Never sold a property before!

S

SeafordSunshine

Hello Somersofters,
I am looking at selling my investment property, and as I have never sold a property before I would like some advice please,
It is, you guessed it , in Seaford, an old 2br house on 680, beach side of the freeway. The tenant is on an expired lease.
What should I expect of the agent?
fees involved,$ pay before sale, advertising, tax, tenants rights as to inspections and after the sale, and for sale signs
Should I go with only one agent,
I know I don't want to auction as it is more of a 'down going' market at the moment....
Cheers and thanks for your advice,
I really like this forum!
Seaford Sunshine
 
We just had a chat to the new agent yesterday. She seems to do everything right, compared to the entrenched local guy. She:

actually told us the commission in a PERCENTAGE :eek:
had a huge stack of recent sales and currently listed properties and had highlighted the comparables already (our house is the most common design/era in this town)
gave us an appraisal (which was wildly higher than the bank valuation, funny that)
told us all the little extra fees over the commission. These included useful stuff like getting little fliers for every letterbox in the area, professional photography, and a professional floorplan drawn up.
told us who our market was (investors and first home buyers lol)
and gave us a bunch of tips on presentation, nothing I didnt know already but if you've seen how unbelieveably crowded our house is it doesn't take a genius to say "declutter".

Still have to do the math on whether selling or renting it out is better. We need a rent appraisal too.
 
Having sold only one property in the past, my experience is limited, but here's a breakdown of what happened.

Fees:
Agent Commission - 2.2% of sale price
Advertising Fee - $290 - includes real estate / domain + big full colour sign board in front of building

Alternative Advertising Fee (which was optional and i didnt take up) - $900 which was the same as $290, but with full colour flyers (for the agent to hand out at the open house + professional photos).

Advertising had to paid regardless of whether they sold or not.

No other fees. I also signed an "exclusive" agreement, but that was only valid for 1 month. They tried put down 3 months, but I made the correct it.

My friend sold his place around the same time, his agent charged 3% on sale price and that included advertising. If they didnt sell there was no charge.

Because I cheaped out on the advertising, the agent took the photos themselves. The agent's photos sucked. So i took them myself using a camera with a slightly wider angle lens (25mm) and photoshopped them myself. Came out pretty good, not as good as professional ones, but good enough for internet viewing.

As for using 1 agent vs multiple agents, I would use only 1 agent because in my opinion having multiple agents means they have share and they dont like that. But I would say the trick is to put them on a very short exclusive arrangement (3 weeks to 1 month). Thats plenty of time sell, if they havent been able to sell then they are crap.

Where agents get lazy is when you sign a 3 month agreement with them and after 1 month they cant sell it (either because they are crap, or the owner is being unrealistic). Because they know its harder to sell a place the longer its been on the market, they would rather spend their time marketing a newer place.
 
- Commission: Always negotiate a better deal than what is offered, they are not set in stone...the balls in your court always.

- Do not enter into a sole agency no matter what pressure is put on you.

- Enter into a contract for 30 days at a time.

- If unsure about any issue do not sign anywhere until you seek legal advice.

- Dont let them rip you with advertising fees, they make plenty out of when they do.....

- Dont let any agent be your best friend..............

Sell with your head, don't be scammed by stories they will ply on you regarding price.

- Research the areas previous sales before entering into any deal with any agent...you need a base to work from yourself rather than have them tell you an appraisal price and you run with that.

- Make sure the place is actually marketable: ie: tidy inside as well as outside as if you were yourself living in it.

If the tenant is a pig, flick them and sell it empty in my opinion...(maybe be an insurance issue there though)

Tenants can be a pain at sell time due to notification of entry requirements etc..

All basic things to cover your butt.....

If you feel uncomfortable, walk away from signing anything or you feel the agent is too pushy walk away...If he/she is pushy with you think what he will be like with purchasers...

Most people get turned off by pushy agents, i dont even acknowledge them when they try the hard sell/buy tactics...

You want an agent that liistens to you.

They are few and far between but are out there on occasions as most have $$ signs in their eyes when they walk through your property.

Its a painless process if you find the right agent..

Good luck
 
Have sold two properties in the past year 18 months.

First one I picked the agent who had the best local presence and because I had previously dealt with the REA, I was comfortable with his professionalism. Sole agency is imo the only way to go. Gives maximium incentive for the REA office and agent themselves instead of having to share or miss out on some fees. Of course this was a standard 2 br apartment.

Fees were 2.2% incl of GST and paid $1k for advertising. I didn't really negotiate as I was quite adamant one what I want to nett from the sale and thought the selling proposal was fair. The property took just under 60 days to sell and sold for the amount I wanted.

Second one was a 2br flat, I went with the agent whom I bought it off. She was old school but I liked that. They had also sold another fully renovated property in the same block for what I thought was an amazing price. I went to them and said I want x amount, 2% fees inclusive of GST, no advertising and 60 days selling authority. They didn't bat an eyelid and said yes. They sold in 63 days for the amount I wanted.

Unless you are in a hot market, 30 days is far too short imo. Good luck with your choice of agent and selling the property. Post a link when its up for sale.
 
BV said:
Why not?
Are you referring to the agents in Seaford in particular?
Click to expand...

Where the hell is Seaford...lol

iIl tell you why if you tell me why not......why not is obvious to me.

Agents will tell you they will work harder to sell it but the fact is they have got you locked in and they will milk you dry with advertising fees.....oh and they will probably try on the auction senario just to get more advertising from you...
auction adverts always increase when the market is looking soft....
 
csc2 said:
iIl tell you why if you tell me why not....
Click to expand...

I'm thinking that if you don't have an exclusive agency agreement the agent will not do more than simply put a sign up and an add on their website and the web. They're also likely to charge for advertising.

With an exclusive agreement you won't necessarily pay extra for advertising and you will also get personal attention with professional photos, they'll attend open homes etc.

Also, If you restrict the time to 30 days and the property doesn't sell, don't you think that the agent will want to recoup some of their advertising costs?
 
I disagree with your assumptions entirely..Agents will tell you exactly that.

Agents want 100% chance to sell, not a 50-50% chance with another agent flogging it as well..

What happens if a guy like me knocks on your door with cash and says i want to buy but not through an agent.....your buggered with a sole agency.

Im cheeky as when it comes to buying and i know a lot of others who do the same, they check what is not a sole agency and target the rest...

Id be happy to split say an agents commission of say 10 grand, 5 each with the seller any day....

Way too restricted when agents throw a sole agency on a property...its 100% for the agents benefit to lock opposition out...they wont work any harder except to pump more adverts which You will pay for anyway.

Best of luck.
 
Just a tip regarding agents commissions, as well as negotiating a flat amount, I have previously negotiated a 'sliding scale' commission based upon the sale amount. The idea being that the agents gets a higher commission % if they get a higher sale price - so for example:
Sale price >300k - 2%, >350k - 2.5%, >$400k > 3%
Obviously that's just an example so need to look at what works for you.
Just a suggestion to consider.

Kaz
 
csc2 said:
Im cheeky as when it comes to buying and i know a lot of others who do the same, they check what is not a sole agency and target the rest...

Id be happy to split say an agents commission of say 10 grand, 5 each with the seller any day....
Click to expand...
Interesting...

If I'm reading that right, you say you check if a property is being sold by a "sole agency" and if it is you don't target it?

So if a property is selling with multiple agencies, that makes your "target" list?

Can you expand further on the splitting agents commission comment?

This is very interesting!

Thanks :)
 
Hiya,

I'm selling an IP in Mildura. When I spoke to the prospective agent today, she wanted 3% + advertising on a 120-day contract.

The fee seems exorbitant compared to the commission rates discussed on this forum. Has anyone had experience selling in Mildura? If so, which agent did you use?

Thanks,
dreamgirl
 
dreamgirl said:
she wanted 3% + advertising on a 120-day contract.

The fee seems exorbitant compared to the commission rates discussed on this forum
Click to expand...

I've been quoted up to 3.3% commission with 2-2.5% being the norm in Sydney.

There are agents who will charge less, I've seen 1% advertised in 1 Sydney area but the service you'll get isn't of the same standard.

You can also negotiate and come up with a fixed $ sum.
 
first inspection!

Four parties through, on the first inspection, the agent said they were the 'right kind' of buyer, he gave the tenant a bottle of wine....
After last minute s32 drama (lost in the post) and final draft forwarded by email it seems most things are in place.
All I need now is a nice buyer!:p
Cheers
 
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