Real estate price lists?

[Maha]

I'm on the merry go round at the moment, selling one, buying another. The agents are as much use as chocolate fire guards.

What makes the difference in value between the GV & the QV which our rates are based on? Market value? If that's the case then yup, it is really set up for the agents....

If we were to market our house with an agent, we would possibly come away with $40K less than their reccommended listing price.
Our house is for sale...I paid $80 to get a sign made...fingers crossed for this time tomorrow...

[Brett]

always always look at the RV first and say it is worth 80% of that. Fuck the agents.

Good advice IMO.

[Maha]

Good advice IMO.

For a buyer yes, not the seller.
If someone really wants a house, the two parties will negotiate until both are happy.
Any offer is just the starting point, both buyer and seller know that.

[F5 Dave]

The Real Estate agent will list as offers over $## but have told the seller he should get over, heck lets put numbers on it for a laugh.

Say they say, oh you'll get 400k to the buyer to win the contract. They don't think they will get that but it gets the work in. Then they try extract as much as they can for advertising (themselves) in owned mags or for kickbacks whilst beginning to crunch the seller by saying "Market value this & that" but surely that meant that they were incompetent in the first 'valuation'.

So they then tell the seller that they put on 'offers over $320k', seller protests, but that is only 'to attract more attn'. But only attracting people in that price range yet simultaneously wasting everybodies time.

Eventually the seller runs out of advert money & the agent thinks its time to cut this puppy loose & relying on good luck may stumble into some sap who can summon almost near what it is worth & can crunch the seller down (more "Market forces") & move on to the next 'mark'.

My advice to a seller is free valuations are less than worthless. Much less. Pay $5hundy or whatever to a registered valuer telling them you want to sell & use that document to set your price (with a modest negotiation fudge) & marketing by showing the buyer what they should pay you. The haggling begins, but in a sensible ballpark.

Have a lawyer set up to do the legal stuff (std Auckland District law soc form). Nice sign made as Maha has hopefully done & a few home made this way private sale signs near suburb turn offs.


If you're buying; Sorry mate - its hell. Good luck & don't be afraid to be heinously rude to the muppets. it won't help but it will make you feel a bit better in the ensuing months. can I also suggest drinking heavily.

[HenryDorsetCase]

. can I also suggest drinking heavily.

When is that not a good idea? I often do it prior to driving and always before operating heavy machinery.

[Brian d marge]

When is that not a good idea? I often do it prior to driving and always before operating heavy machinery.

I always do it before a session on kb

Stephen

[short-circuit]

I always do it before a session on kb

Stephen

yeah we know

[BigB]

My 2 cents worth

18 months ago decided to sell (Onehunga near Mt Smart Stadium)

Had the agent come round that'll be approx $18k for a house value over $400k

Had QV value the house which was a waste of money as we picked up ten mistakes & when I complained she sent me the word doc to correct!!! anyway she valued it at $430k same as GV. I had researched the area and thought it was worth $450-$460k. I listed for $465k

We went though 'Home Sell' only because I couldn't be ased with the sign & photos, total cost $1200. They list on there own site & trademe, had a number of phone calls prior to the first open home all from people who had seen it on trademe. Anyway had 2 offers on the first open home then by request picked up an older couple for a private viewing & they offered $462k which I greatfully accepted. All told took 2 days to sell, yes this is an exception but I would do again myself no worries.

cheers

[HenryDorsetCase]

My 2 cents worth

18 months ago decided to sell (Onehunga near Mt Smart Stadium)

Had the agent come round that'll be approx $18k for a house value over $400k

Had QV value the house which was a waste of money as we picked up ten mistakes & when I complained she sent me the word doc to correct!!! anyway she valued it at $430k same as GV. I had researched the area and thought it was worth $450-$460k. I listed for $465k

We went though 'Home Sell' only because I couldn't be ased with the sign & photos, total cost $1200. They list on there own site & trademe, had a number of phone calls prior to the first open home all from people who had seen it on trademe. Anyway had 2 offers on the first open home then by request picked up an older couple for a private viewing & they offered $462k which I greatfully accepted. All told took 2 days to sell, yes this is an exception but I would do again myself no worries.

cheers

more people should. Its not that hard and if you tee up your lawyer and stuff first, it should be straightforward.

[Bald Eagle]

Stay away from agents unless you know an honest one . Last house I sold 1st agent recommended by friend tried to get us to list it lower than we wanted. Took the listing at our price, did jack all. A mate asked him 'off the record' what it was likely to sell for and he told him 30k less than the listing.

We eventually kicked him in to touch and got a new agent, fresh valuation and sold in 7 days at our original price. Found out later the original agent had previous complaints upheld against him by the REINZ, but was still practicing although in a different city.

[mashman]

there's a lot of different deals around but the typical one involves a fee structure of 3.95% + "admin fee" plus GST: would see the house taking the admin fee, and the comm split 60/40 but maybe 70/30 or 50/50 depending on the agent, their clients and volume etc.

When I started the fee was 3.25% + GST and houses were alot cheaper. It went to 3.5 then 3.75 then 3.95 by stealth. Legal fees largely remained static in this timeframe. No wonder their gurning faces are all over the backs of buses and on signboards etc. No wonder in the ad for YOUR house THEIR photo is larger and more prominent than the house.

I have paid one personal real estate comm in my life. 3% flat no admin plus GST. (in 1998) ;D ;D

Were I came from estate agents where on a flat rate. I assume that has something to do with their being CGT (prolly not though) on the proceeds of the sale, but the system seems really quite different. I guess the prices are hardly surprising given the fees, multiple commission chomps and the owners "needing" to cover all of their costs... I suppose individual house prices have to rise each time they change hands and as you mention, we will pay what we believe the place is worth.

We keep hearing that certain agents aren't allowed to sell houses in particular areas because other agents from the same firm are "given" exclusive rights to the area... farkin madness.

"were", not "where".

Nazi.

[Road kill]

When we came back from Oz we were looking to buy pretty much anywhere but prfered the far north so we contacted some agents up there.
What followed was 4 six hour drives up there to look at properties the agent had given us an exact price on.
We agreed on the asking price on several places only to have the owner bung another 10 grand on every one of them.
After having enough of that shit we said "fuck it" and bought a place in Tokoroa that was advertised on TM by the owner "no fucking agents involved".
The interesting thing was that I ended up driving for work from AK to Kaitia every Thursday and retuning on the Friday,,,so one day I went past one of the places we'd looked at a couple of months before so I stopped in for a chat.
Turns out "they" had not been the one that had bunged another 10 G on the place,,,that was the agents idea because apparently we were "keen to buy".
Fucking little rope head cunt,I dream of the day I meet that prick in the right place an the wrong time for him again.

[neels]

Turns out "they" had not been the one that had bunged another 10 G on the place,,,that was the agents idea because apparently we were "keen to buy".

The last 2 houses we've bought, we told the agent that the offer was the offer, and they came back with a higher counter offer saying the 'seller' wanted more.

Both times we told them we'd made our offer, if it wasn't enough forget it and we'd keep looking. Strangely enough the 'seller' agreed to the original offer when the agent took it back again, despite us pointing out that it was a waste of time as they'd already said no.

Our current house we bought for 10k less than asking, in Christchurch, I guess a marriage breakup encourages a quick sale at the price you're offering.

[Ocean1]

I intensely dislike the POA and price band marketing.

When faced with that tactic I make it very clear that in order to sell me anything a vendor has just one shot: tell me the bottom line, tell me now or I walk away. The only times I've had to walk they've called me within a couple of days.

First rule of negotiation: Never be the first to name the price.

[Road kill]

For a buyer yes, not the seller.
If someone really wants a house, the two parties will negotiate until both are happy.
Any offer is just the starting point, both buyer and seller know that.

How do you work that out ?
Our first home was on the market at $40,000 an that's what we paid.
When we sold it we asked $65,000 and that's what we sold it for.
When we bought #2 they were asking $125,000 and that's what we paid.
Selling it we asked $150,000 and that's what it sold for.
Current home,asking $98,000 and that's what we paid.
I know we're a bit behind the times now,but I think people today are simply less honest and a shit load more deceitful than they were when we were in the market.
Frankly I think most people today are simply living in the shit world they've created for themselves.
Glad we're out of it.