Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Jul 21, 2014 7:42 am hi all, This is a quite outrage situation: we tried to sell our old property, but the agent failed to do it within the contract. We have to find another agent to re-sell. But we saw the ads on realestate web site again posted by the first agent, who does no longer have any contract with me. Definitely this is illegal and will put negative points on my property. What should I do? I think I can sue them, but what would be the result? Cheers, Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 2Jul 21, 2014 8:02 am Is it possible there has simply been a misunderstanding between the real estate agent and the web "master". Have you tried contacting them to ask why they are still advertising your property? Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 3Jul 21, 2014 10:05 am I did ask them what is going on and who put the ads again on the web. But they play dumb. I was told Realestate.com.au won't put ads by themselves for free, and it can only be the agent who can post tha ads. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 4Jul 21, 2014 10:22 am If I were in your shoes, I would probably just send them a registered letter confirming that you stopped using their services on a particular date and that you wish all advertising to stop. I would also make it clear that you are not liable for any fees for advertising done since the date on which their contract was terminated. Just out of curiosity - what do you mean by "putting negative points on your property"? Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 5Jul 21, 2014 10:36 am I really don't like the way they do business like this. As they already tried to sell my house once and apparently the marketing they made was very bad. Then the potential buyers would know that the house already on the market once, that is the negative side I was talking about. If I am a buyer and see that a house has been on the market before, I would give a second thought why that happened. We planned to put the sale on hold for a while to wait for this effect goes away. Then they put the ads on right before we want to re-sell. This may not be a big issue, but they way they do this is very disgusting. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 6Jul 21, 2014 11:01 am I see your point of view. Which state are you in? You could try adding to your letter that, if they don't remove the ads ASAP, you will be taking "further action". In order to take this to a small claims tribunal though you would need to prove loss as far as I can understand. Unfortunately the only loss if you take the legal road may be your loss in legal fees. Maybe somebody who has already been in this situation will have better advice for you. Last thought - isn't there some over arching real estate entity that will handle complaints like this against their members? I'm thinking of organisations like the REIV in Victoria: http://www.reiv.com.au/en/Advice Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 7Jul 21, 2014 11:18 am Thanks Liliana. I am in Vic. True, that I cannot prove any loss. But I really don't want the same thing or similar thing happen again to anyone who will use this agent. They should be taught some lesson in some way. To run the business, they should follow the proper path. As my new agent said, what they have done is purely suicide, they will lose customers at least from me and all the people I know. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 9Jul 21, 2014 1:56 pm bigniqiu I really don't like the way they do business like this. As they already tried to sell my house once and apparently the marketing they made was very bad. Then the potential buyers would know that the house already on the market once, that is the negative side I was talking about. If I am a buyer and see that a house has been on the market before, I would give a second thought why that happened. We planned to put the sale on hold for a while to wait for this effect goes away. Then they put the ads on right before we want to re-sell. This may not be a big issue, but they way they do this is very disgusting. you do realise that a house can be on the market for any amount of time before being sold, right? There is nothing negative to your house being on the market any given amount of time and is a bit silly to think that it would. different suburbs and types of houses have varying "days on market" averages. houses are not a can of beans on the shelf. There needs to be a buyer that likes the house for a transaction to eventuate. I would argue that a house being on the market untill it is sold is the best way to advertise to prospective buyers. What if somone your home is perfect for doesnt get to see your home, because you took it off the market to wait for some ill thought out reason? Youve lost the sale! when buying a house, you look at it. if youre nto interested, you dont go back and wonder why its still on the market. If youre slightly interested you may try and lowball an offer if its been sitting there hoping the seller is desperate, but for you as the seller, i dont see the drawback. also to sue sucessfully you would need to prove a loss. in this scenario there is only a benefit to you as far as I can see. Youre simply confused about it. You dont like it and i get that, so youre only real course of action is to ask the incorrect agent to remove the ad. No harm done. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 10Jul 21, 2014 1:57 pm bigniqiu we tried to sell our old property, but the agent failed to do it within the contract. We have to find another agent to re-sell. But we saw the ads on realestate web site again posted by the first agent, who does no longer have any contract with me. bigniqiu I really don't like the way they do business like this. As they already tried to sell my house once and apparently the marketing they made was very bad. Hi bigniqiu, I am in Victoria and exactly the same thing happened to me with the last house I sold. The thing that made it even more annoying was the fact that I had long term dealings with the agent. They failed to properly advertise the property's features despite the agent handling the sale being my property manager and, having sold me the property, knew the property well. As examples, they failed to mention the large separate enclosed storage area at the back of the garage, failed to mention the large paved undercover area with inbuilt seating and a fernery at the rear of the house, the full en-suite, etc etc. The photos were amateurish. After it was on the market for 2 months, I found that I hadn't noticed they had written in a 120 day contract period! Anything more than 60 days is unethical and it was a subject we had discussed at length a few years before. At that point, they were never going to have the sale...no matter how much I was offered. A couple of weeks before the 120 days were up, I told them that if it wasn't sold within two weeks, I was giving the sale to another company and at that time, I wanted all advertising to cease and the advertising board immediately removed. Like yourself, they continued advertising it on their website and they didn't remove their advertising board. The latter was attended to by myself. The new company had professional photos taken but understandably would not advertise while the internet advertising remained. This all happened 2½ years ago in a falling market. When I last saw the now former property manager, he started whining about how much they lost by having the property taken off them and started putting down the house's new advertising campaign and the pricing. In effect, he was stalking the sale! The property sold within 3 weeks of being readvertised. It took about 3 weeks for the first agent to remove it off the website. I would love to know if you are dealing with the same (family owned) company, you're not in the SE suburbs are you? The new buyer asked me why I had given the property to another agent. I was somewhat surprised he knew this but I just told him the history and we had a good chat but yeah, the time a property is on the market does attach a lemon to it. As to what you can do...probably not much unfortunately except to keep up the pressure or maybe get a big guy to go in and ask about the advertised property and ask to see it! A controlled loud verbal for having his time wasted would be worth the price of a slab! PS, behind every joke...there is a bit of truth! Also contact the REIV as Liliana suggested but I'm not sure what they can do. You might find this extraordinarily hard to believe but real estate agents are bound by a code of ethics!!! Perhaps you could play that card with the REIV. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 11Jul 21, 2014 3:04 pm SaveH2O the time a property is on the market does attach a lemon to it. This is a philosophical point. the time a house is on the market only severs to deter some types of buyers and encourage others. Some proerties are on the market for a long time despite being amazing deals, coversly for being over priced. Examples are stately homes in hawthorne that are beutiful, yet out of reach for most buyers. However, people who buy those types of homes are not always looking, therefore tend to be on the market for up to many years. Conversely, a while back I looked at a terrible looking property in frankston south on a 780sqm block thats been on the market for a while. Would have been a KDR for me and would have snaped it up if somone who had the same idea that week didnt offer 50 grand more than me. the "lemon" you refer to is hardly that and only a perception piece. Although a house being on the market for longer by virtue of that time on the market advertises it to more buyers than if its going on and off all the time. That said, the issues that both of you seem to have had is bourne from poor marketing, not from time on the market, which is a different issue. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 12Jul 22, 2014 9:06 am Sounds interesting to have some big guy knocking their door. Truely I cannot say or prove I have direct lost. But I don't like the feeling such agent exists in the market. Failing to sell the house may lie in their lack of ability. I would not mind if they already tried their best. People used their service simply becuase they trust them(even though most of the agents would brag a bit). Doing business without following the code of conduct is another issue, which should not be tolerated. ps, I do live in SE melbourne Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 13Jul 22, 2014 12:41 pm Was it a long established family business? 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 14Jul 22, 2014 5:23 pm The realestate website takes their instructions directly from the agent, if the agent logged on and removed the listing that change would be in effect in minutes. It would have not cost them anything to re-list a property that was taken off market so it's most likely an exercise to get the most agency exposure from the advertising they've already shelled out for. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 15Jul 30, 2014 7:31 pm MikkyG is spot on. And all the OP had to do was turn up and the agents office and demand that one of the staff log in immediately to realestate.com.au and remove the listing. This thread is much ado about nothing. Re: Advice needed: agent put my house on realestate illegall 16Jul 31, 2014 8:46 am qebtel This thread is much ado about nothing. +1. alot of them are. you get all sorts, and all sorts all need somwhere to live. This forum has be a fascinating read. Creator of superduperonium, expert at expert things, nobel laureate, can hold my breath for 10 minutes. 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 4266 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 5824 0 9763 |