Throw up a picture of your IM outfits
Pink cornrows, pink hair, beads and pink outfits - got the attention of Asics,
Pinkboy
How do some agents stay in business??!
- Thread starter Jacque
- Start date
Pink cornrows, pink hair, beads and pink outfits - got the attention of Asics,
Pinkboy
It depends entirely on the industry and your target clients. For some it may be an advantage, but other places you'd be laughed out regardless of how good you are.
The only thing worse than this is when you make an enquiry or inspect a premises and the agent wont leave you alone afterwards.
I own my companies office through my SMSF, and was considering relocating to another lager office in the building (renting) and leasing out the SMSF. Now the agent calls me every week nagging me to lease the other office and let him lease out the current one, even though I have told him that the decision has been made to stay put for now.
By Dazz...."The questions below, IMO, are not relevant to the purchase decision whatsoever, add no value to the property as a whole, and most could be answered within 10 minutes with a decent walk around"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacque
Is the pool salt water or chlorine? I'm not sure
Does it have solar? I'd have to check
When was the extension built and is it approved? You need to check with council... (When I suggested she ask the owners as they may have plans she looked genuinely surprised!)
Does the spa work? I assume so..
Is the carpet a 50/50 mix or pure wool? I don't know
Where's the electricity box? Um... outside I think
etc etc
Such questions may not be relevant to you as a purchaser, Dazz, but let me assure you there are many PPOR buyers out there who are very picky about certain items and I beg to differ that they don't add any value to the property. A good selling agent should know as much about the property as possible and be willing to assist with the answers if unsure.
Of course building certificates and approvals are checked with council by ourselves or the buyers soli/conveyancer, however sometimes I've found that simply by asking the right questions we benefit by receiving paperwork that wasn't otherwise offered up for perusal in the first place.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacque
Is the pool salt water or chlorine? I'm not sure
Does it have solar? I'd have to check
When was the extension built and is it approved? You need to check with council... (When I suggested she ask the owners as they may have plans she looked genuinely surprised!)
Does the spa work? I assume so..
Is the carpet a 50/50 mix or pure wool? I don't know
Where's the electricity box? Um... outside I think
etc etc
Such questions may not be relevant to you as a purchaser, Dazz, but let me assure you there are many PPOR buyers out there who are very picky about certain items and I beg to differ that they don't add any value to the property. A good selling agent should know as much about the property as possible and be willing to assist with the answers if unsure.
Of course building certificates and approvals are checked with council by ourselves or the buyers soli/conveyancer, however sometimes I've found that simply by asking the right questions we benefit by receiving paperwork that wasn't otherwise offered up for perusal in the first place.
We went to view a property a few years ago where the agent spent the most of the time on his mobile and wouldn't talk to us half the time we were there. When he did finally get off the phoen he wouldn't answer any of our questions and tried to convince us to look at houses in a terrible suburb nearly an hour away.
Perhaps he thought we couldn't afford there? We ended up buing another house in the same suburb (but not from him).
Blue nailpolish is hardly unprofessional. What colour nailpolish would be more acceptable? Btw, I have blue hair and it certainly doesn't affect how peofessionally I interact with clients or how well I do my job.
Perhaps he thought we couldn't afford there? We ended up buing another house in the same suburb (but not from him).
Blue nailpolish is hardly unprofessional. What colour nailpolish would be more acceptable? Btw, I have blue hair and it certainly doesn't affect how peofessionally I interact with clients or how well I do my job.
Are you on the simpsons?
*g* nah!
It's funny, but people usually forget about the hair pretty quickly, I've found. I'm a teacher and I've usually built up a fairly solid relationship with most of the parents through phone and email contact before they meet me and the kids (teens -I teach Senior School) see me every day, so the novelty wears off.
I suppose the trick to getting away with it is to make sure it's not the most important thing about you. If everything you say comes second to how you look there's a problem. If you get people interested and engaged in what you have to say then looking funky just becomes an added bonus rather than the main point.
When I was younger I worked with a heavily tattoo'd goth in a high end men's retail store. She had absolutely perfect customer service and her look, while quite alternative, was impeccible. While looks may be part of the first impression, you attitude, skill and professionalisim can actually change how people look at you which is really interesting to see first hand.
I suspect that the 'blue nailpolish' wasn't an indication of unprofessionalisim, but the unprofessionalisim made you notice the nailpolish.
It's funny, but people usually forget about the hair pretty quickly, I've found. I'm a teacher and I've usually built up a fairly solid relationship with most of the parents through phone and email contact before they meet me and the kids (teens -I teach Senior School) see me every day, so the novelty wears off.
I suppose the trick to getting away with it is to make sure it's not the most important thing about you. If everything you say comes second to how you look there's a problem. If you get people interested and engaged in what you have to say then looking funky just becomes an added bonus rather than the main point.
When I was younger I worked with a heavily tattoo'd goth in a high end men's retail store. She had absolutely perfect customer service and her look, while quite alternative, was impeccible. While looks may be part of the first impression, you attitude, skill and professionalisim can actually change how people look at you which is really interesting to see first hand.
I suspect that the 'blue nailpolish' wasn't an indication of unprofessionalisim, but the unprofessionalisim made you notice the nailpolish.
Agents are like most other people in most industries.
They do a 1-2 years at say one place. Eventually people realise they're **** so they move on. Talk up their experience in an interview. Get a gig at a bigger shop. Do a few years again. People realise they're ****. They move on again. Before you know it they're selling apartments for a major builder, before they get moved on again.
But that stage they've had 10 years working experience including starting at a small shop, working at a mid-tier agent firm to working for a top-tier international firm. And they've hit Director level!!
Then they move offshore and get a $350k gig with a big shop, milk it a year. People realise they're ****. So they move on again and join the board of directors of one of this country's biggest developers and talk about all the awesome deals they've done in the past decade. The art of PAYG.
They do a 1-2 years at say one place. Eventually people realise they're **** so they move on. Talk up their experience in an interview. Get a gig at a bigger shop. Do a few years again. People realise they're ****. They move on again. Before you know it they're selling apartments for a major builder, before they get moved on again.
But that stage they've had 10 years working experience including starting at a small shop, working at a mid-tier agent firm to working for a top-tier international firm. And they've hit Director level!!
Then they move offshore and get a $350k gig with a big shop, milk it a year. People realise they're ****. So they move on again and join the board of directors of one of this country's biggest developers and talk about all the awesome deals they've done in the past decade. The art of PAYG.
That is so true. Has happened a few times. People underquoting rent by around 50%, advising the vendor to accept a lower price than what the place could go for. Love them.
Putting in an offer at the moment -kinda hoping the agent goes with option B XD
After having a not so hot last week (was ill with a nasty virus for a couple of days) I managed to drag myself to one inspection that looked great on paper. The listing agent was less than helpful on the phone however this didn't deter me as I knew the area, the street and the general types of homes in this particular suburb.
When I was inspecting, I asked my usual list of innocuous questions, ranging from "When was the property built?" through to more challenging ones involving easements, access and occupation certificates
Is the pool salt water or chlorine? I'm not sure
Does it have solar? I'd have to check
When was the extension built and is it approved? You need to check with council... (When I suggested she ask the owners as they may have plans she looked genuinely surprised!)
Does the spa work? I assume so..
Is the carpet a 50/50 mix or pure wool? I don't know
Where's the electricity box? Um... outside I think
etc etc
When I looked up this agents details on the OFT NSW site it didn't surprise me in the least she only just got her certificate of registration 4 mths ago! Not only did she not pay attention in any of her classes (Selling 101 for example) but her lack of knowledge and enthusiasm was simply pathetic. Really, why do some people bother getting into RE if don't get to know the property they're selling on behalf of the poor owners :roll eyes:
really? these are questions that you would consider an agent to know on every property they have listed? is the carpet a blend? when was the extension built?
I hate to state the obvious but most owners who paid for these things wouldnt know the answers to these questions. Blaming the poor girl who just started probably not fair.
I must admit I once labelled an agent :'a christmas tinsell'. She was only there for decoration. She could not even figure out that if the owner bought the house in 1982 when the house was 7 years olds, then house was built in 1975. She just could not do the simple math.
As a buyer I do have expectations that agent should have some basic knowledge about the house she/he is selling (even a check out person at Woolies have to learn about those wierd fruits and vegetables they are selling). Property buyers can't always talk to the owner, the first point of contact is the agent.
This particular agent could not answer any basic question. When we told her that the area under the house is damp and it appeared to be an ongoing dampness (salt built up), she said, "what, where?" We took her down, she almost fell off her extremely high heel red stylish shoes. She did not know that the house was built up on stumps. So at this point we quickly concluded that she was really just a pretty face, decorating the house.
Following the acceptance of offer she consistently laid out her plain stupidity before us, to the point that I had to treat her like a little girl to stop her harassment for us to exchange ASAP (this was only 3 days after offer was accepted). I told her that she has done her job to this point, and should leave us alone to sort out our finance, solicitor, inspection, etc. I told her that we will let you know of any progress ASAP. But she would not have any of it!! She kept on calling at any time of the day. I told her not to call me during working hours and gave a time period (12:00-13:00) when she can call me. She never respected that, and I was getting so tired of her.
The final straw was when she told me that "my bank" told her that my finance has been approved and I should exchange soon (when in fact we have not filled out the application form for the loan). When I confronted the bank about it my lender said that the bank would never disclose any fianncial situation of a client to any REA. She finally lost my business because she suffocated me. I 'lost' the cance to buy "the house" at this stage. The vendor lost a buyer. Only because of a 'christmas tinsell'.
Ketut
As a buyer I do have expectations that agent should have some basic knowledge about the house she/he is selling (even a check out person at Woolies have to learn about those wierd fruits and vegetables they are selling). Property buyers can't always talk to the owner, the first point of contact is the agent.
This particular agent could not answer any basic question. When we told her that the area under the house is damp and it appeared to be an ongoing dampness (salt built up), she said, "what, where?" We took her down, she almost fell off her extremely high heel red stylish shoes. She did not know that the house was built up on stumps. So at this point we quickly concluded that she was really just a pretty face, decorating the house.
Following the acceptance of offer she consistently laid out her plain stupidity before us, to the point that I had to treat her like a little girl to stop her harassment for us to exchange ASAP (this was only 3 days after offer was accepted). I told her that she has done her job to this point, and should leave us alone to sort out our finance, solicitor, inspection, etc. I told her that we will let you know of any progress ASAP. But she would not have any of it!! She kept on calling at any time of the day. I told her not to call me during working hours and gave a time period (12:00-13:00) when she can call me. She never respected that, and I was getting so tired of her.
The final straw was when she told me that "my bank" told her that my finance has been approved and I should exchange soon (when in fact we have not filled out the application form for the loan). When I confronted the bank about it my lender said that the bank would never disclose any fianncial situation of a client to any REA. She finally lost my business because she suffocated me. I 'lost' the cance to buy "the house" at this stage. The vendor lost a buyer. Only because of a 'christmas tinsell'.
Ketut
In the end you need to know more that the selling agent about the property you are buying, when you are dealing with a lot of properties up front with enquiries it's useful to be able to sort through them quickly and in this case sales agent knowledge can be helpful, otherwise you waste everyone's time qualifying leads.
Plenty of agents haven't even considered what a property might rent for, the reply 'rentals is not my department' is a classic line.
Plenty of agents haven't even considered what a property might rent for, the reply 'rentals is not my department' is a classic line.
