Dirty tricks used by agents

C

cceasy

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum.

I'm curious to hear some of your opinion on my situation. I have an investment property that's on the market and will go to auction in 3 weeks... The agent selling it is also the agent managing it... i've asked him on a couple of times over the year how much our house is worth... well recently he said he could sell it for 600k +... So we told him to advertise it... 2 week into the campaign he's saying comments from the buyers is that the house is only worth 550 to 570...

i've given him examples of houses that have sold in our area that are similar which are a lot higher... 1 example is a house on that is similar but has a newly renovated kitchen.. the rest of the house is a bit more modern than ours, that sold for 695k... same size block of land but only downfall of that house I can see is that the house is situation near open park of some sort which could be appealing for vandels to graffiti the fence... our house is on a quite street.... he said the reason why it sold for that much is because it had a DA approval for 4 bedroom duplex.. that doesn't make sense... what type of developer would buy a house that has been renovate at a premium price to knock it down to build a duplex...

Is he buttering me up to set the reserve low? what are your thoughts and experience with this... 1st time auctioning a house
 
He is conditioning you already so come auction day, "the market has spoken" at 550k and you will sell it rather than pass it in, so he can get his commission
 
Do not disclose to the agent what you are willing to sell the property when asked prior to auction.

Let it go and see where the bids are and see if they match up with your expectations.
 
i agree... i was going to tell him what my reserve is so he has an expectation on how much I want... so you guys reckon I should not disclose this info? At what point should I? On the day? if it wasn't for the other properties selling over 600k, I would have agreed with him... at the price he;s suggesting, that's way too low...
 
Propertunity said:
The reserve only needs to be disclosed to the auctioneer just prior to the auction beginning.
Click to expand...

...and I have had some interesting auctioneers who've told me "write it down, fold it so I can't see it".

He puts it in his pocket, does his thing then comes in to talk when proceeding halts regardless of what is written on the paper. I quite liked that.

The Y-man
 
Definitely do not disclose the reserve - put on your piece of paper "seek vendor's instructions". That way the auctioneer will be in the dark until the bidding stalls.
 
so when i write the reserve on a pieace of paper, do I just give it to the auctioneer only and not advise the selling agent? what's stopping the auctioneer from opening it?
 
Scott No Mates said:
Definitely do not disclose the reserve - put on your piece of paper "seek vendor's instructions". That way the auctioneer will be in the dark until the bidding stalls.
Click to expand...

cceasy said:
so when i write the reserve on a pieace of paper, do I just give it to the auctioneer only and not advise the selling agent? what's stopping the auctioneer from opening it?
Click to expand...

If you do as Scott No Mates suggests, it won't matter if the auctioneer opens it, because he will see "seek vendor's instructions".

I've never thought of this, but it could be a good idea.

I went to an auction on the weekend for a house that was being sold a year ago for offers over $1.1K (or thereabouts). It wasn't worth that much and sat on the market for several months.

It was auctioned Saturday and there was one bid for $800K or $850K (cannot remember). I'm a bit confused about exact details, but the auctioneer was talking about passing it in at $1M. Another punter had asked if the house was on the market yet (earlier) and when it looked like passing in at a vendor bid of $1M, the same punter asked "will it be on the market at that price" to which the auctioneer was quite caustic and said something along the lines of "if you were listening, I've answered that when you asked it last time. No... it is not on the market at that price". I was speechless and thought it very arrogant, off-putting and just plain rude.

The chap and his wife walked out and I thought he was leaving for good but it was only to discuss prices with an agent in another room. The highest bidder went to another room with another agent. Both came back and it was passed in at $1M.

Definitely don't tell the agent your reserve now. You don't need to flag what you are happy to accept. Let the agent work for you.
 
CC, tell me where the auction is and I'll put a few bids in for ya, but I'll do a runner if I'm the highest bidder :).....sorry just joking....I can just picture myself running down the street with a fat agent in tow!
 
Why not pay a few hundred dollars to get a valuer to give you a real valuation. Use that to set the reserve and blunt the conditioning efforts of the agent.

Otherwise -what Dave said.
 
Clearly what others have said is true, the agent is conditioning you for a low reserve price to sell the property.

The opposite is also true. Agents under quote to potential buyers to draw a large crowd, knowing that people will often be able to bit that little extra.
 
cceasy said:
Is he buttering me up to set the reserve low? what are your thoughts and experience with this... 1st time auctioning a house
Click to expand...


They reckon Warren Buffett has a unwritten quote "Don't ask your Barber if you need a Haircut",,You don't have to say anything just tell them you have had the property valued and will tell the price just prior before she 0r he starts the auction sideshow,,and btw a agents idea on value between someone that works for a Bank-Government-PrivateCompany will all be different,,most high flying re-agents think the business of knowledge has permanent "owners"..imho..
 
cceasy said:
Hi all,

I'm new to the forum.

I'm curious to hear some of your opinion on my situation. I have an investment property that's on the market and will go to auction in 3 weeks... The agent selling it is also the agent managing it... i've asked him on a couple of times over the year how much our house is worth... well recently he said he could sell it for 600k +... So we told him to advertise it... 2 week into the campaign he's saying comments from the buyers is that the house is only worth 550 to 570...
Click to expand...

What price estimate did he write on the listing agreement he has with you?
 
guys the agent got back to me and advised that someone has put in an unconditional offer. he said the buyer put in an offer of mid 500s but he's being negotiating with him over the last few days (1st i've heard of this) and manage to get him to put an offer over 600k... my wife and I came back with a counter offer of 615k... agent said he will speak with the buyer... what are your thoughts... i think 615k is a good deal for both.

not good at negotiating
 
cceasy said:
guys the agent got back to me and advised that someone has put in an unconditional offer. he said the buyer put in an offer of mid 500s but he's being negotiating with him over the last few days (1st i've heard of this) and manage to get him to put an offer over 600k... my wife and I came back with a counter offer of 615k... agent said he will speak with the buyer... what are your thoughts... i think 615k is a good deal for both.

not good at negotiating
Click to expand...

our thoughts are irrelevant because we dont know the property or what it is really worth.

i would suggest you urgently try to get some feedback on the market value, be it through a formal val or speaking to other agents too.

it could be a great deal at 615k for you or a terrible one, without you being fairly sure of what the value is you wont be able to make an informed decision.

perhaps one of the sydney BAs (like jacque or propertunity who both commented above) could help you out, you could maybe pay one of them for some unbiased and experienced advice.

best wishes with the sale.
 
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