Genuine Enquiry from Agent???

[Soren Lorenson]

see attached, we've gotten a few of these in recent months,

its a popular agent in Melbourne,

Personally my opinion is:

Sales are down and they will try any tactic to get more volume in the books
The interested party is anyone at all

what do you think do you get these too?

 

[steveadl]

Was it addressed to you personally Soren?

If it was, it sounds more genuine, although REA's have access to owner information so they would have put your name on the letter as well.

If it was just popped in your mail box without your name, I'd lean towards it being a mass market campaign. For example could be REA goes arounf the area and puts the letter into houses that look well maintained and hopefully therefore easy to sell, or the block of land looks appealing.

 

[Soren Lorenson]

Steve, no it was addressed 'to the owner'

funny that, because we bought the place from them, i.e. they were the agents about 15months ago now,

i guess they don't have a good database

We actually get a similar letter from another crowd of agents, addressed to somebody that previoulsy owned.

 

[steveadl]

Yeah, sounds to me like they're fishing for business. They've gone one step above the usual mass market drop lists by addressing it to you, so at least you don't throw it straight out.

Obviously this is just a guess. I doubt they'd send a serious offer in this manner, as a lot of people throw away mail addressed to 'The Owner' - I know I do. If someone doesn't know my name (and can't go to the relatively small trouble of getting it), then it can't be that important to me.

 

[oldjonesy]

Give them a call and ask them for the name of the buyer who approached them, that sort of thing.

See what response you get

 

[buzzlightyear]

Received many of those. Just another variation to a generic letter drop. There will be no specific person wanting to buy your specific property as the letter seems to allude to.

Hey, REA, can't sell (and therefore make money) if they don't have any listings! Good luck to them!

Soren, the question is, how effective was it? Would it make you at least call them if you were considering selling?

 

[boods99]

ask them to put an offer in writing and you "might" look at it.

IMHO this is not marketing, it is downright lying.

That my opinion anyways...

 

[LynnH]

Soren

We get those sorts of letters constantly ... and they are very quickly consigned to the bin! The agent is after the listing - if you respond, they will have you sign an agency agreement, bring someone (a friend?) around, then tell you that 'it didn't quite suit Mr and Mrs XYZ after all'.

If you are genuinely looking to sell, it would be worth your while to seek out an agent with a higher standard of ethics, IMHO.

Cheers
LynnH

 

[oneuppmanship]

Soren

We get those sorts of letters constantly ... and they are very quickly consigned to the bin! The agent is after the listing - if you respond, they will have you sign an agency agreement, bring someone (a friend?) around, then tell you that 'it didn't quite suit Mr and Mrs XYZ after all'.

If you are genuinely looking to sell, it would be worth your while to seek out an agent with a higher standard of ethics, IMHO.

Cheers
LynnH

This is just soliciting for your listing.

Take them to task by giving them a 2 day listing or such, to bring their so-called clients around. If they're genuine, they will agree to this.

We gave one such agent a 24 hour listing, which almost sold the property.

 

[marg4000]

We get several of those a week, have had so many we could paper the bathroom wall with them!! We get them for our PPOR and IPs.

And then again there are the phone calls:

Them: We see you have a property at xxxxx, are you interested in selling?
Me: Well, is there much interest?
Them: Oh yes, that area is very popular, it's close to shops and the beach and the rental demand is enormous.
Me: Then why on earth would I want to sell ?????

Usually they are quite good about it and finish up agreeing that we would be foolish to sell.

All mailouts and phone calls are simply an attempt to increase their listings.
Marg

 

[Buddybee]

We'd average 2 or 3 per month on our PPOR. I think we get them for 2 reasons:

1. Our house size/age and location is perfect for walking distance to 2 excellent/elite private schools (primary and secondary).
2. Houses always sell very quickly because of point 1; so it's easy money for the agent if they sign you up.

In addition to these letters, we also get the "we recently sold 123 ABC Street and have X amount of buyers who missed out......"

Cheers
Cindy

 

[hobo-jo]

Plenty of free appraisal fliers, but no scams like in the OP in my letterbox. Agents must be more honest in Adelaide . Either that or they aren't yet acting in desperation for business.

 

[Perp]

Give them a call and ask them for the name of the buyer who approached them

ask them to put an offer in writing and you "might" look at it.

Take them to task by giving them a 2 day listing or such, to bring their so-called clients around. If they're genuine, they will agree to this.

All good ideas! What concerns me is how many vulnerable people might believe this is genuine. Imagine if somebody in dire mortgage distress received something like this and felt that their worries were over, only to find there was no "buyer". This kind of marketing is really unethical.

 

[tubs]

Of course, it may well be a genuine enquiry. I doubt it, but they did state that somebody was specifically after your house.

You'd think then that your address would be on the letter somewhere, and that they'd follow up with a personal visit, which it seems they havent.

If they really thought there was a quick sale in it for them, they'd make the effort.

Otherwise its downright lying. Usually they say they have interested buyers in your type of house in your area, not yours specifically.

Out of curiosity, why dont you respond and ask the agent to tell you which address they sent it to.

 

[evand]

Its usually an outright agents lie. Heres how you can tell.
You ring them up and ask them to bring the 'interested buyers' around for a look.

They usually reply 'we cant legally do that unless we have an agency agreement with you' which means they are BS'ing and just want to list your house.

When people are desperate to sell (especially in a slow market), they sometimes sign up to get the 'buyers' through, any buyers.

The buyers can be set ups or miraculously have bought elsewhere in the previous week.

And, no they cant legally tell you where.

I've been through it a couple of times.

 

[boods99]

Its usually an outright agents lie. Heres how you can tell.
You ring them up and ask them to bring the 'interested buyers' around for a look.

They usually reply 'we cant legally do that unless we have an agency agreement with you' which means they are BS'ing and just want to list your house.

Can anyone out there confirm that this is legal/illegal?
I would not have thought it was illegal, but I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed

Boods

 

[Dis]

Can anyone out there confirm that this is legal/illegal?
I would not have thought it was illegal, but I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed

Boods

LOL !

Its perfectly legal for them to bring prospective buyers around for a look.

Its also perfectly legal for you to sell to these buyers without paying the agent as you have no contract with the agent.

The only "illegal" bit is that the agent has no legally enforcable way of making you cough up his commision.

 

[BayView]

I like these sort of things arriving in the mail - it's more free drawing paper for my son.

 

[oldjonesy]

Them: We see you have a property at xxxxx, are you interested in selling?
Me: Well, is there much interest?
Them: Oh yes, that area is very popular, it's close to shops and the beach and the rental demand is enormous.
Me: Then why on earth would I want to sell ?????

The money - why else?

 

[attrill]

I have had an agent call up and ask if I was interested in selling. When I asked they admitted that I was not targeted specifically, they were just ringing around trying to get business.

That's just annoying, but when an agent turned up on my doorstep for exactly the same reason I asked for his card and then rang up the principal and told him if I was interested in selling his would be the last agency I would ever approach.

Flyers are unwelcome, phone calls more so, but door kocking is just intrusive.

Or am I just a grumpy old man...?