I'm having a "Greek Listing".

I used to work for a Greek gentleman who would vacillate on decisions whilst vocalizing the minutiae of his thought processes to all and sundry: " Do I sell the property or should I put a tenant in? It's a hot market but if I hang on I can get more...etc".
Selling a house in Graceville Brisbane currently empty. Got a tradie friend doing some painting and I decided to see what it's worth. Had a few CMAs (comparative Market Analysis) from the local agents and I have a good idea of what it is worth from my own studies. At open houses I tell agents about it who want to sign me up to a 2 month exclusive agency (GGF) but I tell them I will only sign when I get an offer I will accept. Hilarity ensues as I've already had 1 offer 30k over one of he CMAs which I've rejected. Tell em I'm a busy man so only the best offer and if its at where I am or above ( or 2% lower) I accept otherwise thanks but no counteroffer. The feeding frenzy has started in a hot 6-800k market, May even get a few buyer's agents on the shenanigans.
If it hasn't fetched a good price in a month or two I'll probably put a tenant in.

Will keep you all posted on progress.

 

Sounds like a good time for an auction to me

 

Nothing like holding all the cards,and being in control in a upmarket area like that..

 

Isn't this hampering your ability to advertise? Isn't there a legal issue with them trying to sell your house without it being listed?

 

I am liking the idea of your "Greek Listing"

Remember the good old days, when you found a nice area that you wanted to buy in, went and found a local agent and asked "what they had on the books/i am looking for a 3x2x2 .........
Or selling, go to your old local agent
With modernisation of everything everyone just googles houses in the area they desire
Agents, no offense, don't seem to have to work as hard as they once did, particularly considering they get a percentage of the sale of what "most consider to be an overpriced market compared to a lot of the world"
It is starting to look like Stamp Duty", a LOT of money for "what"

 

Hope you get top dollar.

To be honest, when I read "Greek Listing" in the title, I was thinking of something that has completely nothing to do with selling real estate lol.

 

Not a big fan of auctions- paying advertising to promote the agency brand.

Hopefully- but already had one agent try to talk me down as he says buyer's agents won't touch a property that had water over it in 2011- I had about 6 inches over the bottom part of the driveway.

I agree with the good money for not much work. Agents want to sign you up for the listing sit back if they don't have a buyer ready to go and fish for a few open houses ( where they can get buyers for other properties and even new listings) and the condition the seller about "meeting the market". I am trying something new to see how it works.

All agents need to enter by the front door. Back door shenanigans will not be tolerated.

I suppose my issue is the complacency I see generally in agents -especially in the Graceville-Chelmer-Sherwood pocket. If they know a buyer- fine -introduce us but otherwise I'm not hitching my fortunes to the serendipity factor of who turns up to the open house.

Most importantly I like to be able to shut down agent "skudta" (Greek for sloppy poo) quickly. When an agent gives me an undervaluation its good to be able to fire back (truthfully) that I've knocked back higher offers than that. Also my renos are slowly being finalized and it is made clear that I will expect a higher price when they are finished in a few months ( Oct-Nov being peak sale times in the 'hood) so there is the time constraint to push them. It is made clear I'm talking to other agents so I'm not BFF with any agents. Any offer needs to be the best offer as if it is not where I think it is worth then I'm not countering- the property can be rented out if it doesn't sell so there will be no commission for the next year if not sold.

It is a great feeling of control not having any agent as a single source / filter of all expressions of interest.

Some agents will refuse to even look at the property without the exclusive listing but I expect they may not be the agents I would want to use anyway- the sense of entitlement reflects a deeper narcissism which will lead to drama when the seller doesn't do what agent knows best says to do.

Is it legal? Yes if there is an agency agreement in place (to allow the agent to claim commission) but I'm only signing one when I accept an offer. Would I stiff the agent and deal directly with a buyer? No. As I said to the agent I don't like people questioning my fees (60% of what the boys in the CBD charge) and if they don't like it customers can go somewhere else. My view is if an agent gets me the right price I will happily pay the their 2% (and no more).

So far 3 agents are sniffing around. I may get 1 or 2 more agencies in on it next week. I am considering contacting BAs directly but I don't really feel like wasting time camel trading / negotiating with them so it's probably not worth the call. Having said that I may try one to see the response. I hope to give a full report when it is all over/ sold/ pulled from the market.

 

Hi @CU@THETOP.

Good luck with your big fat Greek Listing.

The word is
σκατά..................skatá (emphasis on the final letter)

 

Same, I thought it meant they were getting a bad price and were going to have to bend over and....

 

Have you considered the option of doing a FSBO Auction ?

 

Not yet...but I may. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

No problem . I'm really intrigued by the idea and was talking about it with a friend who is a good agent the other day. The way I see it ; these days, any seller can research values/sales as well as an agent, they can market/promote it exactly the same way an agent can and can handle the inspections (as long as , as he pointed out - they say the right things) as well as an agent. The aspects a FSBO may not be able to do as well are negotiate and create competition.

Having an FSBO auction alleviates that . Interested in others thoughts ?

 

Hopefully- but already had one agent try to talk me down as he says buyer's agents won't touch a property that had water over it in 2011- I had about 6 inches over the bottom part of the driveway.

That's the problem with the flood,people still think about it,we have one that went over 6 inches over the top of the roof,in Rocklea and Rocklea has gone back into the high 300k's now..

 

Just a quick update. Now about 4 agents circling - I've had 2 offers -the highest about 8% below where I want to be. I haven't countered (much to the agent's frustration) but I've had offers of free advertising etc.
At this stage I'm not letting any agent advertise online as I don't want them to get a sense of proprietorship of the listing and further I don't want the listing to be stale if I do choose to list with an agent in 6-8 weeks.

It has been a good interview process so far as it allows me to gauge agent performance with minimal commitment on my part.

 

Any updates?.Just looking at the numbers prices for yesterday,s auctions in inner Brisbane and the numbers are starting to look stronger each week..imho i know nothing..

 

Just had another offer which is still a bit low (but above the CMAs given by a few of the agents including the one presenting the offer) that I am thinking of countering. I am finding out a bit more about our buyer first though.
I think the market is strengthening- especially in the 6-800k range. I look for comparatives but in the Graceville/Sherwood/Chelmer pocket there is not much stock and what there is seems to move quickly. I compare with what is available in other suburbs and I think the area is still undervalued.
Given my track history of timing the market i expect that if I sell there will be a boom immediately following!

 

Property under contract. Will provide more details of this very illuminating tactic when the property and dust settles.

 

So I settled on my Greek Listing this week. Funnily enough I sold to a Greek couple.

I had 4 agents look at it and provide CMAs;
1: 560-580k
2: in the 600s
3: land 550-600, with the house on it 600-650 (oh you noticed the house on top of the land did ya mate)
4 670-690k but I can get over 700k (reputation for buying listings - but my price estimate was in the 670-690k range which I did in fact achieve.) Just give us a listing-"no"- a short 10 day listing "no" and we'll see what buyers we can smoke out.

The ultimate buyer came from agent 1 at 100k over his original cma price. In a role reversal I spent a lot of time "conditioning" the agents up to my price expectations. The buyer's made a number of offers I wouldn't even counter on and simply say we were too far apart.

So what did I learn?
Some agents were scared off by not having an agency agreement (although I signed one at 2% when negotiations got underway) and I got no action from them.
No agent had any "ownership" over the listing. There was no signage or net advertising allowed (some offered to do that for free!)
None were given keys but instead told to inspect during the half days my tradie was there (who faithfully reported all conversations to me) or a key was left hidden for them.
As the tradie continued renovations the agents were told the price was going up all the time as I aimed to finish in peak season (November) and if not sold by then maybe I would put tenants in.

I probably would let the buyers agents know of the property and that was my next step.I personally didn't want incessant niggling or low ball bids to contend with so they did not get a look in in the first instance.

As a sales method it seemed to work ok as the ultimate buyers were very much in love with it. I'm happy with the price which exceeded 3 out of 4 CMAs given and importantly fell with the range of where I thought it should be after my assessment of the market value.

Some years ago I sold my first house using 2 agencies who hated each other and giving both an exclusive agency (but to the exclusion of each other). That may be a better way in the future. I was fortunate I had liquidity to cover my position during the process which I treated with next to nil urgency.

I will polish the technique for my next sale!