Browse Forums Real Estate 1 Sep 21, 2014 10:58 am Hi All We have been looking at properties in North West Brisbane and was wondering if the below is considered baiting. We have noticed this a lot in the last couple of months and is disheartening and below are 2 examples from the weekend but could provide many more over the last couple of months - 1. Went to a house at The Gap that was advertised at 750k+, when talking to the real estate about putting in an offer around this price they said the vendor wont consider anything under 780k. 2. Went to another house advertised at 689k+ and was told that the vendor would only look at offers into the 700's. This house was 749k+ last week. The house was on the market some months ago and went stale as they originally wanted 789k+. I also see a lot of houses that were advertised at significantly more than they are worth, go stale and then the price drops and is advertised at one price and the vendor wouldn't accept an offer that it was advertised at. So what is the + part of the price, does this give real estate agents the right to put any price with a + sign with the intention of never selling around the price before the + sign? Surely this is to get activity around the house but also to get the REA a whole new list of people for their other properties they have on the market and to ask are you considering selling for there own benefit at the vendors expense. Would be interested to know if this is legal and other peoples experiences. Cheers Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 2Sep 21, 2014 11:32 pm Real estate agents can advertise prices saying "Offers over $500,000" I guess the plus sign is a lazy way of saying the same thing. A good agent will always try to get a high offer, but the biggest thing I can tell you is ignore the agent, they can say everything under the sun to shake your confidence, but they have to by law give your offer to the owner. The biggest trick is to not fall in love with the place, start low, real low, because the only way from that is up. We offered $65k under the asking price on our first place, the real estate told me how stupid our offer was, they wouldn't look at it etc. We had done our research so I wasn't worried. They rejected the first few offers as expected but at $50k under the asking price they then came back to us with a counter offer. With land you have slight less room to move but still start low. Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 3Sep 22, 2014 9:04 am Yes it is baiting to state 750+ when the agent knows only 780+ will get a sale. It is illegal under the Real Estate Agency Code of Conduct Regulations 2001 (Download here ) Section 10 states (1) A real estate agent must act in accordance with a client’s instructions unless it is contrary to this code or otherwise unlawful to do so. Examples— 1 A real estate agent must not market, or advertise for sale, purchase, exchange or lease, property at a price, or on terms, different from the terms authorised by the client. 2 A real estate agent must not offer to sell, purchase, exchange or lease on behalf of a client a property on terms different from the terms authorised by the client. (2) However, the price at which a real estate agent offers to sell or buy property must be in accordance with the client’s written instructions. Section 18 states A real estate agent must not solicit clients or customers through advertisements or other communications the agent knows are false or misleading. Clearly the agent is misrepresenting the price if he states the sellers will only accept money far in excess of the stated price. If you look at other sections of Part 2 - general Code of conduct there are probably other sections that this contravenes. But outside of that, misrepresentation is illegal under consumer laws anyway. Unfortunately this is the bread and butter deception that goes on in the industry day and night 365 days of the year because people are too lazy to hold them to account. Really, you should report them to the Dept of Fair Trading (online here) I know the pain you are feeling when dealing with RE agents, and their conduct makes you tear your hair out sometimes. Remember these people are not true professionals - they do one week course, buy a suit, and a $600 licence, and away you go. They do not belong to a proper professional bodies with a high standard of ethics, they only belong to the REIQ, their tokenistic member body, which has a poor history in taking any punitive action against miscreant members. Keep your wits about you, never trust them, and never sign anything before taking it home and reading at your own leisure thoroughly. Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 4Sep 22, 2014 5:56 pm Great thanks both, I agree they/most cannot be trusted and the above confirms that they are acting deceptively. I asked the one at the 2nd house if it could be construed as baiting and she not really, I asked her what not really meant and she said it was the buyers instructions. The other one I put in email and they said what the vendor wanted, I asked them if it was baiting and they never replied. I feel sorry for the vendors, they consider selling their home. meet with an agent who gives them an unrealistic price guide, they sign up and end up with marketing fees and probably don't even sell the home due to it going stale at an unrealistic price. My partner is as honest and ethical as they come and she cannot understand how they sleep at night, thankfully I am well versed in marketing so knew it looked like a duck, walked like a duck... Thanks for the advice Cheers Is this considered Baiting and legal 5Sep 23, 2014 4:43 pm This has been the bane of my existence since looking for a home to buy.. Apparently the + equates to 10% minimum on top of the price advertised for. To give you an example we put in an offer on a house advertised for 430+ .. Seller advised it meant above.. House sold for 482k .. It's a complete rort!!! Another example, at a recent auction. House was advertised, and marketed around the $450+ mark, going to auction it fetched 620k!!! Tell me there was no behind the scenes in that one!! Moo 1st Home Buyer Kristie AKA Krash Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 6Sep 23, 2014 8:09 pm It is a waste of time asking an agent whether anything he/she is doing is illegal, they are not going to admit it.
At the end of the day it doesnt matter too much what price they ask, beyond the fact that they waste your time. The bottom line is you should not pay more than what YOU think it is worth. IF you are using the asking price as your only guide to worth, you are setting yourself up for failure. For eg, I have bought a couple of properties for 20% less than the asking price, and that was in a rising market. No i didnt get it cheap, the asking price was just stupid and no one made any offers. I am also aware of properties that have sold at 2/3 of their asking price, again because the asking price was very stupid. Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 8Sep 24, 2014 2:18 pm Yes, the stupid price guide to get the vendors to sign is the rip off for the vendor. They sign up and house goes stale, change marketing plan, drop price etc all adds up to $$$ for the REA. I have seen so many lately go stale on the market for quite some time for a perfectly good home, just that the price was ridiculous. Latest one was 899k+ and in now down to 760k and still overpriced. The sooner people realize that a house in theory is only worth what the bank will lend against it the better, while you may not need to get a valuation the bank still does enough homework. Clearly this doesnt include cash buyers but they didn't get all that cash by being stupid right.. Quote simple I cannot see why REA are higher on the trust scale the Used Car Salesman, they guy I bought my car from got a good deal, I believe I got a good deal so all was good. Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 9Sep 25, 2014 8:08 am Almost Every house sold in our are in last 2 years has been advertised in one of the following ways: Offers above Just listed Express sale Expression of interest Starting from If it's for auction then price guide from and this guide so much lesser than what they sell at auction 23/06/2014 - Paid deposit 21/07/2014 - ordered the survey and tender 13/08/2014 - soils test sample taken 14/08/2014 - survey done today 30/08/2014 - Pre-color consultant aptmnt Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 10Sep 25, 2014 9:14 am Yes. The Express Sale is the best one, trying to give the perception of urgency. But when you ask the price they say they are testing to market out for 2 weeks to get feedback and don't even provide a guide. Then next line is do you want to make an offer....You say 700k they may say yes and then the bank values it and says 650k and then you say no. A waste of everyone's time and the vendors money. Re: Is this considered Baiting and legal 11Sep 25, 2014 9:59 am Years back when I was sniffing around the REA would advertise with the "+" or a range. The way it was explained to me was that buyers looking in that range or level should have a look at the house. I do remember saying to my brother at the time that it seems stupid to advertise at a range as to me the lower price it simply indicates the maximum I would be prepared to pay. I recall an investment property that I was keen on and the agent indicated a price which I undercut and the response was that he doubted that the owners would go for it so I responded that my father would need to revert with an offer after I discussed with him. I live overseas so my dad handled it. I told him the price I had in mind and he then, without me knowing knocked 10% off again and made and offer. The vendors accepted. He later explained that the REA must present no matter how stupid the offer. Time wasting tactics are a annoying, I guess the REA are trying to get you to form that emotional attachment....... I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 9871 OK it's been a little while! I've been busy getting time where I can to work on this. I started by grading a pad (borrowing a… 26 19966 Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10658 |