Agent Commission fee Brisbane

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by iinvestor, 20th Mar, 2018.

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  1. iinvestor

    iinvestor Active Member

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    hi,

    I just received the form 6 from an agent at Ray white. He has stated 2.95% (including GST) as the commission fee for selling the property. Is this the normal rate these days or should I negotiate?
     
  2. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm always interested that seemingly in NSW and Vic that vendors negotiate. I never have, but was given "mates rates" from someone we know. He dropped from 3%+ GST (his usual rate) to 2.5%+GST (which is what generally is the rate in Brisbane in my experience).

    A developer friend has just played two agents against each other, and negotiated one down to 2%+GST. This is the only time I've ever heard anyone doing this. But I guess it must happen. Surely?
     
  3. iinvestor

    iinvestor Active Member

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    I think QLD is the most expensive amongst the states. 2.95% did seem a bit on the high side. I will try and negotiate. 2%? Kudos to him, wonder if he had time on his hands. Anyone else received any cheaper?
     
  4. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I'm sure the agent knows that a developer might put the next project his way and that would have been a factor.
     
  5. Jamie Moore

    Jamie Moore MORTGAGE BROKER - AUSTRALIA WIDE Business Member

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    Seems really high - but I haven’t sold in QLD

    I’ve sold a couple in Canberra and never paid more than 2%

    Cheers

    Jamie
     
  6. evalord

    evalord Well-Known Member

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    Depends on property value I guess, agents would drop their rate or pay for advertising etc for high end properties. Or do tiered rates i.e. putting in stretch goals above vendor expectation for extra commission.
     
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  7. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I see this as quite different and to be honest, the higher end properties are the ones that use the agents that expect higher commission (in my limited experience). Our friend works for one of those premium agencies.

    It is not easy choosing an agent. These higher end agencies will say "we are worth it and people come to us expecting to be buying a premium house", and you do wonder if you haggle whether they will give you the full attention you want. Perhaps if we hadn't been offered "mates rates" (back to industry standard rate - hardly doing us any favours) we might have asked for a discount, and had it not been a friend, we may have not had best service.

    I'll say he did a fabulous job, didn't push us to accept the first offer, said he would find us a better price (which he did).
     
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  8. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    Geez, and my last at higher 1's I thought was too expensive.

    I would def sell myself if a sellers market if they want that much, unless it is a real cheap place.
     
  9. evalord

    evalord Well-Known Member

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    purple bricks ;)
     
  10. Rolf Latham

    Rolf Latham Inciteful (sic) Staff Member Business Plus Member

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    I feel the op is simply looking to see if the fee is reasonable rather than tossing the baby with the bath water :)

    On the buying end I'm seeing more value properties ie undersold via fixed price agencies than with more traditional types.

    Could of course be co incidence

    As a generality I believe you don't get what you don't pay for

    Ta

    Rolf
     
    Last edited: 22nd Mar, 2018
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  11. RPI

    RPI SDA Provider, Town Planner, Former Property Lawyer

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    Most of the agents we deal with are in the 2.5-3% range. It was only a couple of years ago they deregulated it, it used to be 5% of first $18k and then 2.5% of balance.
     
  12. kierank

    kierank Well-Known Member

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    Totally agree. We are looking at selling our PPOR, probably at auction later this year. All the REAs we have talked to have quoted 2.75% to 3% ex GST.


    Agree again. We have researched a lot of REAs including attending OPIs, attending auctions, taking note of their communications with us, looking up their sales history, ...

    In some ways, we probably got a little confused. So, we picked two REAs (and only two) who we felt were the best and signed Open Agreements with them. We are not quite ready to sell (still in de-clutter mode) but if one or both REAs brought a buyer with the right Offer, we will sell. So, it is an off-market sale, with no photos, no advertising on RE.com, etc. We want to see how both REAs behave, what they do, ...

    Our aim is either sell off-market (both REAs told us they already had a number of potential buyers ;)) or we will identify the better REA.

    After a little over a week, one REA has brought a serious potential buyer to the table. Time will tell.
     
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  13. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    @kierank we once sold with no paperwork signed until we signed the agency agreement at the same time we signed the contract. This was with an agent I knew well and was about 19 years ago and these days I believe we would have to do as you've done and sign a listing agreement.

    The agency my mother used to work for had one of its agents visit us to try to convince us to auction the house. She was persistent but we didn't want to auction. While she continued to phone me, trying to convince us to auction, saying we were underselling the house, another agent (who had moved to another agency) bought us a very good offer, which fell over on finance, and then actually sold it for the same price again.

    Meanwhile the first agent was still banging on trying to convince us we were doing the wrong thing not going with her. :rolleyes:
     
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  14. Eric Wu

    Eric Wu Well-Known Member Business Member

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    things are expensive in Brisbane, 3% + GST.

    in Sydney, lots of agents charge high 1's include GST.

    the PM fees are more expensive as well in Brisbane 8% + GST with very ordinary services.

    In Sydney, you could find good PMs with 6% + GST.
     
  15. Rolf Latham

    Rolf Latham Inciteful (sic) Staff Member Business Plus Member

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    I know its been said before ........

    at 1.9 % of a median price for a sydney property, Brisbane equivalent fee should be 3.2 %

    Similar ratio for rent

    ta

    rolf
     
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  16. Eric Wu

    Eric Wu Well-Known Member Business Member

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    not sure how much I can agree with it.
     
  17. dabbler

    dabbler Well-Known Member

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    I never paid 3 for any sale going back decades in Syd......and most PMs were 5% ish

    Places were a wee bit cheaper then too, so I do not buy the % on price thing as much unless they are real cheap.

    Why should a 400k Bris house seller pay 3 and a Sydney unit seller pay 1.6, my argument with many has been business costs more to run in Sydney too !

    You can also match that up with 700k house and 700k 1 bed unit etc etc

    The dropped a lot in Syd due to the obscene amount of profit recenly possibly, even the crooks know it is often too much- at least down South in Mec cic co.
     
  18. Codie

    Codie Well-Known Member

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    2.9% Gold Coast recently, friends down the road 2.7%, heard of 2.5% as most common
     
  19. BarneyRubble

    BarneyRubble Well-Known Member

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    Why wouldn’t you negotiate?

    Have just sold in Brisbane myself and paid 2.5% inc GST, and only $700 for marketing.

    Signed contracts on the first weekend.
     
  20. Ed Barton

    Ed Barton Well-Known Member

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    As the maximum price. Which is pretty much what everyone charged. Interesting that deregulation has seen the commission creep up.
     

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