F***n real estate agents

[awayatc]

A house on internet listing sounded interesting....POA....
Ring up to find out price....
Sorry you have to speak to listing agaent, can I get her to ring you back?
Yep, sure, am serious cash buyer, just need to know if it is in my range...
Next day: No news, so being rather the impatient type I ring up again...
Sorry you need to speak to listing agent....
"Well" I say "she didn't ring me back, so unless you can give me a price in the next few minutes I will barge up to this address and ask the owner myself...."

Agent rang 2 minutes later,full of assorted bullshit excuses and we made appointment to view......
Nice house...."how much?"
Blahblah
"how Much?"
yadeeyadee yepyep...
Give me a contract, I make an offer on the spot, cash only subject to Lim....
Not sure I got papers in car, can you wait 10 min? etc yep yep...
" no" am in a hurry, will sign monday or so..

papers somehow magicly appeared out of boot of car and I made a very reasonable offer (based on RV), explaining to her that I don't subscribe to the up and down countersigning load of crap game.
He has got a price in mind, I got a price in mind, we agree /we got a deal, if not we dont...

She rings me up 15 min later, and asks me where I am.
tell her i am busy but she insists we meet somewhere to discuss why my offer wasn't accepted....
"i had no clauses to object to, so he wants more money,
How much?"
she keeps insisting that she wants to meet with me to discuss it, over and over and over.....
In the end I said, If you refuse to tell me how much he wants just forget about the whole deal, I am not going to rearrange my day to convenience you.
So FINALY she spat out a number into the phone..(not that far removed from my offer)
"Sorry not paying that much!"
Oh, she goes, we can still make this work, blah blah.
I say, I will only MAYBE make a second and final offer in the next few days.... Nothing you can do to make this work....Is just a number game, always was.
I will ring you one of these days and tell you when and where suits me IF I want to make another offer....Thanks, have a good evening!

She was fuming and sizzling,
Somebody ruined her game and didn't play by her rules.
I took over the initiative.
And knowing I can easy afford the "asking" price made it worse for her...

The art of war...
Only negotiate from a position of strength.....

Rant over, deal isn't
Still undecided.
House mainly so kids have Base near Uni.
Will probably buy a yacht,
easier to piss off if you dont like the neighbours...

[smoky]

It really pisses me off all the auctions and POA bullshit around, it makes the job of filtering out the possible properties to look at a bigger job than it needs to be. Surely if you're selling you have a figure in mind?
The only reason they don't put a price on it - is just in case there's a silly sod out there who doesn't know what it's worth and will pay too much for it.
Real estate agents also use the no price thing if they think it's worth way less than the vendors expectations

So generally anything advertised as POA or auction - I don't bother with; because it tells me the vendor wants more than the market price for it

And for some reason people are paying silly money at auctions?

I'm currently looking around for a deal as well, good time to be buying I think - but I'm not to sure about taking on larger mortgage given the current economic environment, I think I'll leave myself plenty of wriggle room.

[James Deuce]

Yes, they have a unique perspective on things, don't they?

Auction, Tender, POA are just tools to see what the market will bear.

[davereid]

She is being paid by the vendor, so I guess that she assumed you would be easy to push up to a higher price, as the first offer came so easily.

Her big mistake !

In general, the few dealings I have had with real estate agents have been miserable corrupt little affairs, with agents dabbling in all sorts of dodgy shit.

I have an elderly auntie who has been caught a few times. The usual deal, auntie is bored and looks at a few houses for inspiration.

Agent catches on, and comes around and appraises aunties house, valuing it way to high.

Bolstered by the high value of her house, she buys one off the agent.

Then of course the high offers never eventuate, and the agent changes to the "you have to meet the market luv' line.

[Pixie]

It really pisses me off all the auctions and POA bullshit around, it makes the job of filtering out the possible properties to look at a bigger job than it needs to be. Surely if you're selling you have a figure in mind?
The only reason they don't put a price on it - is just in case there's a silly sod out there who doesn't know what it's worth and will pay too much for it.
Real estate agents also use the no price thing if they think it's worth way less than the vendors expectations

So generally anything advertised as POA or auction - I don't bother with; because it tells me the vendor wants more than the market price for it

And for some reason people are paying silly money at auctions?

I'm currently looking around for a deal as well, good time to be buying I think - but I'm not to sure about taking on larger mortgage given the current economic environment, I think I'll leave myself plenty of wriggle room.
Agents like auctions because they are easy and the vendor pays for all the extras - like advertising etc.

[martybabe]

What a game, I've been through all of this bullshit recently. I was asked by three estate agents, quite earnestly, what price I thought they should advertise various properties. This is after I'd said I wasn't interested in the property.

No one seems to have a clue on values at the moment but it doesn't stop them trying every scam/estate agent trick, to milk you for every cent they can get .

[Pussy]

The jargon, bullshit and game playing pisses me off too.

There are only three things REQUIRED for a real estate deal

A vendor

A purchaser

Some real estate

[Mom]

It is a game that they have to play. I trained as one, yes folks, it is true, but before you start chucking things at me, there is no way I would ever sell real estate. I needed the qualification to legally run a property management business for a company.

During the training, I among others asked the question of the tutor, how can you get the best deal for a vendor if you also act for the purchaser? The answer it seems is in your integrity, and a set of guidelines and rules an ethical agent has to operate under. So what you have is a middle man, whose only goal in life is to make a commission off the sale.

There are many ways you can manipulate a situation to ensure you are getting the best deal for everyone (read yourself). Interestingly enough, I have worked alongside some very professional and ethical agents, who I would not hesitate to recommend to someone who wants to buy or sell a property. There are also the ones I would never recommend, I would not trust them as far as I could flick them.

Best advice is go and talk to the ARIENZ of a real estate office, and ask to be directed to the agent that has been in the game the longest. They tend to be the ones that know how to look after you, and are not totally ficussed on their pay packet.

[JimO]

about 10 years ago i had a student flat here in dunedin and had decided to sell it, up the road there was one for sale so i called the agent, asked him to have a look and give me a value on it, about a hour later he called me back wanting to buy it for himself, he said he would pay $120000 which was top dollar and we would have no agents fees, i thought he sounded a bit keen so decided to have a go at a private sale, put a add in the local paper with the address and that someone would be on site from 9am, i got there at 10 to 9 there were 6 people waiting by 9:30 i had a offer of $135000 and a back up offer of $133000 the first guy couldnt come through with the money as the bank wouldnt lend him any more so buyer #2 got it. I had bought it 2 years earlier for $90000. I have spoken to several realestate agents over the years about the agent i contacted and they have all said what he did was unethical, the property is worth around 350k now

[Big Dave]

There are people who are good at their job and there are people who are bad at their job. Any job.

Most rants against agents involve unmet expectations - realistic or otherwise.

[Usarka]

Most rants against agents involve unmet expectations - realistic or otherwise.

Expectations that are set by the agent?

[MIXONE]

What peeves me is the fact that they don't very often have prices listed.I know how much I have to spend and don't want to waste my time viewing properties that are out of my price range.
We bought our current house on tardme and got it for about 40k cheaper then going through an agent.

[jaymzw]

Interestingly enough, I have worked alongside some very professional and ethical agents, who I would not hesitate to recommend to someone who wants to buy or sell a property.

My grandparents are and have been for a long while Real Estate agents in Warkworth:shit:

[Elysium]

Is everyone else here of the opinion that real estate agents are more concerened for their social status then being proper agents? I mean their faces are plastered all over billboards, bus, buildings etc.. and you think they acting like they're movie stars.
I always thought reputation was being good at selling houses and satisfied customers/buyers. They just seem so oragant these days.

[Big Dave]

Expectations that are set by the agent?

Often - but not exclusively.
If the vendor is willing it's not hard to exclude them from the process either.

The problem I have is the 'All' rant. I worked in the construction industry for 15 years and had dealings with real estate agents that were honorable and rewarding - to all involved. They get by mostly on repeat business.

Also met some real car hunts.

[Mom]

My grandparents are and have been for a long while Real Estate agents in Warkworth:shit:

:laugh: Am picking I know them quite well then. I have lived here for many years, and have bought and sold many properties over the years. How many degrees of separation is it again?

[Kiwi Graham]

I've bought three houses and sold two.
First house.....contacted the real estate office and an agent called round, out with the paperwork faster than a blink of an eye, took some details and a key and was gone all inside 45mins. Phone call 3 hrs later with an offer! offer faxed back and forth a couple of times but the deal was done, all within 5hrs of it being put with the agent. Great I thought must get a reduction on the agent fee's after all they did no advertising took no pics, didnt even stick a for sale sign up! She just rang someone she knew was looking. Cost me $15,000 for that phone call :eek: because they just pointed to the agreement and wouldn't budge on price!

Second house..........put it with an agent and on trade me, agent was a bit pissy it was on trade me and wanted me to take it off, told her I was happy if she wanted to withdraw but it wasnt coming of trade me. Both stayed. Sold house to some one seeing it on trade me, agent tried demanding their commision ffs. Told them, you win some and loose some and get over it, got a signed letter from the purchaser stating they had seen the house on trade me and not as a result of the real estate marketing and told the agent to whistle.

Bought my third house using an agent and he divulged the other offer the place had on it and the time frame so I was able to negotiate a more attractive deal.

Real estate agents.............wankers!

[cambridgedan]

i hate the people quite alot they keeped ignoring all the things we said we didn't want them doing etc, advertised and then charged us for it with out consultation and then the contract finally ended and we sold it to friends :D

[steve_t]

If you are buying, try to never agree to any counter offer. Always stay below. Often the agent is so keen to make the sale that they will offer to reduce their cut to get the sale through. It's a better deal for both buyer and vendor :Punk:

I hate the bollocks of saying "how much" and they say "don't forget it's....." and you say "how much?!" and they say "and remember it's got..."

It reminded me of ringing up that about the 24 in one Transforma ladder off TV. I thought it looked quite cool so got the better half to ring. It took her asking about 6 times to get a price of $800 odd. They harped on about the features and freebies again and again!! I ended up getting one for $160 from Bunnings. Cool ladder or not, I ain't paying over $800 for a ladder.

I'm now of the mind that if I ask "how much?" and they don't reply with a figure immediately, they must consider the price to be too much and not good value for money.

[smoky]

I sold real estate for a couple of years, there are a few good ones around, but some pretty dodgy ones as well

I buy and sell regularly, always doing a deal somewhere - and I just find the increasing focus on POA, auctions and tenders are frustrating. I hate it.

Never sell your property to an agent, that's just a golden rule.

[Max Preload]

It reminded me of ringing up that about the 24 in one Transforma ladder off TV. I thought it looked quite cool so got the better half to ring. It took her asking about 6 times to get a price of $800 odd. They harped on about the features and freebies again and again!! I ended up getting one for $160 from Bunnings. Cool ladder or not, I ain't paying over $800 for a ladder.

That's the one with the guy that looks like Steve Crow peddling it? I always wanted to know how much they were - I think I watched the entire ad late one night trying to find out and it wasn't even mentioned. :lol:

[awayatc]

admittedly some agents earn their crust......my rant is with this particular one who is so far out of her dept it becomes funny rather then frustrating....
been back for second serious look today.....
If I buy, it will be inspite of her, not because of her......

[TimeOut]

When our property was listed it included a container, the offer we accepted didn't include the container in the chattles, asked the agent to included it he said it didn't need to be as it was included. On possesion no container! agent said not his problem we should contact our lawyer:mad:

Went above him and got paid out for the container:calm:

[Fatt Max]

These people are blood sucking boardroom loving corporate wanna be New Yorker type fucking dickheads who treat the serious buyer with cash in his hand like some kind of idiot.

I fucking hate them and the way they deal witrh people. I nearly threw the telly out the window one night watching Location Location Location when a young couple, having reached and breached their maximum offer for a house, got cornered by this agent to meet the vendors price "which is only another $ 5,000". It was plain and simple that these kids just did not have the money but the agent, seeing his commission sliping away, virtually forced them to ring up Instant Finance and borrow the extra $5k, scumbag.....

Sorry, hate their methods, hate their agenda, hate the whole fucking industry. I bought my place private sale, no agents to fuck about with, just me and the owner. Agreed a price over a beer, signed sealed and delivered 48 hours later and then had some more beer...mind you I was lucky.

Rant over......

[Pixie]

They just seem so oragant these days.

oragant ?

What the fuck is that?

[Pixie]

It reminded me of ringing up that about the 24 in one Transforma ladder off TV. I thought it looked quite cool so got the better half to ring. It took her asking about 6 times to get a price of $800 odd. They harped on about the features and freebies again and again!! I ended up getting one for $160 from Bunnings. Cool ladder or not, I ain't paying over $800 for a ladder.


If you got the Gorilla ladder it's exactly the same as the transforma

[Pixie]

That's the one with the guy that looks like Steve Crow peddling it? I always wanted to know how much they were - I think I watched the entire ad late one night trying to find out and it wasn't even mentioned. :lol:

They used to advertise the price,but obviously it limited the number enquiries

[peasea]

The jargon, bullshit and game playing pisses me off too.

There are only three things REQUIRED for a real estate deal

A vendor

A purchaser

Some real estate

I agree. Why in heaven's name does the real estate agent industry even exist? Is it laziness? People too busy? We tried selling a property about 18months ago and had as many prospective buyers through as the agents we later hired. We had made plans, I had a job to go to and we had little choice but to hire these people. I knew it would be a circus and I was 100% correct.

In the end we let the last contract run out and rented the property out.

As prospective buyers we have been herded through many properties that didn't fit our brief and been fed more bullshit than you'd get at the Annual National Bullshitters Convention. We had one who claimed nothing would happen to a block of land behind a property we returned to a couple of times, only to find that recently it has been subdivided. Sure, we can find out shit like that from local councils, and if we were to put an offer in, we would, but you can't tell me the agent knew nothing about it. That's one of several examples that have occurred in about a 12 month period.

I'd much rather deal directly with the vendor (and I'd much rather deal directly with the buyer when we sell) but we are now hundreds of k's away and somewhat ham-strung. :argh:

[Chooky]

The last property I sold, the agent rang and said we've got the deposit, can we take our commission out of that?
I said is that what you normally do..? He said yea....
I wondered later why bother asking if thats normal..Never been asked before.

Its a strange industry, not only do agents try and screw the customer, they screw each other too.

[steve_t]

Its a strange industry, not only do agents try and screw the customer, they screw each other too.

Don't forget screwing the vendor! How many times have you heard of the agents telling the vendor that if they list with them, they'll get eg. $600,000. Then the agent says to the prospective buyer "I reckon you could get this for about $550,000. You should make an offer." :angry2::angry2::angry2:

It's 1 - Say whatever it takes to get the listing. 2 - Say whatever it takes to make the sale :argh::argh:

[scumdog]

oragant ?

What the fuck is that?

A person that is really good at folding paper to make it into animal and bird shapes???:whistle:

[Jantar]

Don't forget screwing the vendor! How many times have you heard of the agents telling the vendor that if they list with them, they'll get eg. $600,000. Then the agent says to the prospective buyer "I reckon you could get this for about $550,000. You should make an offer." :angry2::angry2::angry2:

It's 1 - Say whatever it takes to get the listing. 2 - Say whatever it takes to make the sale :argh::argh:
The way around this is to offer them even more commission say 33.3%.

The catch is that their commission on a normal sale of $600,000 would be around $19,000 so offer them 33.3% on the value above $543,000, but nothing below that figure. Now if they sell your house at their first estimate of $600,000 they still get the same commission, but if they only get $550,000 then the commission is only $2331.

Of course a really good agent will now go and sell your property for $650,000 and get $35,631 commission. But that's OK because you also get around $34,000 more than you expected. Win-win for both.

I wonder why real estate agents run a mile when this method is suggested to them. :whistle:

[MotoGirl]

If there's one thing I've noticed about agents, it's that they have no fuc*en idea about what properties are worth in this market. Then, because they get the pricing wrong, they lay the pressure on the vendor to sink money into advertising to try and get the numbers through. I'm losing a huge amount of money on the house (thanks for your nasty divorce, fuckwit parents) so I'm hardly going to spend anything on the house to get rid of the fucker.

Our agent is about to get kicked to the curb because they expect us to drop the price and pay for advertising. After months of being on the market, it's only now that they're telling us it's overpriced and this is why we're not getting the numbers. At what point will these lazy bastards work for their commission?

[davereid]

Our agent is about to get kicked to the curb because they expect us to drop the price and pay for advertising.

The best bit is, the advertising you get to pay for, barely mentions your house. The majority of the advert promotes the real-estate agent, and the franchise.

[camel007]

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[Motu]

When I was buying a section none of the agents were interested,nothing in it for them.One gave me verbal directions to one in my price range,so we checked it out.The agent couldn't contact the owner,or so they kept saying - so I went to the council,payed my money and got the name of the owner.When I rang to inquire about his property he said it wasn't on the market (we must of got it wrong) but asked how much they said he wanted...and offered it for $2,000 less because he hated real estate agents too.

When we were buying our present house,the agent told us not to offer a lower price as the vendor would be offended.We were cash buyers,and offered less...which was accepted.

Everyone has to earn a living.....but you need to work for it too.

[Mom]

Interesting, only one agent in here all day, and this one makes his/her first post on KB promoting a sales website :laugh:

[325rocket]

oragant ?

What the fuck is that?

pretty much answered your own question there.