REA's, please lift your game, just a little will do

vbplease said:
There is no case study because it's impossible to test.. The only real way of testing is to sell a group of houses both though an agent and privately - at the same time. Which is impossible...
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so basically everyone is wasting $15,000 on agent comissions for something which is unprovable and is only hear say?

I think if you have some negoiating skills, then selling a house should not be a big deal. Sure a old grandma would probably be better using a agent.

A property will sell for the right price, regardless if its through a agent or not.. with a agent you automatically are $15k behind.
 
wylie said:
Oh please.... who do you think the valuer calls to get an idea of recent past sales in the area........ "sound of crickets chirping".

You believe in your reality, and I will believe in mine. I'll bet I have more "inside knowledge" than you.

And if you price your house too high with the idea you can reduce it, well by then it is stale and people are avoiding it. Same thing happens when agents price them too high, or vendors insist agents list it too high.

I have seen that happen more times than you have had hot dinners.
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The valuation I got for my apartment he used the same sales data a agent would use. He listed examples, price and comparison, and from this a valuation was given on my property.

Advertising a property price to high is the worst thing you can do. You need to sell your property in the first 30 days, as in those days you will market your property to the buyers already in the market, anything beyond that your relying on new people entering the market, so you drastically reduce your porential buyers.

Advertise at the right price, and it will sell.

Advertising to high has nothing to do with using a agent or not.
 
crc_error said:
so basically everyone is wasting $15,000 on agent comissions for something which is unprovable and is only hear say?
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Yeah I'd agree with that... I also think people are stuck in a mindset that property must be sold by agents - not doing so is madness. Their grandparents, parents and best friend sold through an agent, therefore its too risky to try themselves.

What I don't understand is how a property investor can go to great lengths to save a few hundred dollars here and there on trivial matters but not think twice about handing out $15k in commission :confused:

When I bought my apartment this year I spent so many hours researching and viewing different apartments that I'm sure I knew the market better than the agent I bought off. If I ever sell, I'd be crazy to hand over 15k to an idiot like him, when I'm capable of selling myself and know the market better! Anyone can access sales reports etc.
 
Perhaps I am swayed by the fact that the agent I would use has proved herself to be a very good negotiator. If she left the industry, I would feel less confident that "any old agent" could do as well.

And you cannot escape the fact the most purchasers are uncomfortable dealing direct with vendors. But each to their own. I am not here to convince anybody to do anything. In fact, happy for everybody to make up their own minds.

I do get annoyed at the agent bashing though because, like any bad experience, you only hear the bad stories. Perhaps it would be interesting to start a thread asking for how many good buying or selling experiences people have had. I have had only one bad experience I can recall out of all the buy and sell experiences I have had in 30 years.
 
crc_error said:
A property will sell for the right price, regardless if its through a agent or not.. with a agent you automatically are $15k behind.
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That is IF your property is being brought to the attention of your prospective buyer. To me, that's the biggest advantage of an agent: they have access to home buyers.

How are you reaching your potential buyers? I can't think how I would ever come to know about a property for private sale, unless I happened to drive by a sign. I've only ever sourced properties (those on the open market, that is) from: 1) realestate.com.au searches, 2) leads from real estate agents who know what I'm looking for, or 3) looking in real estate agents' windows.

My main reason for not selling privately is that I wouldn't be confident of reaching my prospective buyer.
 
Funny that ozperp, when I sold my properties, the agent never introduced any potential buyers. They were all introduced from my advertising in the age and internet. which I paid for.

I can also advertise in the age, without needing a agent.

Yes I agree, if I didn't need to advertise, and they brought through the buyers, their service would be worth something, but since they dont, there really don't do much more than hold opens and place ads on the sellers behalf. Now if you think 4 weeks of opens is worth $15,000, thats your call to make, but I dont.
 
crc_error said:
Funny that ozperp, when I sold my properties, the agent never introduced any potential buyers. They were all introduced from my advertising in the age and internet.
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No need to get snippy! I'm simply saying that I'm not convinced that one reaches as wide a pool of potential buyers as one might by using an agent.

My point was that I use only the sources I mentioned for finding properties (and I imagine there are many others who are the same, ie no longer use newspapers), so unless I saw your internet ad, I would never have known your property was for sale. Was your property listed on realestate.com.au?

If it was listed on a private sale website, my concern would be that the audience is very limited.
 
ozperp said:
My point was that I use only the sources I mentioned for finding properties (and I imagine there are many others who are the same, ie no longer use newspapers), so unless I saw your internet ad, I would never have known your property was for sale. Was your property listed on realestate.com.au?

If it was listed on a private sale website, my concern would be that the audience is very limited.
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I agree, and as a follow on, when I do bother to look in the Saturday paper, the private adverts are right at the very end, and usually very tiny. I know that comes down to the vendor paying for an advert, and I don't agree you have to spend up big in the paper to sell a house, but plenty of people still do use the paper to browse.

If I look in the paper, it is generally to see a house I saw first on the net on re.com

And knowing "how" to sell privately still doesn't bring in the lookers. Do they know "how" to buy privately?

When you find a gem of an agent, whom you trust to negotiate for "YOU" then stick with 'em like glue, because they are worth their commission, high as it is. My chosen agent, even having known me for years, will not give out anything about her vendors, where they are going, what they are wanting, even if I am just "looking" out of interest. She is a GREAT agent, no loose lips.

My mother used to say NEVER tell even your BEST friend what you will accept for your house. Loose lips do indeed sink ships.
 
ozperp said:
My point was that I use only the sources I mentioned for finding properties (and I imagine there are many others who are the same, ie no longer use newspapers), so unless I saw your internet ad, I would never have known your property was for sale. Was your property listed on realestate.com.au?

If it was listed on a private sale website, my concern would be that the audience is very limited.
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I sold via a agent, so yes it was listed on realestate.com.au

when I say advertising in a newspaper, like the age, you also are listed in domain.com.au.

I'm not sure if private sellers can advertise on realestate.com.au.

its all to do with marketing, and good marketing can be achieved with a agent, or as a private seller.

Obviously been a private seller isn't for everyone, but I see paying 5% of the selling price to someone who took no risks in your investment is a avoidable expense.
 
crc_error said:
I'm not sure if private sellers can advertise on realestate.com.au.

No

Obviously been a private seller isn't for everyone, but I see paying 5% of the selling price to someone who took no risks in your investment is a avoidable expense.
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Surely you are not paying 5%!!!!!
 
evand said:
Agents waste a lot of time with tyre kickers.
The RE industry loves to bring people from outside the industry and train them in their ways which also sort of causes this problem.

Now, there is a reason for this but i'll give others a chance why this happens and then i'll comment a bit later.
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The tyre-kicker element sounds like the golfers buying clubs Ev!! They want to try a million demo models, and then go and shop the price into oblivion, burn us after we've done all the hard work becAuse they can get it for $5 cheaper on the other side of town, and, they are usually very poor golfers whose new clubs will not make any difference to because they play once a month and never practice. Love it. :eek:

But I digress....

I'm guessing the r/e industry love getting people with no experience is so the Principal can mold them into his/her not-so-above board ways?
 
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