to this lady considering she will save a fair sum of money in the process of not using a REA with no OFI or auctions?
As the real estate agent works for the vendor, and their duty is to help the vendor, not having one should benefit the vendor, otherwise they may as well have one involved. ;) So if she saves $10K, to my mind, the absolute maximum she can drop her price is $5K and split the saving with you (in which case you're still getting a price drop disproportionate to the cost to you - you really get no benefit from an agent being involved anyway). If she's willing to drop more than $5K, then I don't understand why she wouldn't have an agent, since I reckon the price differential is likely to be a lot more than that (by narrowing the pool of prospective buyers, not being an expert negotiator, perhaps not being as assertive as she should be, not being knowledgeable about the market, etc).

As $5K is within tolerance of random variation on a $300K purchase, I wouldn't bother putting any premium on the property without an agent involved in the purchase - just negotiate hard on both and take the one which best suits you (all things considered).
 
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