Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Apr 16, 2009 8:09 pm Just wondering if anyone has used one to help sell their house? we are thinking of using http://www.vendoradvocacy.com.au Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 2Apr 16, 2009 9:17 pm yes I'd like to know too, they look good don't they! Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Vendor advocacy service? 3Apr 16, 2009 9:22 pm We thought about it, then backed ourselves and got the price we wanted. I think that if you find a good agent that you can trust, then it shouldn't be an issue. You do need to stand your ground and be firm though, so maybe that's where the advocates can come in. Re: Vendor advocacy service? 4Apr 16, 2009 9:59 pm you are probably right Mel, and let's not forget that the vendor service only gets paid (out of the commission) of the sales person who you have listed it with. A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Vendor advocacy service? 5Apr 16, 2009 10:12 pm I really hate pushy sales people! At the end of last year I had 2 agents come out to the house to value it. We wanted the figure so we could work out if we could afford to build and to give us a budget. I was heavily pregnant at the time and our house wasn't going to start until feb/mar and yet the agent still tried to push me into signing up there and then with a view to asking a would-be buyer for a long settlement. They even gave me the usual spiel that they had a "perfect buyer" for us already on the books. As if someone would want to buy a house in novemebr and not settle for 8-10 months later The agent would ring me up several times a day for about 2 weeks before he eventually got the message. Anyway, back to the point lol... so that's why I thought it would be beneficial to use the advocacy service. On that website that I posted, you can get a free booklet (which I have already got) and it's very good and makes lots of sense. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 6Apr 16, 2009 10:21 pm well I agree Hels! Obviously I agree with everyone - aren't I an amicable lady! Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Vendor advocacy service? 7Apr 16, 2009 10:27 pm For me, I wouldn't use this service, but I understand the real estate game reasonably well. If you've never sold property, or didn't want to deal with the nitty grittys, go for it. I would expect you could negotiate a better rate if you went at it alone - remember you would need to pay commission to the agent and the vendors advocate - thats coming out of your final price. With the FHOG bonus thingy running out, agents cant get enough properties to sell so will be very competitive with their rates I would assume. Important to remember, make sure you go with a good agency, not just a good sales person - as sales people from the entire agency will be selling your home not just the agent who got the listing. The thing I always suggest to my friends is only sign up for 30 days, don't let them sign for 3 months - it keeps them on their toes, creates urgency, and gives you an option to change agencies if they are not doing their job properly. End of the day, you shouldn't need a vendors advocate, by law an agent must be fair and honest and work for you, the vendor. Sorry Hels, I went off track a bit. ICK So glad the building is over, never again. Loooove our house, but still not quite sure it was worth all of the stress they put us through! Re: Vendor advocacy service? 8Apr 16, 2009 10:39 pm ICK For me, I wouldn't use this service, but I understand the real estate game reasonably well. If you've never sold property, or didn't want to deal with the nitty grittys, go for it. I would expect you could negotiate a better rate if you went at it alone - remember you would need to pay commission to the agent and the vendors advocate - thats coming out of your final price. With the FHOG bonus thingy running out, agents cant get enough properties to sell so will be very competitive with their rates I would assume. Important to remember, make sure you go with a good agency, not just a good sales person - as sales people from the entire agency will be selling your home not just the agent who got the listing. The thing I always suggest to my friends is only sign up for 30 days, don't let them sign for 3 months - it keeps them on their toes, creates urgency, and gives you an option to change agencies if they are not doing their job properly. End of the day, you shouldn't need a vendors advocate, by law an agent must be fair and honest and work for you, the vendor. Sorry Hels, I went off track a bit. A lot of what you said is covered in the free booklet that I mentioned I'm 99% sure that I will use the service so I'll report back here with an update in due course. We will have our house on the market in approx 3-4 weeks I think. Luckily, we are under no pressure to sell if we can't get a good price as renting it out is another option for us as the mortgage isn't big on this place. However, we will put it on the market and see what happens. I don't want the stress of selling added to my plate right now (it's bad enough building a house and dealing with PD lol) hence why I'd like to use the service. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 9Apr 18, 2009 6:32 pm Hels Just wondering if anyone has used one to help sell their house? we are thinking of using http://www.vendoradvocacy.com.au How much would you pay for a service like that? Surely the selling agent is not going to pay them from their commission. Re: Vendor advocacy service? 10Apr 18, 2009 8:11 pm jhome Hels Just wondering if anyone has used one to help sell their house? we are thinking of using http://www.vendoradvocacy.com.au How much would you pay for a service like that? Surely the selling agent is not going to pay them from their commission. Apparently that's how it works. They take a "referral fee" which is quite common amongst agents aswell. Eg if an agent brings clients to a property that another agency is marketing and they buy it. I don't know the exact figures though. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 11Apr 25, 2009 8:39 pm Just an update... We met with a representative from the vendors advocacy service today and the meeting went well. We agree with their strategies and have signed up. He will now find us a suitable agent to market our home and get a market valuation done to find out the realistic value. We should be listed in about 2-3 weeks, I'll keep you posted... Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 12May 05, 2009 11:53 am Hels Just an update... We met with a representative from the vendors advocacy service today and the meeting went well. We agree with their strategies and have signed up. He will now find us a suitable agent to market our home and get a market valuation done to find out the realistic value. We should be listed in about 2-3 weeks, I'll keep you posted... Please do update. My fiance and I are also thinking of using them and are struggling to find "neutral" feedback on them. I await your feedback with abated breath! Re: Vendor advocacy service? 13May 05, 2009 6:27 pm Ok time for an update then... so far we have had a meeting with a representative and signed up for 90 days. He organised for a market valuation to be done (we pay for that, approx $250). It is an unbiased valuation of what the market value is of the property and not the same valuers that a bank use. They look at comparable sales in the area aswell as the features of the property etc. Yesterday the representative brought 2 real estate agents through. They were personally selected as having previously achieved good sales in our area. We have now chosen the agent that we want to use and they will come back to see us next week to discuss marketing, price range and commission etc. Our representative will be present for that meeting too. So that's where we are up to, but from what has happened so far I would say go ahead and give them a call. The first appt is basically explaining what they do and you are under no obligation to sign up. I'll update again once we are on the market. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 14May 15, 2009 9:43 pm Update: The agent is decided, we have also agreed on a "buyers enquiry range" and marketing plan. The agent is great, I really like him and he was the one that came highly recommended by the advocacy service. I probably wouldn't have found this guy otherwise. The house should be listed this week and any offers go to the advocacy rep to negotiate first. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 15May 15, 2009 10:48 pm well it certainly sounds really good so far hels, I think you are going to do quite well out this! Annie A thankful person is a happy person. [/color]My hobby design blog: http://aviewondesign.blogspot.com/ Re: Vendor advocacy service? 16May 16, 2009 6:26 pm Annietom well it certainly sounds really good so far hels, I think you are going to do quite well out this! Annie I hope so Annie, but the house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay!! One thing that I wish we hadn't bothered with is the independant market valuation. I think it was way off and the valuation even came in under the bank valuation They also didn't do their homework all that well and said things like "closest shopping centre is 5-10 mins drive away". When in fact we have a brand new shopping centre within walking distance and it has a supermarket, bank, doctors surgery and childcare etc. I was a bit peeved about that. There were other things in the valuation too that weren't researched thoroughly enough. So if anyone is going to use the advocacy service, I suggest going with the valuations that the Real Estate agents give as I think they are more qualified to know your area and recent sales etc and save yourself a few hundred bucks. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 17May 26, 2009 11:47 am Have booked an appointment for tonight. Have some questions to ask them, one of them being about the independant evaluation. (have printed out this forum as a reference - hope you don't mind) Just another question, what "sale method" have you gone? I am looking at the Set Sale method. Re: Vendor advocacy service? 18May 26, 2009 1:31 pm AWR Have booked an appointment for tonight. Have some questions to ask them, one of them being about the independant evaluation. (have printed out this forum as a reference - hope you don't mind) Just another question, what "sale method" have you gone? I am looking at the Set Sale method. We have gone with set sale and have a buyer enquiry range. Please keep my identity and comments annonymous as I'd prefer they didn't know about this thread as we are still actively dealing with them. The independant valuation may be suitable for your property, but in our case there are not many properties for sale in our price range so they could only compare it with cheaper properties. I also don't feel that they did their research very well on the area. The real estate agents had a more realistic idea about it's worth. Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." Re: Vendor advocacy service? 20May 27, 2009 2:31 pm AWR - How did your meeting go last night? what are the initials of the representative? Ours is "I.S" and I wonder if we had the same one We have been on the market for 6 days and we have had 1 offer so far (the first people who inspected) but unfortunately it's on the low side and the agent doesn't think they can go up any higher. We had another inspection this morning and the people want to come back for a second look this week. There is also another couple coming later this arvo too. So far so good Blog: http://bluemistkids.blogspot.com "Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, and professionals built the Titanic." 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