No price guide

So i went to check out a property down the street from me today, kind of curious to see how the new year is starting.

As you know, the new auction price guide rules have kicked in, agent says they can't give a price, fair enough, so i ask them what was put down on the contract sheet, they smile and said "we aren't obliged to tell you". That said, they did give some ridiculous comparables to indicate the higher price (no different than what was done before the rules came in)

So in all seriousness, how well has the government thought this through, seems counter productive to me.

The inspection was rather quiet in comparison to last year, so be interesting to see the outcome.

 

The NSW rules have recently been brought in line with what the SA ones already were.

In SA there is a max 10% range on prices for private treaty sales, eg $400k-$440k. There's also auction price guide prices that can't be more than 10% under reserve. They can also choose not to list a price at all if the vendor so instructs and instead provide a list of comparables for you to make your own judgement.

They don't have to tell you what was on contract between themselves and their client, because you aren't a party to that contract and never will be.

I'm ok with all of this and I'm sure Sydney siders will adapt soon. Whole point of an auction is to achieve the best result for the client, where best is most money and / or best terms of sale as per the agent's fiduciary duty.

I'd much rather there be no price (and only some companies do no price, anyway) than a wildly inaccurate one.

 

To me its rather pointless, how do you know you are in the money when looking for a place.
Its a complete waste of time for those who don't have the resources at their finger tips.

Some how i doubt these rules were put in to cater for the likes of the members of PC.

 

Are you telling me that if you were shown a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom 1 garage reasonable condition home in an area you actively follow, you couldn't provide a ball park $ figure? Even if handed a list of comparable sales?

 

Nek for very unique and difficult to price properties, ones with no comparables, it's useful for agents to run a preinspection prior to advertising a price. We do this often in our agency as it allows us to price it correctly.

At the preinspection we invite people from our own databases (not widely advertised yet) and get a feel of what they would pay for it. It's like a test run of the market that is done prior so that the listing is not burned out by staying on the market too long because price was too high.

I am not a fan of advertising with no price and I agree, the price will bring in the correct target market that is financially able to purchase that property.

 

"agent says they can't give a price,"

Not even a ballpark figure? That's just silly.

 

Do you really think an agent hands you comparable sales? C'mon Dave, you've been in the long enough to know how easy it is to manipulate things.

Looking at the comparable sales supplied in brochure, I could easily supply the same amount of comparables (if not more) to show the opposite side of the story.

Like I said, these rules were brought in to help majority of buyers. Buyers who are on similar forums such as this are a very small minority.

 

Exactly! Nothing more annoying than giving people false hope.

They pointed out the "comparables" they supplied and that there's nothing more they can say. Mind you, those aren't even close in my opinion.

Here we have a 2 bedroom extremely run down, lived in by an elderly gentlemen who passed away in the house (the last bit I overheard from the neighbour who lived in the street - 70 year old looking gentleman). Size of the house would be around 65sqm on a 280sqm block.

"Comparables" are blocks that are 390 sqm in different zoning categories that are newly renovated and have 3 bedrooms. The fact they had to dig as far back as July 2015 is amusing to me.

 

@neK ...may be time to call fair trading to ask? They have been advertising this change on social media a lot of late

Drove past a street facing ground floor unit open home today. Agent's assistant looked bored at the door.

Big contrast to mid 2013 when an open home we went to had 70 buyers inspecting..

 

I'm struggling with this at the moment in certain waterside suburbs, there can be such a large variance from street to street it's difficult to know what a realistic price is.

Luckily the agents I've dealt with so far are happy to provide a rough figure or range when asked.

Looking in QLD at the moment, the old 'Offers Over' is starting to wear thin

 

What percentage of your homes are sold via auction though?

 

You can't even start negotiating when agents are so cagey. I mean, are they trying to sell the house or not? Even if they have no idea, they could and should tell you what kind of feedback they're getting from people walking through the house. Anyway, they always have a price at the back of their mind.

 

There is always a price, the stats are there and the market is there for feedback to adjust accordingly.
Part of the selling technique is actually having sales skills which start with connecting with people not alienating them.

 

When buying a house you don't just turn up and pay any old amount. You look at the market and you have a good idea of what you think it's valued at.

if you are turning up to bid at an auction without an idea of it's value you are a fool.

 

@Nemo30 - My understanding is that these rules were brought in to protect buyers who were getting shafted through under quoting.

Majority of people probably do not do their own research and like to fed.
So you feed them whatever you want them to think.

Manipulation 101 - applies pretty much in all aspects of life, whether buying a house, getting something approved in the workplace, steering you to pick particular brokers or lenders, etc.

For every comparable given by an agent, I bet you i could find one to demonstrate at either end of the spectrum within a few minutes of typing an address

So the agent gives the buyer some comparables that are overpriced, person makes an offer and gets declined by the bank due to the poor bank valuation, now that person is screwed and risks losing their 10% deposit.

So, how does this new rule actually help and create transparency?

 

I don't live in nsw, so these rules don't affect me. Where I live it is rare for an auction price guide.

I'm currently auctioning two properties and it would take a buyer 10 minutes to work out the price I'm looking for. If they want to pay more who am I to say no

 

You are right Xenia: part of the sales technique is establishing communication with potential buyers. It's a different issue to someone doing their research.

By the time I'm look at a house to buy, I've done my research. Part of talking to the real estate is finding out whether they've done theirs. There are times when they haven't and they don't particularly know what houses in the area are going for. Why should I show them my hand and provide them with information to help them? The last house I bought was close to $100,000 underpriced because of an out-of-area real estate agent who wasn't aware of comparable real estate prices. I wasn't going to tell her either what the house was worth, what comparable sales in the area had been, and what my bottom line was.

Part of getting that initial price from the real estate agent is about knowing whether I'm interested in negotiating with them. They give me no price, I'm not interested.

 

And if I were a buyer, I wouldn't be interested in negotiating with your real estate agent if he refused to open with something-anything.

 

I agree with you on private treaty sales, I'd probably skip the listing and be looking at the next.

For an auction though, for which this thread is about, you'd turn up on auction day and be prepared to go up to your own spending limit / idea of value, no?

 

In Sydney the aim is to sell prior to auction and only go to auction if there isn't an someone who is prepared to pay a grossly inflated price.