Why are most REA so pathetic?

[Zhouse01]

I am so sick and tired of all their games.

On RE.com and the other websites, why dont they just list the address for the property?

Instead I have to call them, give my details so then they can call me back on Monday. Now i tell the person that handled the call all i wanted was the address so i can see if i even want to bother speaking with the "sales manager" but no she couldnt give it out.

Now seriously should i even bother calling these idiots from now on? I know i will probably get an address 20-30 mins from the nearest bus stop / train station thus why all the secrecy.

End vent

 

[Player]

I hear ya, however as frustrating as it is, amongst those thorns are the roses.

You just never know where the next "ideal purchase" will come from. From one of those non disclosed address adverts, I was led to another property with that same agent that I ultimately purchased and it was not online at the time.

Try looking at it from the perspective that you are building your network and if the location of the "non address property" is unsuitable, give them your list of criteria and have them start looking for you. As in my example above, they may have just the "one" you're looking for.

 

[fernfurn]

I just love it in Qld (or at least on the Gc) they all, except the stupid Jenman system, just give out the address and you can even talk to the receptionist and she will give you quite a bit of info. Just love it. Idiot Jenman wouldnt even talk to us until we had gone into the office, filled out their form which I gave the barest info, told him twice we wanted a townhouse fairly new, what did he take us too, a half renovated rabbit warren which would never have looked any good, should have been bulldozed, if he had given us the address and we had done a drive by we could all have saved 3 hours.

 

[Peter Parker]

Now seriously should i even bother calling these idiots from now on?

Because the worse the agents, the fewer people know about the place for sale and the less perfect the market.

The less perfect the market the greater the chance you can snap up a bargain (or conversely pay too much)!

Peter

 

[Smithy]

Who is Playing Who?

I am so sick and tired of all their games.

Strange but true the majority of REA are sick and tired of buyer/investor 'games'. In real estate there are two sides to this mistrustful coin and there doesn't appear to be any solution except by choosing to be transparent - within reason. Create a network, get agents calling you - an agent with goodwill toward you, will despite themselves (or perhaps wittingly) facilitate negotiations that are favorable to you.

On RE.com and the other websites, why dont they just list the address for the property?


1. Have you ever lived in a house - particularly as a tenant - and have cars slowly cruise past your house day in day out? It is very unpleasant.
2. It's called building a database and ostensibly sorting out buyers from brick lickers. Buyers get the address and brick lickers - well what can I say?

 

[jingo]

I am so sick and tired of all their games.

Strange but true the majority of REA are sick and tired of buyer/investor 'games'. In real estate there are two sides to this mistrustful coin and there doesn't appear to be any solution except by choosing to be transparent - within reason. Create a network, get agents calling you - an agent with goodwill toward you, will despite themselves (or perhaps wittingly) facilitate negotiations that are favorable to you.

On RE.com and the other websites, why dont they just list the address for the property?


1. Have you ever lived in a house - particularly as a tenant - and have cars slowly cruise past your house day in day out? It is very unpleasant.
2. It's called building a database and ostensibly sorting out buyers from brick lickers. Buyers get the address and brick lickers - well what can I say?

I always thought that the objective of the selling agent was to build as much interest in a listed property as possible. Giving the address to prospective buyers would, in my view be a useful starting point.

Sure, there will be tyre kickers along the way, but a proactive agent will try to work out a prospective buyer's motivation for looking through the property. Even if the prospective buyer doesn't purchase the property in question it may lead to the purchase of another property on the agent's books...

 

[RumpledElf]

1. Have you ever lived in a house - particularly as a tenant - and have cars slowly cruise past your house day in day out? It is very unpleasant.

Oh, wouldn't it be nice if the just CRUISED past. But no, they get out, walk down the driveway and into your backyard (I had no car so no obvious way to tell someone was home by a car in the drive), try and peer into the windows, knock on the door and ask to see inside ...

Been in two houses for sale, one was my own so I was always out for the opens, one was a rental and I was there for the opens as they never gave me more than 1/2 hour notice. So I'd just sit there with my feet up with a beer and watch 20 people trudge through my living room 5 times a week. That was 2002, when houses in Elizabeth had just jumped from the same price they'd been for decades up to $70k and EVERYONE wanted a $70k house returning $150pw, despite the same house being $50k two years before and still returning $150pw.

But that said, every house for sale out here has a street address on the ad. I looked ours up on google maps first before we went there. Plenty of houses not on the internet though, only in the window displays.

 

[Zhouse01]

I always thought that the objective of the selling agent was to build as much interest in a listed property as possible. Giving the address to prospective buyers would, in my view be a useful starting point.

Sure, there will be tyre kickers along the way, but a proactive agent will try to work out a prospective buyer's motivation for looking through the property. Even if the prospective buyer doesn't purchase the property in question it may lead to the purchase of another property on the agent's books...

Have a look on RE about 70% dont have address. Another 10% gives the street but no number, and the rest list them.

 

[Smithy]

It's a Database thing

At the end of the day the agent wants you on their database, if selling property becomes to DIY where does that leave the agent?

And of course if someone is looking to buy they may also need to sell...... ya get it? As they say in RE "You have to list to exist"

Out of curiosty have any of you Melbournites dealt with Lawyers Real Estate?

 

[Bayside]

Yes, they ripped me off $200 just to look at a contract pre-purchase.

 

[Smithy]

More Info?

Yes, they ripped me off $200 just to look at a contract pre-purchase.

They wouldn't let you sit in their office and read it for nothing?

 

[tcocaro]

reasons are simple

The reasons are simple;

1. Agents want to make "contact" with ANY prospective buyer. By making you call you in effect make yourself known to agents. This allows the agent to build their database as well as (hopefully) try and sell you the property or quickly give you a barrage of other options.

2. Open listings, their are agents that target properties that are on the market for a while and unsold. This is mitigated by the original agent not providing the address and making this pilfering harder.

In short the reasons for this are more to help the agent than seller or buyer. Indirectly this approach "could" mean agents get a chance to flog all their stock via database or direct calls and hence will argue overall the approach means it helps the vendor - hardly a valid excuse.

In QLD this approach is very prevalent and immensely annoying.

Coupled with agents NEVER picking up their mobile as a way of getting your details via the msg you leave AND secretaries saying the agent isn't in but to leave your details only to get a call from a landline by the agent 5 mins later is aggravating to say the least. (especially for permanent market participants like myself as a developer I sometimes even say.. "look over your desk hes sitting there pass the phone or loose the sale usually very large - its surprising how many times the agent magically appears"

Not providing address details isn't the half of it, the other is not providing price.

Unfortunately for the everyday investor theres no way around this. Developers such as myself simply check RPDATA go through the latest on-market listing and track down address, price and everything else i need to make a decision.

This is an annoying behavior trait that wont be solved anytime soon but remember the following....

Real estate Agencies are BUSINESSES in the end of the day. They should be allowed to function in a way that permits them to improve their bottom line, we cannot expect them to operate like some charity where every action is solely in the best interest of vendor/buyer.

So although their actions (majorly ticks me off) i understand why they do it, live with it and to an extent accept it.

In the end of the day if the agent actually sells the property i'm happy compared to agents that dont work, dont put the effort to sell or lift a finger to make anything happen irritate me much more than the games they play.

and lets be frank... buyers play a lot of games too so if the agent actually sells it means they have made somewhere out there a seller happy as to a buyer.

PS (I agree with agents not listing prices for major developments because this info is simply garnered by competing developers in their own pricing)