Browse Forums Real Estate Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 21Dec 10, 2009 2:09 pm I live on the Gold Coast…in a specific area with not a lot of similar properties for sale very often. There are a lot of apartments like mine around, but they don’t come on the market all that often. In my particular suburb, there’s a mix of rich mansion-like houses on the waterfront, then there’s older but still nice houses and also new houses but not waterfront, then there’s my style of apartment blocks which are about 5-15 years old, 3-4 storeys and set around nice gardens, and then there’s a heap of yuck, feral flats. I’m 10 minutes walk from Surfers Paradise and the beach, and 10 minutes walk in the other direction from an office precinct area, council buildings, parkland, small movie theatre / art centre, etc. What factors would make it so difficult to sell your own property? As opposed to where I live, where I can’t really see any issue with doing it…I honestly can’t see any advantage to using an agent in my area. That’s a great idea about looking to see what time open homes tend to be in your area…we found, when house hunting, that a lot of places we wanted to look at were all open at the same time, in different suburbs, and we don’t drive so the bus would leave us with absolutely no hope of getting to all of them at once…*groan* Another good idea about putting brochures in mailboxes nearby. Very good idea. I’d put them in all the places in my area (it’s not huge and I could walk by every house in the suburb in about an hour) and also in the greater area surrounding it. How the hell did I become a senior member!? I know nothing! Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 22Dec 11, 2009 7:32 am I sold one myself yrs ago . It took two shots as the first time they backed out. But basically I just put it in the trading post would you believe , it sold in two wks. Once we'd agreed on a price , I found a solicitor , got the buyer to forward his details and the deposit to my solicitor and he took care of it from there. 6 wks later the money came through and it was done. The second one not so smooth . An investment place I sold a few mths back on vendors terms. I gave them a mths free rent , without taking a deposit up front , they moved in , wrecked the place , stayed the mth and then took off. It was my own stupid fault , no deposit , trying to help them out , letting them move in like that and not checking them out properly - big lesson ! Anyway , thye've done me a favor as we're keeping it and putting a house on it with a great profit margin - it only has a cabin now Cheers Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 23Dec 11, 2009 9:26 am Dilla I am just not sure you get it. Anyone can sell their home and just by the mere fact that you would never try means you will never and do not know how easy and simple it really is. I have stats, real stats from real buyers, that show you can sell your own home in any area of Australia. Setting a realistic price is easy - You can use exactly the same tools as your agent does when they set your house price just visit www.fmah.com.au. Follow the links and you will get a 18 page report with all the detail and last 20 properties sold and their selling price. It takes less than 10 minutes to do. How successful you are is not location dependent as you claim. This is just another fear tactic by an agent to scare people into using an agent. If you are so confident that most people can't sell their home then you should be encouraging people to try and sell it themselves - when they fail you have proven your point and the word will spread. The fact is that most people who try are extremely successful that is why from the US to Canada and Europe 'sell it yourself' property sales has gone from less then 5% to close to 30-45% of all property sales in less than 2 years. The growth is dramatic and factual. Technology and the internet has meant people can now access EXACTLY the same marketing methods as an agent. It is a stated fact that 87%-91% of all property leads come from the internet and the for sale board, period!!! Now that the average Australian Joe has access to these exact same marketing channels agents need to be held accountable for their fees. Something that all agents resist - After all I would too because if I were being paid $3-5k an hour to do my job I would not want someone to take that away either! One final point. Who generally has the most expensive car and largest house in the street? Your local agent. Wonder why? Facts speak for themselves. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 24Dec 11, 2009 2:06 pm Yeah, I don’t see why anyone can’t sell their own property…the only reasons I can think of is… 1. The people in your area are really old fashioned and for some reason refuse to even consider buying a property that’s not being handled through a “professional”. 2. You don’t have time to do things yourself and need an agent to do it all for you. 3. You simply don’t KNOW what to do. 4. Your area has nobody in it who wants to buy a property, but the agents in your area have people who want to buy that for some reason you yourself can’t access. Other than that, I do not get it. The agents aren’t miracle-workers, they’re not special cyborgs who can somehow do things we can’t. They advertise? We can advertise in the same media. They “sell” the property by what they say about it when people call, email and inspect. We can do exactly the same thing except if anything, it seems more effective coming from the owner because we’re a NORMAL “lay” person and not someone trying to get commission and taught to lie and stretch the truth (most people I know don’t trust agents anymore) and also we know more about the property simply because it’s our’s. Like, if someone asked whether my apartment was quiet at night, YES it is. If they believe me, then good. Because it IS quiet at night. Would an agent know this? Probably not, unless he thought to ask me. How the hell did I become a senior member!? I know nothing! Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 25Dec 11, 2009 3:32 pm Hi Grace some great thoughts. I might just respond to your points below: Your point - 1 - The people in your area are really old fashioned and for some reason refuse to even consider buying a property that’s not being handled through a “professional”. My response - research shows that most people prefer to deal with the home owner because they believe they get a fairer deal. They trust their responses. Your point 2 - You don’t have time to do things yourself and need an agent to do it all for you. My response - Sell it yourself websites offer services which enable you to sit back and they do it all. Your point 3 - You simply don’t KNOW what to do. My Response - Sell it yourself websites that are good give you s step by step guide on how to do it. Its simple and most come with a guarantee. Your point 4 - Your area has nobody in it who wants to buy a property, but the agents in your area have people who want to buy that for some reason you yourself can’t access. My response - Never ever seen or heard of that happening. Keep up the good comments. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 26Dec 12, 2009 4:15 pm Good! I'm glad my points made sense. lol. I really have no experience in this, but just didn't see any reason why people seem to 80-90% of the time insist on using agents and paying through the nose to do so, apart from the fact that the majority of the public is set in their ways, too scared to try and do someone else's job, and just tend to go along like sheep with the long held belief that because agents have been trained to do this task, are supposedly professionals, and we PAY them (so they must be better than us), that they'll always do a better job and can somehow do what we normal people can't. *shrug* Anyway, those 4 points I made in my earlier post were just examples of the only reasons I could think of as to why anyone would have actual trouble selling their own property as opposed to having an agent do it. In all my years of inspecting properties (not regularly, but I've seen a fair few over the past 6 years or so), I have had only ONE that was a self-sale. All the others were agents, and honestly, there was no real difference in terms of how the property was presented, how we felt being there (if anything, we actually felt more relaxed and comfortable as we didn't have pushy agents breathing down our necks the whole time), the advertising appeared to be the same (we'd found it in the paper but later noticed it online too...not sure where. I'm 80% sure it was www.realestate.com.au), and the price was surprisingly low. Maybe cause they could afford to take a bit less due to the lack of huge agent fees, eh? lol. I'm pleased with this thread. I thought maybe there was some hidden reason or some secret why it's harder to sell your own property. But no. It seems there isn't. Goodo! lol How the hell did I become a senior member!? I know nothing! Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 27Dec 27, 2009 9:09 pm Well, this has been an interesting read! I can certainly see some good points from both sides - just thought I'd have my say! It may well be easy for someone to sell their own home if they have the time or inclination, however I am looking at it from the perspective of the buyer. When we were looking to buy our first home we mainly searched on realestate.com and to a lesser extent domain.com, and I imagine that a lot of people would be in the same situation. I would much prefer to deal with someone selling through an agent. We felt much more comfortable knowing that the proper processes and arrangements are in place - especially when dealing with something worth so much money. Zoom - your " stated fact that 87%-91% of all property leads come from the internet and the for sale board, period!!! " may well be true, but unless there was a reputable agent's name attached to that sale board, we went sailing on past. Sure, this wont be the same for all people, but every person who see's that board is a potential buyer, so you want to make the whole deal as attractive as possible to as many people as possible. I am not an agent, but do feel that the low blows being given to agents by some people is a bit harsh. Unless you are in that position, you cannot possibly know what they are being paid. Yes, perhaps the agency might be getting 3 - 5k per hour, but I find it very hard to believe that is what the agents themselves are being paid. I assume this would also change depending on where the agents are located. Anyway, that's my thoughts on the idea - yes, it may be easy and cheaper for someone to sell a house on their own, but you also need to have a think about what potential buyers are going to be thinking and feeling when making a decision on such a huge financial investment. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 28Dec 27, 2009 9:39 pm We bought through an agent, but I found nearly all of them incredibly difficult to deal with (I can think of one exception). The main websites we looked at were domain and realestate.com - but we always looked at both, not just realestate.com, so if you advertised on domain, I think you could get the same audience. I think the big thing is whether you can take the types of photos that the agents can take - often, the properties not handled by an agent had really awful photos, which might have been a problem with the type of camera which those owners had. I would also suggest proof-reading to make sure that there are no typos, etc. However, apart from that, I don't think we would have any hesitation with buying a owner-advertised home if it had been the right fit - in fact, I think I would have been less distrustful. Having said that, it does take time and effort, and the right amount of objectivity about your property, so not everyone can do it successfully. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 29Dec 28, 2009 9:09 am As you are in Qld you will need to also complete a Sustainability rating post Jan 1 2010 as this will be law. I am thinking of selling myself but in the past have sold two properties through RE. I would use an independant where you can deal with the proprietor as this way he can reduce the comm's as his overheads are less. Other cost savings include - Dont put a picture sign out the front - saves you 500.00 as they can see on the web and no one does drivebys looking for houses in this day and age. Dont advertise in print, again everyone looks at the web these days. Set you price 10k than you actually want and tell them that this is the minimum. Dont tell them of you circumstances unless you dont have to sell, they will use this against you. Therefore dont tell them you have to sell wthin 60 days as they will work this into the buyers favour after an offer comes in less and they will always will come in less than your advertised price. Ensure they submit all offers to you as soon as they arrive and not at 6.30 that night as your window for negotiation has deminished somewhat. You advise the time your house is open for inspection not them, set it after or before the other 6 at 11-11.30. Dont hum and har when someone makes an offer you are not happy with, tell them straight and dont listen to the " I think we should take rubbish" I have both times said no and sold for more than I was told for through the same buyer. I paid 12k comm on a 585k sale (and kept the dishwasher) we were looking for 580k so in the end it was worth it and sold in 2 weeks. The first I paid 13k on a 440k sale and sold on the first day which was when I said next time I will dictate the terms of how we sell and for how much. In the end it all depends on your circumstances, if the market for your property has low stock then it is a good time to sell as we waited a month until there we houses over priced and few of them to make our house look attractive. The others were still on the market 3 months later. Good luck Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 30Dec 28, 2009 9:12 am kaindec As you are in Qld you will need to also complete a Sustainability rating post Jan 1 2010 as this will be law. I am thinking of selling myself but in the past have sold two properties through RE. I would use an independant where you can deal with the proprietor as this way he can reduce the comm's as his overheads are less. Other cost savings include - Dont put a picture sign out the front - saves you 500.00 as they can see on the web and no one does drivebys looking for houses in this day and age. Dont advertise in print, again everyone looks at the web these days. Set you price 10k than you actually want and tell them that this is the minimum. Dont tell them of you circumstances unless you dont have to sell, they will use this against you. Therefore dont tell them you have to sell wthin 60 days as they will work this into the buyers favour after an offer comes in less and they will always will come in less than your advertised price. Ensure they submit all offers to you as soon as they arrive and not at 6.30 that night as your window for negotiation has deminished somewhat. You advise the time your house is open for inspection not them, set it after or before the other 6 at 11-11.30. Dont hum and har when someone makes an offer you are not happy with, tell them straight and dont listen to the " I think we should take rubbish" I have both times said no and sold for more than I was told for through the same buyer. I paid 12k comm on a 585k sale (and kept the dishwasher) we were looking for 580k so in the end it was worth it and sold in 2 weeks. The first I paid 13k on a 440k sale and sold on the first day which was when I said next time I will dictate the terms of how we sell and for how much. In the end it all depends on your circumstances, if the market for your property has low stock then it is a good time to sell as we waited a month until there we houses over priced and few of them to make our house look attractive. The others were still on the market 3 months later. Good luck Sorry, and dont go exclusive. There is absolutely no benefit in doing so. If they say they will put more effort into it show them the door as you want maximum effort from the get go. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 31Dec 29, 2009 5:52 pm kaindec I would use an independant where you can deal with the proprietor as this way he can reduce the comm's as his overheads are less. Other cost savings include - Incorrect. Independents have less buying power, thus their prices are higher. For example, the fee for an independent to use http://www.realestate.com.au if FAR higher than, say Ray White. Dont put a picture sign out the front - saves you 500.00 as they can see on the web and no one does drivebys looking for houses in this day and age. You are being ripped off if you are paying $500 for a standard photo sign board, it’s been proven to help as a photo of the inside and or a notable point of difference can be seen, without wasting everyone’s time. The days of driving around a suburb are long gone, the days of people printing off the Open For Inspection list from http://www.realestate.com.au and seeing just how much poetic license an agent has used are still strong however. Dont advertise in print, again everyone looks at the web these days. Not 100% correct. Your smaller, area selected print media is stilling bringing a huge amount of enquiry into an office. The Courier Mail for example is a waste of money. Ensure they submit all offers to you as soon as they arrive and not at 6.30 that night as your window for negotiation has deminished somewhat. This isn’t always possible. I work inner city and I can assure you, people who also work inner city, in my experience are viewing properties after work and offer’s are being put on paper well after hours. Sorry, and dont go exclusive. There is absolutely no benefit in doing so. If they say they will put more effort into it show them the door as you want maximum effort from the get go. 100% incorrect, unless an agent has a genuine buyer on their books, if you list with 3, 4, 5 agents no one will take responsibility for the listing. It will become stagnant in the market, the market will question why it hasn’t sold and an agent won’t want to do open for inspections when 3 other agents have it – who simply will not coordinate with each other on who’s doing an inspection and when. I understand your point, but a lot office's just won't even take on an open (policy). As someone who has worked in the industry for quite a while, I can assure you selling your own property may seem appealing, however could take longer or even result in a lesser price. But there has always been exceptions to this and everyone should be doing their own research. It’s not hard to see what agents are getting listings and selling them and what agents aren’t. It’s been proven time and time again that buyers do not like deal with the home owner. EG: Mr and Mrs home owner have priced their property at $450,000. But the highest price for the street is only $420,000. Buyers want to offer $385,000. It’s an uncomfortable situation and one a buyer more often than not feel uncomfortable with. Even at times Mr and Mrs home owner could get offended. There will always be pro’s and con’s. Most of the time, the agent in question will only be getting 30% - 40% of the total commission being charged, people forget – If we charged out the hours spent working on each individual property the bill would far exceed what the commission would be. In this day and age, with cut price, half-bit agency’s offering capped rates and free marketing sellers are in the best position to sell with a professional. You are in control of the agreement, ask for more and get it in writing. You all have to remember, it’s your property you never ever have to sell for the offer on paper, if an agent tells you they have buyers ready and they need you to sign a 22a to legally take them through, you always have the choice to limit the time on the agreement. Plus, if they have a buyer, why on earth would they require marketing money, or even need to put it on the internet!! If the agent does in-fact have people on the books give them a 2 week agreement to get them through, that’ll sort out the BS`ing agents from the genuine one. I for one, if I have someone have signed 48hr "open" 22a's, i've gotten my people through, if no one from my data base were interested it's no loss to anyone and no cost. It's pretty simple.. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 32Dec 29, 2009 5:56 pm Josh_G If the agent does in-fact they have people on the books give them a 2 week agreement to get them through, that’ll sort out the BS`ing agents from the genuine one. Best real estate advice I've ever come across. Don't be afraid to deal with an agent; as in "do a Deal" with them. If they tell you dream stories to get your business, coming up with a tactic to get them to follow through on those promises is the best strategy. Saves you peace of mind, money and heartache. - Land registered 27/11/09, settlement 22/01/10 - Currently doing the rounds of display homes. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 33Dec 29, 2009 6:03 pm Josh_G, you are spot on. It's the people in this world who have had one bad experience, or have had one lucky break trying to sell their own home (such as people in this thread who conveniently disappear) that like to 'bash' real estate agents and the service they provide. If the service was not necessary, it would not exist. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 34Dec 29, 2009 6:16 pm I don't have anything against real estate agents (which is probably a good thing consider i have a few very good friends who are agents!!). There's good ones and there's bad ones. However they're pretty biased as to who can sell your house the best. An agent will say that "they" can (i take it JoshG is an agent as well as you Dilla?) If i ever sell my place i'll do it myself. So many people i know have sold their own houses with minimal effort, and the savings are brilliant (i know that i would have preferred to keep the $13,000 that I paid to my agent for selling my home). viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22766 - my build thread! Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 35Dec 29, 2009 6:29 pm Biased or not, they know what’s actually sold for what price, when it sold and how many day’s on market it took to sell. As a private seller, you cannot use http://www.realestate.com.au which as we all know is one of Australia’s biggest tools in selling property. So, you’ve just lost a potential 80% of buyers by not being able to use that. You’re now limited to public price classified ads, and private seller web sites, which don’t really generate that many hits/enquiry to be honest. Would you rather sell your house in 4 weeks? Or 8 weeks? Remembering you have the power to limit the agreement and “barter” hard due to the influx of cut price agencies and agents offering to pay some or even all the marketing. Not to mention an agent, by law has a duty of care TO YOU. Not the buyer. I guess the main point I was making is, very few people like dealing with the owner direct. If you are someone who won’t get offended easy, give it a go as there is no denying you do in fact save money.. To a degree. Whether you get the best price in the shortest time is another story Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 36Dec 29, 2009 6:33 pm Josh_G As a private seller, you cannot use http://www.realestate.com.au which as we all know is one of Australia’s biggest tools in selling property. I don't deny that reaestate.com.au is a fantastic website. Unfortunately it suffers a slight problem of never being kept up to date (as in homes being taken off the market/sold etc). Either way, I believe more and more people will turn to selling their homes themselves and realestate.com.au will start to cater for them. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22766 - my build thread! Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 37Dec 29, 2009 6:46 pm Jodie80 Josh_G As a private seller, you cannot use http://www.realestate.com.au which as we all know is one of Australia’s biggest tools in selling property. I don't deny that reaestate.com.au is a fantastic website. Unfortunately it suffers a slight problem of never being kept up to date (as in homes being taken off the market/sold etc). Either way, I believe more and more people will turn to selling their homes themselves and realestate.com.au will start to cater for them. I can promise you, that www.realestate.com.au will never in the immediate future have an option for private sellers to list properties for sale in the same section that real estate office’s list them. I know for a fact what the 2010 upgrades are and the money they make Vs what they would lose if that option was available make's it not a viable business move. It’s a contracture agreement that all real estate offices MUST keep their stock up-to-date. Failure to do so, re listing an old listing (that wasn’t a genuine new listing), bait advertising (not putting sold on a sold people) and the likes can face removal from being able to use the site. www.realestate.com.au has a zero tolerance policy, consumers are encouraged to list/report any concerns and complaints, plus a property that is genuinely sold, not just under contract must be listed as sold, otherwise Fair Trading can and does have a felid day with issuing fines. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 38Dec 29, 2009 6:49 pm And you work for? viewtopic.php?f=31&t=22766 - my build thread! Time waits for no man. Unless that man is Chuck Norris. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 39Dec 29, 2009 6:55 pm I don’t pay to advertise on this site, so will not be posting business names I am connected to. I have no personal connection to www.realestate.com.au, but can assure you that private sellers will not have that option, fact not fiction. Re: Anyone sell their own property (no agent)? 40Dec 29, 2009 7:02 pm To give you an idea of the sheer amount of money www.realestate.com.au makes, to have business banner advertising in an inner city Brisbane suburb cost’s approx $25k PA. More in higher population suburbs, the pricing in certain area’s in Sydney for example far exceed most incomes of people. This isn’t even taking into account what the subscription costs are, guaranteed top spot subscription, feature property subscription costs and so forth. The amount of money the big franchise office’s spend with them are just plain scary. It’s not feasible to offer a private seller listing option as agents and offices will walk. www.realestate.com.au knows this. They are a business not a charity. Before you rip it up, if you can in the grout lines, drill some holes and pour/inject techgrip by sika. I have used it to bond mdf to timber, but in the process it dripped… 1 4502 Not much in this responce. My suggestion is, what are you looking to build and why. This will all be impacted by the local councils planning scheme. Familiarise yourself… 6 6059 Use a product like Equisol's Vitalise to clean the deck then coat with a penetrating timber oil. It will look 10 years younger and add value to your home. Visit for… 1 16174 |