Selling in Qld

D

ds4

Hi,

Planning to sell a townhouse in brisbane. The agent quoted me the commission is 5% of the first $18,000, plus 2.5% of the remainder + GST. Can anyone please share their experience with selling in Brisbane? Is the rate acceptable?

When I asked if the commission is negotiable, she said that is standard. Any tips to negotiate down the commission rate?

Thanks.
 
That is the normal rate. I've never known anybody to negotiate in Brisbane, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I think you risk getting the agent's back up and I've never done it, never would. You could try selling with one of the fixed price agents like Go Gecko.

I do know of agents who will cut their commission to get the deal together. My parents had this happen to them probably in about 1990 and someone in my street a few years back when the market was very bad had the agent reduce the commission by $8K (from a commission that should have been $18.5K) in order to get the deal done. I guess the thought was that $10.5K is better than nothing if the vendor lists with a different agent.

This cut to the commission was to get the deal together, and was not negotiated up front.
 
I had my onsite manager offered me a $7,000 fixed rate + GST. However, I don't think she is as professional as the real estate agent with buyer's database, marketing strategy, comparative analysis, etc. . She claimed she has a full license.

The difference between the 2 is close to $3k.

What do you think?
 
ds4 said:
I had my onsite manager offered me a $7,000 fixed rate + GST. However, I don't think she is as professional as the real estate agent with buyer's database, marketing strategy, comparative analysis, etc. . She claimed she has a full license.

The difference between the 2 is close to $3k.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

A friend of mine has just told me she is ready to sign with an agent to sell her managed one bedroom apartment in inner Brisbane. That agent is pressuring her to sign. She is hoping to sell for $495K on which the commission will be close to $13K. Meanwhile the manager of the complex has offered to sell to someone who he knows keen to buy into the building and he will charge her $7K (I think).

He has the buyer ready to go. One phone call for a return of $7K :eek::rolleyes:
 
I have negotiated 2.5 inc GST on two current properties going to market presently in QLD. They have also thrown in the advertising and a few other bits and pieces.

I find it very difficult to fathom the rates agents charge in general, but having attempted to sell a property privately, recognise they definitely have something to offer.

The agent we primarily use in is an absolute legend, well known in the area, and has been great for bringing us off market deals. This is the only reason I can justify the amount he charges us for comms on sales.

I had another well known agent in QLD tell me "if we need to get the deal over the line we'll look at the commissions", then flat out refuse to follow through once we signed. I wouldn't trust that line.

The time to negotiate is before signing anything.

Good luck!
 
Well done WilliamB! Can you please share on how you managed to negotiate the fee and get advertising included? Did the agent start with the 5% of the first $18,000, plus 2.5% of the remainder + GST commission?
 
Hi mate, really just the "volume" I guess. He started as the standard. I'm not sure he'd consider it but we do a bit of business together so I'd assume it's in his best interest to give a little.

Agents now like to tell you how "lucky" you are they are only charging you 2.5% + as the industry is being deregulated in a way soon I believe, and commissions will be able to be charged at a higher rate.

Even for a one off deal I'd be asking the question. You never know.

Last year we negotiated two stand alone deals under 2% in WA in a pretty strong market. One of the agents was young but very hungry and did a stellar job.

I tend to believe "If you don't ask, you don't get".

Give it a shot!

Cheers,
 
I got a 25% discount by using a younger, less experienced agent in a chain who we knew a relative of. She sold for what we wanted so happy with that
 
How hard is it to just sell your own house with agentinabox or something like that? Paying $15 000+ to an agent just to find someone that wants your house just feels like a kick in the guts to me. Considering I might have to pay $5000 and work for a month on all of my days off to create that $15000 equity.
 
I constantly struggle with this question Tim.

I really find it hard to value the services of a real estate agent (to the extent they charge), even one I trust and has proven results for us.

We tried to sell two side by side properties ourselves not that long ago as we were struggling with the same issue, we did a nice advert on RE.com, worded well, had quite a few people through, but couldn't get the sale.

Ended up using my Realo to do it for us, and they sold both within a few grand of our price expectations in about 3 weeks.

We were happy to get the sale, but handing over 32k across two sales really irked the hell out of me.

I do believe there is significant value in their brand (both name and company such as Ray White), value in their database (if they have one and work it) and value in their time. Also, some buyers are suspicious of private sales, from my (limited) dealings I believe it is becoming less "feared" but it is still a factor.

Taking all that into account, to me it still doesn't stack up to anywhere near what the vendor pays, especially when normally you pay for marketing (which the agent normally benefits from anyways, with their name and face on RE.com and posters etc).

Because we are always working with our agent, the way we justify it is slightly different to the normal vendor. We view it as a two way street, in that our agent is always working to bring us off market deals with solid returns, and for that we help him earn commission on our purchase, and sale of some of our stock. In the last 18 months, we have bought a number of sites through him, and sold a few individual properties.

For the one off transaction "If you don't ask, you don't get"
 
Looking at this at the moment and the paperwork has come in at 5% first 18000 and 2.5% the rest, photos etc about another 1000 then plus GST. Seems a lot of $$$.

Will have a good read of the paperwork in the next few days and may get a solicitor to have a read.
 
I've received a proposal from an agent to pre-sell (off the plan) a single townhouse that my partner and I are building this year.

This is one of the strategies we're considering, but I was keen to understand the costs.

The agents proposed fees are 2.5% commission, plus 1% 'Project Co-ordination Fee'. On top of that is their recommended marketing budget of around $18k (which assumes 4 months of advertising on various sites, floor plans & render drawings, etc.).

The expected sale price would be around $750k.

Having not sold a property before, I don't know how reasonable this is, but it seems a bit excessive. The marketing budget we should be able to reduce a bit, but my main question is around the Project Co-ordination fee. Is this a normal fee? I've never heard of it. If the 2.5% commission doesn't include co-ordination, what does it include?
 
If you had multiple townhouses then that would be normal, for 1 townhouse I don't get the point of the project coordination fee
 
Tim86 said:
How hard is it to just sell your own house with agentinabox or something like that? Paying $15 000+ to an agent just to find someone that wants your house just feels like a kick in the guts to me. Considering I might have to pay $5000 and work for a month on all of my days off to create that $15000 equity.
Click to expand...

The REA doesn't get the $15,000.

Usually 20% for listing, 20% for selling and 60% for business to pay for the overheads and other expenses.

So from 15,000 the Agent $3,000 for listing and $3,000 for the selling agent maximum of $6,000.

There is no defined time how long the agent will be working on the property it could sell in a week (extremely rare) and could go for six months (again rare) $6k for 1 week is an excellent pay rate but $6k for 6 months is crap. What is worse if the listing agent doesn't get the buyer (another agent does). Then his rate is $3k for the one week sale or $3k for six months!

If the agent can turn it around in 2 months and gets the $6k the REA has to wait until settlement before they get paid the commission which might be another 2 months and during this time they need to pay back their salary they have received during this time.

If it is so great and easy money, give it a go and quit your day job :cool:
 
Tim86 said:
How hard is it to just sell your own house with agentinabox or something like that? Paying $15 000+ to an agent just to find someone that wants your house just feels like a kick in the guts to me. Considering I might have to pay $5000 and work for a month on all of my days off to create that $15000 equity.
Click to expand...

Ah.....but Tim, transacting real estate is far more involved than "just finding someone that wants your house" and I'm sure you would concur.
If selling privately was that easy why isn't everyone doing it?
If it's worth a month's pay to you, then there's nothing stopping you from taking a couple of weeks off to do the work yourself then?

Also, as Will has pointed out, the fee is split between the LIC/business and lister/seller and selling times are indeterminate. REAs have one of the fastest drop-out rates of any industry and for good reason. Selling (and buying) is far more involved than posting an ad and waiting for the buyer to bring a cheque to your office :)

There have been multiple posts and threads on private selling, with a myriad of experiences. It takes exposure, organisation, local knowledge, skill and confidence to buy/sell property in any market, but that's just my opinion :D
 
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