Just read the original article š¤£
>āI donāt understand why real estate agents are necessary because there are two websites \[property buyers use\] in this country, right?ā he said. āSo, it confuses me, the idea that these people are necessary, and they need to get 2 per cent of the sale because, like, what do they do?
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>........
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> āWhat do you want me to do, lie? Put it at $1.5 million and sell it for $1.8 million? I want this to be like an honest sale,ā he said. āI put $1.8 million because thatās what Iāll take.ā
[https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html](https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html?btis=&fbclid=IwAR2EzEXo64H04N5sv6szbh0zOEMbWghEjSzM_iG2ufPlZm5E-uDMMlvsMps)
Iāll get flamed for this but here goesā¦ Although our industry does have some absolute useless wastes of oxygen, there is a large portion of the industry that genuinely works their asses off day in day out in a 24/7 industry. There is so much work and stress that goes into successfully negotiating a multi-million dollar sale.
Yep.
More goes into negotiating a deal than people realise and most people are delusional about their ability to sell.
Real Estate sales isn't easy which is why it pays so well for people who are successful.
Yet there is a platform for selling property and a platform for selling cars with nothing stopping people from using either, yet one is used more by individuals than the other..
Property is much more complex to sell than a car. The reason is that a car is cheaper making the investment decision easier and less consequential for the buyer, also it's much more homogenous so it's directly comparable to others whereas properties differ more significantly.
Heās just a delulu owner who thinks his property is worth more than it is.
However, props to him for trying to cut out REAās, we really need to normalise this. It feels like it will be inevitable one day anyway.
There are so many websites that allow you to sell privately, they get it listed for you on domain and realestate.com etc for quite a small fee. We sold our home like this as I couldn't stand the REAs we spoke to. Says he couldn't sort his shit in Domain so not sure how he is trying to run this!
It definitely feels like REAās will be the next workforce to become borderline redundant (hello Travel Agents šš»).
All it will take is one platform to blow up. Iām surprised one hasnāt already tbh.
I donāt think it will ever become the norm. Most people will only sell 1 or 2 properties in their life time, they wonāt want to go through the process of learning to how to sell and the uncertainty of whether they are getting the best price over such a rare and expensive procedure.
This. The vast majority of people are deluded if they think they will get anywhere near the sale price a good REA will. I'm no fan of REAs, but they are usually worth their commission and more.
Small sample size, but our experience has been the exact opposite. There's very little incentive for an agent to get the price up. They just want quick, easy sales. They'll usually only negotiate enough to get to the minimum amount the seller will agree to. An extra $10,000 on the sale price only makes them another $250-300 or so on their $30k of commission. It ain't worth their effort.
This is the same for me. We spoke to several agents before we sold. We got an idea of what we could sell for. Then we factored in the cost of an agent. I know this is just a 'in my experience' sort of statement, but we had been watching the market seeing what everything around us was selling for and alongside what the agents said that we could expect, we exceeded that by quite a significant amount. The below commenter is correct though, it was a little time consuming dealing with all the enquiries etc, but I basically had a list of reply comments that I could copy paste reply. Would I do it again though? In a heartbeat!
In my experience agents may tend to underestimate how much the property might sell for. There is always some unexpected variability in what the market will pay, so they don't want to promote unreasonable expectations in the owner. And when they do sell it for more, they look amazing. Not to discount your experience though - you may be in the minority with the negotiating skills and work ethic to do it well.
There are always exceptions, which is why I say the "majority". If you are a strong negotiator, understand the market and the selling points of your property, and have a lot of spare time on your hands, then by all means you could do well selling your property. This isn't most people. There are also bad/lazy agents. But it's not just about the commission on the current sale for them. Favourable sales stats ensure they continue to be employed and get more jobs in future.
If you think there might be an independent but trustworthy way of verifying it, I have a Harbour Bridge you might like.
People are speaking from lived experience and observing human nature.
No one talked about "hard". Did you want a cookie & a pat on the back? No one cares about your bragging
Just that "most people" will only sell 1-2 houses in their lifetime
The point is that some people should "have a go". I would not encourage someone like my Mum to have a go because she gets emotionally attached to things and isn't a sales person. She wanted to be at her own open home and we had to pretty much pull her away.
Now me and my siblings need to sell a deceased estate (my dad) and I live too far away (or I'd do it) and the others have full time jobs, kids and it's still a 30 min drive each way if we needed to show it.
For a $750,000 property, spending 15k on an agent seems like a no brainer...
No one says it is actually too hard.
It was the earlier Redditors comment that most people aren't going to sell their houses by themselves though. Just like most people don't do major renovations, represent themselves in court, etc.
Could they? Absolutely.
Is there any reason to believe that the norm is going to change and make your anecdotal life experience the standard by which society operates? No
It will be a bad experience for most selling a property themselves with such a site as it's less homogeneous than a car and is more expensive making the selling process more complex.
Particularly if you have no sales skills and can't emotionally detach from it being your property. As a buyer it's annoying dealing with delusional owners who say "I know what I've got" on carsales, it will be even worse buying a house from these people.
Most vendors will end up saying "shut up and take my 2%" for the same reason many people trade cars rather than selling themselves privately.
There are already lots of them, or am i missing something?
https://www.google.com/search?q=house+private+sale+website+listing&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari
Realestate.com is owned by news international and domain by fairfax.
Newspapers used to make loads of money showing real estate ads so they started their own websites when they saw the writing on the wall.
How many used car salesmen do you think are behind [carsales.com](https://carsales.com)?
Salesman - in any industry - is a well-paid job and a valuable skill.
You say this, but the older I get, the more I can see the value in one. Itās all well and good to organise your own holiday but once youāre married, have kids, full-time work, etc the last thing you want to do is spend all your spare time trying to plan an itinerary, book travel and accommodation, etc etc
Travel agents might not have the physical presence they had in the past but they still exist within companies like Expedia and they also service corporate customers.Ā
Take a look at OTAs and the juggernaut that is corporate travel.
Iām not being rude here, but those that say ātravel agents are deadā thinking of Betty in a shop booking your flight to Sydney for Christmas, and assuming THATS what a travel agent is, have NFI.
You'll have to learn to protect yourselves.
Believe me, there are enough clever, conniving potential salesmen among Millennials to make you wish you'd paid more attention.
Human nature doesn't change. Only how it expresses itself.
Guurl, it takes 2 minutes to google the stats. Of course they still exist, and will probably exist in some form for a very long time, but the industry is at like 10% if its former glory. And once the boomer generation goes, that will most likely halve again.
Not even close. Corporate travel agents have grown exponentially, and OTAs are massive.
Take some of the big players as an example. Look at their P&Ls. Look at their growth and profit YoY even with Covid factored in.
Theyāre not dying. Theyāre growing.
Owner occupiers also have an emotional attachment that can cloud their judgement. At a minimum you should get a registered valuer to do a valuation, not just the REA "market appraisal."
We've sold two properties using buymyplace. The first one we had listed with an agent for a month and the best offer he could get was $30k below list. His term expired and a month later we relisted with buymyplace. Place sold within 2 or 3 weeks at $5k below asking price. The agent spent more time trying to get us to drop the price than he did trying to sell it I reckon.
Second one we had an agent give an appraisal of $715k. We ended up listing ourselves at $779k and it sold within 4 days at full asking price. I think we had 40 groups through on the first open.
Both experiences were actually less stressful than dealing with an agent. We saved circa $50-60k in commissions, and got about $90k better sale price, give or take.
Having bought and sold a bunch over the years we've not had great experiences with agents for the most part, and there's a good chance we won't use one again. It's not going to be for everyone, but an absolute no brainer for us.
It absolutely could. Inspections can be done via taking photos which AI can analyse. Auctions can be done by online bots.
It would be so much fairer if the algorithms were held correctly.
āAgents are useless, I can do it for free no worriesā.
Over a year laterā¦
āIām gonna use an agent, I canāt sell itā.
Next attempt is heās going to see if he can get people to work for free, employing multiple agents, but only paying one of them.
Letās see if it works out for him.
He is in advertising, a breed I rate only slightly above REA.
Let them have at it I say. Maybe the agents he sets up will tear him apart, and a couple of them will go down fighting for the scraps!
There is a reason why agents usually sign an exclusive listing agreement with vendors.
What would the point be in doing the legwork to find a buyer for it to sell with another agent?
You can say what you want about agents but I don't think very many people would go to work for the week if there was a chance they weren't getting paid at the end of it.
>You can say what you want about agents but I don't think very many people would go to work for the week if there was a chance they weren't getting paid at the end of it.
Luckily that literally never happens and is completely illegal in Australia. Glad you brought it up though.
2% of property sale fits in the more money, less certainty box to me. Property sells itself in this housing crisis. For the task of setting up a few online ads and taking contact details at inspections, $10-20k seems extortionate.
Thatās up to the agents to convince him to (a) drop the price or (b) convince him that they CAN find a buyer at that price.
If they can they have earned their commission and then some
With parameters, like exclusivity contracts and so on.
If the seller wants those parameters removed, then thr agent may say ātoo risky, not worth it thank youā.
I suspect they will.
Or they might say, āIāll take the risk of working for free, but I want a bigger than normal payout if I winā. Reckon the seller is prepared to pay a larger commission to compensate for the greater risk?
Orā¦they might get brand new agents/terrible agents with no business on their books, and this deal is better than nothing at all. Is that the type of agent you want working on your biggest sale of your life?
Agent here. I wonāt waste my time on an open listing. If they owner canāt commit to me, then I sure as shit aināt going to commit to them.
There is a reason why good agents wonāt work on them.
I'm sorry but how are my experiences a nonsense thing to say. In my 40 odd years on this earth and dealing with REA I have never come across a good one
If heād listed it at 1.5 and asked for offers heād probably have got close to the 1.8 he wanted but by putting above market value he turned away any interest.
And heās an ad-maker? RIP
I doubt he even got offers for $1.5m, I know this area really well and there are better properties for $1.5. At that price you can find the same with a bit more outside space and a nicer street.
Yeah I looked at this property yesterday after reading the article. For that price range, thereās way better value in the suburb. A quick search online shows you can buy houses with similar/better features in the area for that money. Heās dreaming.
Iāve also looked at those. And for the ones Iām looking at Iām looking at a lower price range and adding 100-200k at least. Iām familiar with the area. You can get better value.
Agents won't like competition......they much prefer easy money over doing actual work and competing with a great chance of losing out for the work they actually do put in.Ā
Ā Ā update:Ā He'll have to pay them up front in order to incentivise them,Ā but that won't work either. The only way it might work,Ā is if he pays the winner an 8% commission,Ā but the agent will not be able to sell 6% above market price so that will be more expensive than just picking one agent with a decent commission.Ā
Updated for clarityĀ
Will be interesting to see if agents will be prepared to work for free, which is essentially what heās asking all but the āwinnerā to do.
I bet heās gonna find it harder than he thinks.
Bit of additional context, this fella created a media circus (as well as a YouTube channel) about how it would be a piece of cake to do it himself.
https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html
https://youtube.com/@PRIVATESALE.WALTONSTREET?si=qs_Vvc5t_2legjJB
https://6waltonst.tv/
Agent here. This guy is an absolute idiot. He is doing absolutely everything wrong in the sale of the property.
1. Shockingly bad marketing (just look at the photos)
2. Shockingly bad video (seriously)
3. Wonāt do any repairs to make the property present better.
4. Wonāt declutter to make the property look better.
5. Overpriced it to all hell. He could have put it on for $1.4-$1.5 about a year ago and would have sold for about $1.5
6. Belittled everything that agents do, so you can be guaranteed that every agent in the area was happy to let buyers know about every issue that the house has.
7. Now he has auctioned it, and completely messed it up. Uncle dying is a up there with āmy dog ate my homeworkā
8. And now he is doing the absolute worst thing - appointing multiple agents. The theory is that āmore agents will mean more buyersā
Mate, this isnāt the 1980ās, buyers arenāt going to one agent, they are going to multiple. You are going to get a buyer call every agent, see who the weakest negotiator is and then hammer the owner with an offer. It isnāt going to get the best price, it is guaranteed to get the lowest price.
Do you honestly think an agent is going to try their best to get him the best price after he has trashed every one of them; and still thinks that he can do better than them.
He deserves everything he got, which is sweet fuck all and he has lost probably about $400k by acting like an absolute toss.
He will be a case study for agents about what not to do, in every facet of the sale.
Thereās a similar property near me. They tried to self-sell it for $800k above bigger, better properties, at the top of the market in 2022. Itās now been on & off the market for 2 years. They are now on their 4th agent, but are still $500k over priced š¤¦š¼āāļø
Itās a red flag that they are greedy.
Will be curious to see what it sells for. I suspect the bait and switch will get him a good price thus reinforcing why REA do the scummy things they do.
I am considering this when I sell in a years time. From the people Ive spoken to who have done this the problem is people dont want to come to your home. Basically, buyers actually like and trust real estate agents.
Youd think that wouldnt be the case. But they are actually more comfortable going through agents.
Anyway, Im still going to give it a shot.
Sadly it's true out of a owner seller vs agent you take a calculated risk with REA knowing how dodgy and corrupt they are vs an individual who potentially could be more shady
Real estate agents are not salesmen or women, they are merely a middle man that completes a transaction - unless you are a buyers agent, when has anyone in their life ever purchased a home solely due to the agent. You want the house, they have it listed - simple. Merely a negotiator. They are like the Coles/woolworths of houses which everyone needs and then call themselves sales superstars š jog on bell ends, buy another Bavarian money waster
I agree with his comment questioning the need for REAs.
When I come across a house advertised by an owner, I always default to the assumption that it will be overpriced, I donāt know why. Itās like they got the agents in and disagreed with there price evaluation.
Selling your own property should be normalised itās not hard.
I would love to see REA go out of business!!!
So this guy who thinks he can advertise for 1.8m ("because that's what I'll take") is competing against all the similar places being listed at 1.5m .
When an agent pitches and says they'd advertise at 1.5 it's natural to think they are underselling but for all their faults they know how to get buyers interested (usually)
Itās hard if youāre trying to get 3-400k over market value. But anyone could sell at market rate in this market.
Iām 100% sure I could sell my house at market rate within 2 weeks. And it would consume less than 40 hours of my time, probably 30 hours.
This guy was 100% convinced too.
Maybe youāre right, maybe youāre wrong. The good news is youāre free to give it a crack. No one is forced to use agents.
Also, offer him market price LESS whatever the agent would have charged him in commission. After all that was what he's saved. May as well try and claim that savings.
To be fair Brunswick is a hot spot for property, for those of you who attend auctions regularly like myself (just for fun to keep finger on pulse) you'll see these selling week in and week out at comparable (not the same) prices. Brunswick is an awesome place to live I miss it alot, so much fun especially for a young single person and very close to the city with great transport in and out.
Just read the original article š¤£ >āI donāt understand why real estate agents are necessary because there are two websites \[property buyers use\] in this country, right?ā he said. āSo, it confuses me, the idea that these people are necessary, and they need to get 2 per cent of the sale because, like, what do they do? > >........ > > āWhat do you want me to do, lie? Put it at $1.5 million and sell it for $1.8 million? I want this to be like an honest sale,ā he said. āI put $1.8 million because thatās what Iāll take.ā [https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html](https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html?btis=&fbclid=IwAR2EzEXo64H04N5sv6szbh0zOEMbWghEjSzM_iG2ufPlZm5E-uDMMlvsMps)
Iāll get flamed for this but here goesā¦ Although our industry does have some absolute useless wastes of oxygen, there is a large portion of the industry that genuinely works their asses off day in day out in a 24/7 industry. There is so much work and stress that goes into successfully negotiating a multi-million dollar sale.
Yep. More goes into negotiating a deal than people realise and most people are delusional about their ability to sell. Real Estate sales isn't easy which is why it pays so well for people who are successful.
Yeah thats why people dont sell their own cars....oh wai
Yet there is a platform for selling property and a platform for selling cars with nothing stopping people from using either, yet one is used more by individuals than the other.. Property is much more complex to sell than a car. The reason is that a car is cheaper making the investment decision easier and less consequential for the buyer, also it's much more homogenous so it's directly comparable to others whereas properties differ more significantly.
I heard the other day that in almost any job 80 percent of the work is carried out by 20 percent of the workers.
Lies
correct.
'arse's' not 'asses'. We're in Australia cobber.
Heās just a delulu owner who thinks his property is worth more than it is. However, props to him for trying to cut out REAās, we really need to normalise this. It feels like it will be inevitable one day anyway.
There are so many websites that allow you to sell privately, they get it listed for you on domain and realestate.com etc for quite a small fee. We sold our home like this as I couldn't stand the REAs we spoke to. Says he couldn't sort his shit in Domain so not sure how he is trying to run this!
It definitely feels like REAās will be the next workforce to become borderline redundant (hello Travel Agents šš»). All it will take is one platform to blow up. Iām surprised one hasnāt already tbh.
I donāt think it will ever become the norm. Most people will only sell 1 or 2 properties in their life time, they wonāt want to go through the process of learning to how to sell and the uncertainty of whether they are getting the best price over such a rare and expensive procedure.
This. The vast majority of people are deluded if they think they will get anywhere near the sale price a good REA will. I'm no fan of REAs, but they are usually worth their commission and more.
Small sample size, but our experience has been the exact opposite. There's very little incentive for an agent to get the price up. They just want quick, easy sales. They'll usually only negotiate enough to get to the minimum amount the seller will agree to. An extra $10,000 on the sale price only makes them another $250-300 or so on their $30k of commission. It ain't worth their effort.
This is the same for me. We spoke to several agents before we sold. We got an idea of what we could sell for. Then we factored in the cost of an agent. I know this is just a 'in my experience' sort of statement, but we had been watching the market seeing what everything around us was selling for and alongside what the agents said that we could expect, we exceeded that by quite a significant amount. The below commenter is correct though, it was a little time consuming dealing with all the enquiries etc, but I basically had a list of reply comments that I could copy paste reply. Would I do it again though? In a heartbeat!
In my experience agents may tend to underestimate how much the property might sell for. There is always some unexpected variability in what the market will pay, so they don't want to promote unreasonable expectations in the owner. And when they do sell it for more, they look amazing. Not to discount your experience though - you may be in the minority with the negotiating skills and work ethic to do it well.
There are always exceptions, which is why I say the "majority". If you are a strong negotiator, understand the market and the selling points of your property, and have a lot of spare time on your hands, then by all means you could do well selling your property. This isn't most people. There are also bad/lazy agents. But it's not just about the commission on the current sale for them. Favourable sales stats ensure they continue to be employed and get more jobs in future.
Is there any independent way to verify this or is it just a hunch? Where's the data on REA-led vs owner-led sales?
If you think there might be an independent but trustworthy way of verifying it, I have a Harbour Bridge you might like. People are speaking from lived experience and observing human nature.
Right, so it's a hunch.
Call it what you like. Feel better?
Yeah, I like being right.
Of course not, I'm not aware of data either way. Which is why the majority of people should adopt the risk averse approach of using a REA.
Right, so it's a hunch.
Right, so it's a hunch.
Not only that, it takes too much time for people who have a job and a family to cope with.
Iāve sold 9. One was $1.9 mill.
I.e. you're not "most people"
I was 25 when I sold my first unit. Itās not hard. You are being fooled if you think you can t
No one talked about "hard". Did you want a cookie & a pat on the back? No one cares about your bragging Just that "most people" will only sell 1-2 houses in their lifetime
The point would be. Have a go. Dont think its too hard cause someone tells you itās too hard
The point is that some people should "have a go". I would not encourage someone like my Mum to have a go because she gets emotionally attached to things and isn't a sales person. She wanted to be at her own open home and we had to pretty much pull her away. Now me and my siblings need to sell a deceased estate (my dad) and I live too far away (or I'd do it) and the others have full time jobs, kids and it's still a 30 min drive each way if we needed to show it. For a $750,000 property, spending 15k on an agent seems like a no brainer...
No one says it is actually too hard. It was the earlier Redditors comment that most people aren't going to sell their houses by themselves though. Just like most people don't do major renovations, represent themselves in court, etc. Could they? Absolutely. Is there any reason to believe that the norm is going to change and make your anecdotal life experience the standard by which society operates? No
9? That's amateur numbers. I've sold 20 and I'm only 19
Exactly. We need the house version on Carsales.com or bike sales.com
It will be a bad experience for most selling a property themselves with such a site as it's less homogeneous than a car and is more expensive making the selling process more complex. Particularly if you have no sales skills and can't emotionally detach from it being your property. As a buyer it's annoying dealing with delusional owners who say "I know what I've got" on carsales, it will be even worse buying a house from these people. Most vendors will end up saying "shut up and take my 2%" for the same reason many people trade cars rather than selling themselves privately.
There are already lots of them, or am i missing something? https://www.google.com/search?q=house+private+sale+website+listing&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari
Nope, I was missing it
You do know that one guys owns all 4 domains. Real-estate.com.au Car sales.com.au Bike sales.com.au Commercial real estate.com.au
Not true. Realestate.com (REA) own the real estate sites. CAR Group (CAR) own the automotive sites. Two separate companies.
Realestate.com is owned by news international and domain by fairfax. Newspapers used to make loads of money showing real estate ads so they started their own websites when they saw the writing on the wall.
How many used car salesmen do you think are behind [carsales.com](https://carsales.com)? Salesman - in any industry - is a well-paid job and a valuable skill.
lol at travel agents disappearing. Itās a thriving (but changed) industry. One of the bigger misconceptions out there IMO
While the boomers are still around, sure, what happens after they all go though?
You say this, but the older I get, the more I can see the value in one. Itās all well and good to organise your own holiday but once youāre married, have kids, full-time work, etc the last thing you want to do is spend all your spare time trying to plan an itinerary, book travel and accommodation, etc etc Travel agents might not have the physical presence they had in the past but they still exist within companies like Expedia and they also service corporate customers.Ā
Take a look at OTAs and the juggernaut that is corporate travel. Iām not being rude here, but those that say ātravel agents are deadā thinking of Betty in a shop booking your flight to Sydney for Christmas, and assuming THATS what a travel agent is, have NFI.
You'll have to learn to protect yourselves. Believe me, there are enough clever, conniving potential salesmen among Millennials to make you wish you'd paid more attention. Human nature doesn't change. Only how it expresses itself.
Guurl, it takes 2 minutes to google the stats. Of course they still exist, and will probably exist in some form for a very long time, but the industry is at like 10% if its former glory. And once the boomer generation goes, that will most likely halve again.
Not even close. Corporate travel agents have grown exponentially, and OTAs are massive. Take some of the big players as an example. Look at their P&Ls. Look at their growth and profit YoY even with Covid factored in. Theyāre not dying. Theyāre growing.
Nobody knows your property, Like you do.
Owner occupiers also have an emotional attachment that can cloud their judgement. At a minimum you should get a registered valuer to do a valuation, not just the REA "market appraisal."
Out of interest, how did the sale go? Did you get a price you were happy with?
We've sold two properties using buymyplace. The first one we had listed with an agent for a month and the best offer he could get was $30k below list. His term expired and a month later we relisted with buymyplace. Place sold within 2 or 3 weeks at $5k below asking price. The agent spent more time trying to get us to drop the price than he did trying to sell it I reckon. Second one we had an agent give an appraisal of $715k. We ended up listing ourselves at $779k and it sold within 4 days at full asking price. I think we had 40 groups through on the first open. Both experiences were actually less stressful than dealing with an agent. We saved circa $50-60k in commissions, and got about $90k better sale price, give or take. Having bought and sold a bunch over the years we've not had great experiences with agents for the most part, and there's a good chance we won't use one again. It's not going to be for everyone, but an absolute no brainer for us.
i do hope AI wipes out the entire REA industry. It easily could be done.
No it couldn't.
It absolutely could. Inspections can be done via taking photos which AI can analyse. Auctions can be done by online bots. It would be so much fairer if the algorithms were held correctly.
The real estate agent exists to persuade buyers to pay more than most owners could. They can't be replaced by AI. The rest is just to fill time.
āAgents are useless, I can do it for free no worriesā. Over a year laterā¦ āIām gonna use an agent, I canāt sell itā. Next attempt is heās going to see if he can get people to work for free, employing multiple agents, but only paying one of them. Letās see if it works out for him.
He is in advertising, a breed I rate only slightly above REA. Let them have at it I say. Maybe the agents he sets up will tear him apart, and a couple of them will go down fighting for the scraps!
More like "He's in advertising, and wants to make a point/cause a fuss/promote himself more than he wants to sell his house"
I suspect it wonāt work out for him at all.
At least REA have the indecency to lie TO YOUR FACE.
As commission base should be ?
There is a reason why agents usually sign an exclusive listing agreement with vendors. What would the point be in doing the legwork to find a buyer for it to sell with another agent? You can say what you want about agents but I don't think very many people would go to work for the week if there was a chance they weren't getting paid at the end of it.
>You can say what you want about agents but I don't think very many people would go to work for the week if there was a chance they weren't getting paid at the end of it. Luckily that literally never happens and is completely illegal in Australia. Glad you brought it up though.
Yet that's whats being asked of the agents in this case. They may choose to do it, but I suspect they wont
You did just describe commission based sales at the end there
With parameters in place, either more certainty of $$$ or more $$$ in lieu of certainty.
2% of property sale fits in the more money, less certainty box to me. Property sells itself in this housing crisis. For the task of setting up a few online ads and taking contact details at inspections, $10-20k seems extortionate.
Except it didnāt in this instance. Old mate thought the same thing as you doā¦..and it didnāt sell for a year
Old mate set an unrealistic price. If the seller is firm on an unrealistic price, no agent is making that sale either.
Thatās up to the agents to convince him to (a) drop the price or (b) convince him that they CAN find a buyer at that price. If they can they have earned their commission and then some
With parameters, like exclusivity contracts and so on. If the seller wants those parameters removed, then thr agent may say ātoo risky, not worth it thank youā. I suspect they will. Or they might say, āIāll take the risk of working for free, but I want a bigger than normal payout if I winā. Reckon the seller is prepared to pay a larger commission to compensate for the greater risk? Orā¦they might get brand new agents/terrible agents with no business on their books, and this deal is better than nothing at all. Is that the type of agent you want working on your biggest sale of your life?
Agent here. I wonāt waste my time on an open listing. If they owner canāt commit to me, then I sure as shit aināt going to commit to them. There is a reason why good agents wonāt work on them.
Good and REA are not words that match haha. They are all liers and thieves
Man I hate this sort of mentality. Itās such a nonsense thing to say. No Iām not a REA.
I'm sorry but how are my experiences a nonsense thing to say. In my 40 odd years on this earth and dealing with REA I have never come across a good one
That Brunswick property would have sold yonks ago if it was priced reasonably
If heād listed it at 1.5 and asked for offers heād probably have got close to the 1.8 he wanted but by putting above market value he turned away any interest. And heās an ad-maker? RIP
I reckon he had offers for $1.5m but was stubborn. Could have offloaded it months ago
I doubt he even got offers for $1.5m, I know this area really well and there are better properties for $1.5. At that price you can find the same with a bit more outside space and a nicer street.
Yeah I looked at this property yesterday after reading the article. For that price range, thereās way better value in the suburb. A quick search online shows you can buy houses with similar/better features in the area for that money. Heās dreaming.
But he has changed all the door knobs.
How are you comparing prices? An agent's "guide $1.8 million" and "for sale by owner: $1.8 million" are not the same price.
Just looking at listed properties in Brunswick and doing a quick comparison. For 1.65m you can get a better deal than that place.
You'll probably find that's under quoted. Better to look at sold results
Iāve also looked at those. And for the ones Iām looking at Iām looking at a lower price range and adding 100-200k at least. Iām familiar with the area. You can get better value.
Agreed. Felt like it shouldāve been 1.5M *at most* when it listed a year ago, though I assume the marketās gone up a little.
Agents won't like competition......they much prefer easy money over doing actual work and competing with a great chance of losing out for the work they actually do put in.Ā Ā Ā update:Ā He'll have to pay them up front in order to incentivise them,Ā but that won't work either. The only way it might work,Ā is if he pays the winner an 8% commission,Ā but the agent will not be able to sell 6% above market price so that will be more expensive than just picking one agent with a decent commission.Ā Updated for clarityĀ
Will be interesting to see if agents will be prepared to work for free, which is essentially what heās asking all but the āwinnerā to do. I bet heās gonna find it harder than he thinks.
Although this one might be worth the media attention āwe sold the house they couldnātā
It's all about the price. People will find the listing.
Bit of additional context, this fella created a media circus (as well as a YouTube channel) about how it would be a piece of cake to do it himself. https://www.theage.com.au/property/news/i-want-an-honest-sale-how-a-brunswick-man-is-selling-his-home-without-an-agent-20230511-p5d7ku.html https://youtube.com/@PRIVATESALE.WALTONSTREET?si=qs_Vvc5t_2legjJB https://6waltonst.tv/
That was absolutely unwatchable. That YouTube channel makes me not want to buy the house.
Agent here. This guy is an absolute idiot. He is doing absolutely everything wrong in the sale of the property. 1. Shockingly bad marketing (just look at the photos) 2. Shockingly bad video (seriously) 3. Wonāt do any repairs to make the property present better. 4. Wonāt declutter to make the property look better. 5. Overpriced it to all hell. He could have put it on for $1.4-$1.5 about a year ago and would have sold for about $1.5 6. Belittled everything that agents do, so you can be guaranteed that every agent in the area was happy to let buyers know about every issue that the house has. 7. Now he has auctioned it, and completely messed it up. Uncle dying is a up there with āmy dog ate my homeworkā 8. And now he is doing the absolute worst thing - appointing multiple agents. The theory is that āmore agents will mean more buyersā Mate, this isnāt the 1980ās, buyers arenāt going to one agent, they are going to multiple. You are going to get a buyer call every agent, see who the weakest negotiator is and then hammer the owner with an offer. It isnāt going to get the best price, it is guaranteed to get the lowest price. Do you honestly think an agent is going to try their best to get him the best price after he has trashed every one of them; and still thinks that he can do better than them. He deserves everything he got, which is sweet fuck all and he has lost probably about $400k by acting like an absolute toss. He will be a case study for agents about what not to do, in every facet of the sale.
Lot's of people sell their own property. Its nothing new. Lots of people multi-list.
The situation is reversed. Bro is mixed up, and blind. It's only buyers that would benefit. Most vendors don't know how to negotiate a property sale.
Nearly all property owners overestimate the value of their own property. If he revised the price, it would sell.
Thereās a similar property near me. They tried to self-sell it for $800k above bigger, better properties, at the top of the market in 2022. Itās now been on & off the market for 2 years. They are now on their 4th agent, but are still $500k over priced š¤¦š¼āāļø Itās a red flag that they are greedy.
I just found old mates youtube channel, I hadn't heard about this at all, thank you to the OP.
Will be curious to see what it sells for. I suspect the bait and switch will get him a good price thus reinforcing why REA do the scummy things they do.
Film and AD makerā¦and he still couldnāt create a buzz or any type of advertising or social media presence?
I am considering this when I sell in a years time. From the people Ive spoken to who have done this the problem is people dont want to come to your home. Basically, buyers actually like and trust real estate agents. Youd think that wouldnt be the case. But they are actually more comfortable going through agents. Anyway, Im still going to give it a shot.
Sadly it's true out of a owner seller vs agent you take a calculated risk with REA knowing how dodgy and corrupt they are vs an individual who potentially could be more shady
Works way better than using an agent, the flexibility of private viewings when suits buyers gets much better results
Agents are bad but dealing with people is worse. It's similar to when you try to sell anything on FB marketplace or carsales
Properties are only worth what somebody else is willing to pay for it
Tell him heās dreamin.
Love the reference!
Always use an agent, the alternative is wasting everyone's time and/or losing money.
The first thing an agent would have done is tell him he's not realistic about the price...
Agree, he has wasted over 12 months trying to sell his property. Such a clown.
To be fair most agents are fucking useless, its just this guy was also deluded. Get an independent valuation for starters.
Real estate agents are not salesmen or women, they are merely a middle man that completes a transaction - unless you are a buyers agent, when has anyone in their life ever purchased a home solely due to the agent. You want the house, they have it listed - simple. Merely a negotiator. They are like the Coles/woolworths of houses which everyone needs and then call themselves sales superstars š jog on bell ends, buy another Bavarian money waster
I agree with his comment questioning the need for REAs. When I come across a house advertised by an owner, I always default to the assumption that it will be overpriced, I donāt know why. Itās like they got the agents in and disagreed with there price evaluation. Selling your own property should be normalised itās not hard. I would love to see REA go out of business!!!
So this guy who thinks he can advertise for 1.8m ("because that's what I'll take") is competing against all the similar places being listed at 1.5m . When an agent pitches and says they'd advertise at 1.5 it's natural to think they are underselling but for all their faults they know how to get buyers interested (usually)
Itās not hard to do but this guy couldnāt do it
Itās hard if youāre trying to get 3-400k over market value. But anyone could sell at market rate in this market. Iām 100% sure I could sell my house at market rate within 2 weeks. And it would consume less than 40 hours of my time, probably 30 hours.
This guy was 100% convinced too. Maybe youāre right, maybe youāre wrong. The good news is youāre free to give it a crack. No one is forced to use agents.
Also, offer him market price LESS whatever the agent would have charged him in commission. After all that was what he's saved. May as well try and claim that savings.
To be fair Brunswick is a hot spot for property, for those of you who attend auctions regularly like myself (just for fun to keep finger on pulse) you'll see these selling week in and week out at comparable (not the same) prices. Brunswick is an awesome place to live I miss it alot, so much fun especially for a young single person and very close to the city with great transport in and out.
So it's even worse that he couldn't get it sold within a year
Yea bit of greed taking place here or perhaps some other factors we don't know about publicly
Eventually we will have Uber for selling houses, although quite a few have tried.
Itās a shame he didnāt do more research on price and set a realistic price point. I really wanted him to succeed and start a movement.
Agreed. I thought he was going to get their eventually but took a year to move on price
The fact that he says he did his own electrical work worried me
Real Estate Agents may not always be necessary, but the good ones certainly are.
Lmfao what a bs article