For Sale - but no price

[Colin Rice]

Thanks for that link

Your welcome. Got it of another post so just sharing the love

 

[Jacque]

How do you guys deal with these scenarios:

Property is listed as "For Sale" but without a price.
Call up agent and agent says Price guide is mid to high 7's.

I ask what that means, they say make and offer and they'll submit it to the owner. If someone else submits a "higher" offer during that process, they'll call you back and give you a chance to counter offer.

To me it sounds like a long drawn out auction style except the purchasers can't see each other and have to take the agent's word that there is a supposedly higher offer.

Whats the best way to deal with this? Make offers towards the end of the campaign or 2-3 weeks after the property is listed?

Hi Nek

There really is no definitive or "best" method to negotiating as it does depend on the market, the level (or lack of) demand, vendor's circumstances and motivation level, agents methods (and this includes their preferred selling system) and other factors that pertain to the individual property.

Naturally, as others have already mentioned, it also depends on whether or not this is for a long-awaited and rarely situated PPOR or a dime-a-dozen IP...and whether or not you know the market sufficiently well to appraise within 5% of the likely market value.

You are right in that it can often be a blind auction situation, in which you are relying on the word of the agent, however it is no good calling an agent's bluff only to lose the property later because you thought they were lying. A good agent is always going to contact all buyers once an offer has been received, to provide all parties with the same opportunity, and this is par for the course in real estate purchasing. If the property has lots of interest the best outcome for all parties can often be going to public auction which really is the most transparent form of sale. Best of luck with it all

 

[Jacque]

I had one of these no price listed

The response from the agent on inquiry was "I can't tell you because we haven't had any buyer feedback yet?"
My reply "You are selling a property that you have no idea what it is worth and you have no idea how much the vendor wants for the property? Surely you can give me a guide so I can see if it is in my price range"
Response: "I can't tell you because we haven't had any buyer feedback yet. Tell me your budget and I can give you some direction".

Ah a common response from some particular agencies- Ray White in the areas we work are favourites for this dialogue script

Just ask them the estimate they put on the listing agreement with the vendor. If they still won't divulge, ask them for a list of comparables they used to price the property. In a hot market, they can still be off the mark, however, as with growth increases happening rapidly, some properties end up selling for well over expectations (even LA estimates).

 

[JamesGG]

I don't personally see too much wrong with a property being marketed without a price. Happens all the time at the big end of town. Formulating the right price to offer is just part of the due diligence and negotiation process regardless of whether there is a price tag in the marketing materials or not.

 

[BayView]

Typical agent reply:
1. Just listed to not that long
2. There has been heaps of interest
3. Yes there has been. However the higheset offer is$xxx (artificial number created based on what they think they can get away with), but the owner was considering....

Any agent could BS these to anyone with a straight face and make it convincing.

It also works on sellers - the agent tells the seller there has been offers, and at a various prices - but none ever really had (I worked as an agent for a short time and saw this happen).

The plan was to condition the seller down to the realistic sale price with the false lower offers.

 

[heroine]

The Rpdata I have received from brokers for free had a full listing history. If you are lucky you may find it had been listed with a different agent before. If so call them up they can be more talkative about the buyers circumstances.

Have they committed elsewhere and really want to move on? Are they downsizing and really aren't in a rush but emotionally attached? Are they divorcing and can't afford to pay out spouse / get new loan to stay in the house?

Deadlines and cash offers may work for some of these scenarios.

 

[fernfurn]

I would be watching open houses from a concealed vantage point and see how many people are actually attending. You could also send in a friend, then on Monday get them to ring and say they would be interested in xxx range, you can then gauge agents response.