Selling houses....ARG!!!

[Lonicus]

I haven't been around much the last couple of weeks, and here's why.

We finally got our house ready for sale, painting, new carpets, de-cluttering, etc. etc.

Interviewed some agents and picked who we thought could do the best job at selling our place for us. That's where it all went wrong!

To call them amateurs would be doing amateurs an injustice.

They came around and took all the photos, assuring us that we'd have the final say on what went on the 'net, along with the blurb. Two days later our house appears on the 'net and in the local paper without us having seen anything about what was going in. There were a total of 8 or 9 photos, depending on which website you visited, 4 of which were of the view or the outside of the house, 2 shots of a lounge and a shot each of the 2 kitchens and 1 shot of the outdoor area. The write-up was a shocker as well, found out it had been mostly done by the 20 year old office girl who started work in real estate 2 weeks prior.

Got together with them and said they needed to start again as we were very not happy!

Fine, they came round took more pics of which we selected around 20. We wrote out the blurb for the ads, at least as a basis for them to go by, as they didn't seem to have a clue what to write. We were promised that all would be done right away and we would be called in to hit the launch button once we'd OK'd everything. Thursday I received an email telling me they call on Friday to get us in for the launch, excellent.

By 3pm Friday still nothing heard. Called in to the office only to be told by the office girl that the agent/s were all out. Expressed my displeasure but made it clear that I did not blame her and was very nice to her, then left.

7pm Friday night I finally get a call from the Principle of the agency wanting to arrange another time to launch the property onto the market. She also mentioned that people in the office were afraid to do anything with our property as I'm a bit scary!

She suggested that she would be OK if we wanted to walk away from our contract, I jumped at that and said goodbye! On having a closer look at the contract I discovered that they hadn't actually signed it, so there was no contract to walk away from! LOL

We have a new agent coming in today and hopefully we'll have a better run this time.

With any luck this one will do a proper job and I'll have less stress and more time to get back to making up a Patrol mod wish list on here with you guys :)

[lorrieandjas]

Hey mate - sounds like they don't want your business at all. It's unlike an Agent to walk away from a contract! Hope the next one goes better mate.

Jas

[Maxhead]

Mate, good luck with the new agent. We went through this 3-4 years ago and took a while to pick the right one, ended up going with a fancy one which cost a bit more but at the end of the day they were most professional and knew the market and expectations which gave us a lot of confidence.

Hope you get what you're looking for! Tough market.

[NP99]

Also try and negotiate their fee. Its not locked regardless of what they tell you. They are meant to work for the seller (who pays the commission) but in reality they work for the buyer who has the $$$$. Once your property is listed get one of your mates to visit them and arrange an inspection.......have him ask what price they (you) will take, if the agent rolls quick on this you know they are not working for you. Be careful if the agent has an open house, this is normally a ploy to fill their book with potential buyers.......more for their benefit than yours, plus its a huge security risk people wandering through your house..........hide all your valuables. Another, just run with internet advertising, ads in papers are for the agents benefit as is the board they put in sellers front yards.........the seller pays big $$$$ to have an agent advertise their agency in your front yard.

Good luck with it all............

[Cuppa]

Is there such a thing as a 'good' real estate agent? I've never found one, some better than others, but never a 'good' one. How they can charge the sort of fees they do is IMHO often daylight robbery. Your experience is not uncommon. My experience is that they are often very good at selling their own services, but very poor in actually providing them. Like you we have had to resort to producing our own 'blurb' (as well as photos) in the past, as well as dictating specifically what we wanted in terms of a selling strategy ........ And it still cost us the same exorbitant fee even though we did most of the work.
Good luck.

Cuppa

[taslucas]

Heres a good way to get round it:
I bought my house off my mate lol, no real estate agent. We negotiated price via text message haha.
I've watched him renovate the place over the last few years so I knew exactly what was going on. He only lives over the road so I can ask him anything about the house.
Their real estate contract had been over for about 3 months when I bought it but as soon as the real estate heard it had sold, they charged my mates 300 bucks extra fir "marketing"!

FanTapstic!

[NP99]

Need to be careful if the contract is exclusive to the one agent................you sell it through anyone but them you may be up for a double fee at worst or pay them a fee even if you sell it yourself.....

Ever wondered why newspapers don't run bad stories on Agents.............the answer lays in Saturdays newspapers :-)

[Lonicus]

Thanks guys!

The agent has just left and we feel comfortable with her and her expectations of our house and the market, it's pretty much what we had gleaned from the 'net and local ads ourselves. She asked all the right questions about age of the house and when additions and renovations were done.

No fees, other than commission which is negotiable, with a large range of advertising all inclusive. With Easter being so close they are going to get everything organised for a big "splash" launch after the Easter break. She also gave us some good tips about a couple of things around the house and yard in terms of presentation.

Feeling a lot better about this lot, let's hope it pans out.

Cheers
Mark

[Bob]

Good Luck with it Mark

[NP99]

Thanks guys!

The agent has just left and we feel comfortable with her and her expectations of our house and the market, it's pretty much what we had gleaned from the 'net and local ads ourselves. She asked all the right questions about age of the house and when additions and renovations were done.

No fees, other than commission which is negotiable, with a large range of advertising all inclusive. With Easter being so close they are going to get everything organised for a big "splash" launch after the Easter break. She also gave us some good tips about a couple of things around the house and yard in terms of presentation.

Feeling a lot better about this lot, let's hope it pans out.

Cheers
Mark

You're in the drivers seat now :-)

[Maxhead]

Hope you get the right outcome! You sticking around town or moving somewhere for a better lifestyle??

[andrewh]

We sell our homes privately. Just get a simple website up do your own advertising and save a fortune!

[Lonicus]

Hope you get the right outcome! You sticking around town or moving somewhere for a better lifestyle??

Heading to Noosa mate.

Bought a house there last September as the market was very low. The plan was for my wife to retire in a few years, well before retirement age, and save like mad between now and then. When we came home we crunched the numbers and worked out we could get my wife retired at the end of this year and head on up. Her work is happy for her to telecommute from Noosa should we sell the house early, so we're on the market :)

[MEGOMONSTER]

Mark, how are things going with the house sale or are you already in Noosa living the high life of the Sunshine Coast.

[Lonicus]

It goes back on the market this week Mego.

The new agents are taking their time and doing everything right. I was ready to go on last week but they recommended leaving it until after Easter as it's a bit of a dead time for house sales.

Fingers crossed it won't be too long and I'll be posting pics of being bogged on the beach with a stupid grin on my face :)

[Maxhead]

Hope it all goes well for you Mark and quickly!! I wanna see this stupid grin on ya ...LOLOLO

[MEGOMONSTER]

I just wanna go to Noosa.

[Lonicus]

I just wanna go to Noosa.

You and me both mate!

[MEGOMONSTER]

You and me both mate!

I know my choice for the next meet.
PML your joint in Noosa.
I might be the only one coming.

[NP99]

Don't forget to save your loose change for coffee in Hastings Street :-)

[MEGOMONSTER]

Don't forget to save your loose change for coffee in Hastings Street :-)

Are there any cafe's left, cos after the last rental hike most closed down.

[NP99]

Still one or two left. The rents up that way are crazy!

[MEGOMONSTER]

Still one or two left. The rents up that way are crazy!

For some reason the shop owners would rather have no rent then to drop the rent to have a renter.

[NP99]

For some reason the shop owners would rather have no rent then to drop the rent to have a renter.

There must be a tax rort of sorts for them to do that. I agree with you, it does not make sense!

[Lonicus]

I know my choice for the next meet.
PML your joint in Noosa.
I might be the only one coming.

Can fit a tent or two out the back mate :)

[Lonicus]

I think you need more than loose change for a coffee these days, specially up there!

[NP99]

I think you need more than loose change for a coffee these days, specially up there!

A fistful of gold coins...... :-)

[MEGOMONSTER]

A fistful of gold coins...... :-)

$38 bucks for coffee and cake for two people

[dads tractor]

$38 bucks for coffee and cake for two people cough splutter that's a slab of stubbies and you get 24 for that price so the cake must be something else !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MEGOMONSTER]

cough splutter that's a slab of stubbies and you get 24 for that price so the cake must be something else !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cake is 2" squared.

[PMC]

I haven't been around much the last couple of weeks, and here's why.

We finally got our house ready for sale, painting, new carpets, de-cluttering, etc. etc.

Interviewed some agents and picked who we thought could do the best job at selling our place for us. That's where it all went wrong!

To call them amateurs would be doing amateurs an injustice.

They came around and took all the photos, assuring us that we'd have the final say on what went on the 'net, along with the blurb. Two days later our house appears on the 'net and in the local paper without us having seen anything about what was going in. There were a total of 8 or 9 photos, depending on which website you visited, 4 of which were of the view or the outside of the house, 2 shots of a lounge and a shot each of the 2 kitchens and 1 shot of the outdoor area. The write-up was a shocker as well, found out it had been mostly done by the 20 year old office girl who started work in real estate 2 weeks prior.

Got together with them and said they needed to start again as we were very not happy!

Fine, they came round took more pics of which we selected around 20. We wrote out the blurb for the ads, at least as a basis for them to go by, as they didn't seem to have a clue what to write. We were promised that all would be done right away and we would be called in to hit the launch button once we'd OK'd everything. Thursday I received an email telling me they call on Friday to get us in for the launch, excellent.

By 3pm Friday still nothing heard. Called in to the office only to be told by the office girl that the agent/s were all out. Expressed my displeasure but made it clear that I did not blame her and was very nice to her, then left.

7pm Friday night I finally get a call from the Principle of the agency wanting to arrange another time to launch the property onto the market. She also mentioned that people in the office were afraid to do anything with our property as I'm a bit scary!

She suggested that she would be OK if we wanted to walk away from our contract, I jumped at that and said goodbye! On having a closer look at the contract I discovered that they hadn't actually signed it, so there was no contract to walk away from! LOL

We have a new agent coming in today and hopefully we'll have a better run this time.

With any luck this one will do a proper job and I'll have less stress and more time to get back to making up a Patrol mod wish list on here with you guys :)

G'evening mate,

Do not let the pricks get you down.

PS, all the best with your sale!

Regards,

Paul