Sell through agent or without agent

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by 29349, 23rd Nov, 2020.

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  1. 29349

    29349 Well-Known Member

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    What are the advantages and disadvantages of selling with agent or without agent?
     
  2. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    How long is a ball of string ?
     
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  3. Angie44

    Angie44 Member

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    Agent is supposedly experienced and skilled in selling. Has database and possibly legal protection.
    Advantages of selling by yourself: no payment of commission. Control over the process. You d need to employ a solicitor to draw up paperwork.
     
  4. No_Limits

    No_Limits Well-Known Member

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    I sold a house myself on north shore of Sydney. My driver was achieving maximum sales price, not reducing cost (as many assumed). It made sense in my case because it was a red hot 2016 market, and what was needed was a patient steady hand. I used bymyplace.com.

    Arranging legal paperwork, house staging, doing the open inspections, running the ads on RE/domain, setting up the auction. They're all seriously not very hard. We mostly enjoyed the process. And sold for ~ $150k more than an almost identical property across the road an agent sold at the same time.
     
  5. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    What price did yours sell for (if that's ok to share). $150k extra for an almost identical property is amazing, especially with a DIY sale.

    In a hot market, I think it might be easy to DIY, but a good agent "should" get you more. I wonder if the agent across the road was a good agent?
     
  6. MyPropertyPro

    MyPropertyPro REBAA Buyer's Agents Sutherland Shire & Surrounds Business Member

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    The whole thing can be so hard to quantify. Broadly, a professional should get you a better deal on either the buy or sell side (whichever result you're trying to achieve) and importantly, reduce your workload and stress during the process. As with anything in life, there are good, bad and average people in any profession so people will always have mixed feelings and results on this based on their experience. For some people, it's not all about money - it's about paying a professional to remove that burden and for time poor people (work, kids, life) selling yourself just isn't really an option.

    If you have the time and inclination, sure, you can do it yourself and co-ordinating the various aspects of a sale isn't difficult but there is a lot of back and forth and it can be time consuming. So ask yourself the following questions:

    1. Do I have the time? This is probably the biggest overall. Time to market, time to do opens, time to make 100 follow up calls and take enquiry and respond to emails, time to negotiate, time to liaise with the solicitor and buyer after a contract is signed, time to be there for the building and pest and pre-settlement and probably a bunch more I've forgotten. If you don't genuinely have the time to do all these things then you are going to impact your sales process and therefore the price.

    2. Do I know how to negotiate? This is a big one and one that agents generally do very well (buy and sell). They are experts at using various stategies to get a better deal for their client and you might not even realise they're doing it if you don't understand the methods (both as a buyer who's been drawn by a sales agent, or as a seller not privvy to each individual phone call or being pushed down on price). If you haven't negotiated before then read about this and learn techniques prior to selling yourself. Also read up on a technique by sales agents called 'conditioning'.

    3. What is my marketing strategy and do I have a database? Probably the biggest strength of an agent, after time and negotiation skills, is their database. You'd be amazed at how many sales come from emailing that and bring back buyers they've previously interacted with at other open homes and those who have missed out. Anyone can list a property on major websites or print some flyers.

    These would probably be my top 3 if I was considering selling myself. There is a really good book called "Real Estate Uncovered" by a sales agent in Sydney called Peter O'Malley. It details various strategies agents use in the sales process and discusses the whole intricate web of sales overall. It's great reading and probably a must for anyone thinking about selling themselves. He's appeared on Sky News business a few times and speaks honestly and is up front (also heads up an agency in the inner west of Sydney). That's probably my last recommendation if you're planning to sell yourself.

    - Andrew
     
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  7. No_Limits

    No_Limits Well-Known Member

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    ~ $2m level. In a hot market I've seen $150k easily go either way as a function of negotiation
     
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  8. No_Limits

    No_Limits Well-Known Member

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    In that market, I figured something I could do an agent may not was be patient and turn people away, as well as be infinitely flexible with open times/availability. Me and the place across the road were selling at same time. They took an early offer, lol.

    If the market or product were otherwise, an agent may have been able to add value.
     
  9. No_Limits

    No_Limits Well-Known Member

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    Absolutely. I wouldn't say I negotiate or sell for a living, but I have had an interest in it for a long time and a bookshelf full of the stuff. I wouldn't recommend you go anywhere near selling a house unless you enjoy negotiation and frequently win monopoly games.
     
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  10. meffn

    meffn Well-Known Member

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    I kinda agree with you in a way. If you have the skills its possible deliver a good result, particularly as no one else will be as committed as you are and nobody knows the property else well. Only thing that will be hard to replicate is the 'image' of an agent, although i'm not sure if that's something that adds value or not to buyers.
     
  11. No_Limits

    No_Limits Well-Known Member

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    I wore a suit. Wife wore a girl suit. Wife speaks mandarin. We made a better team than 90% of agents.
     
  12. pauljm

    pauljm Member

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    Hi all,
    Interesting discussion. I came on here about to post or read about fsbo opinions but found this post instead. We are thinking about selling a tenanted ip on the south Gold Coast to try save a few $. Pre COVID we sold our ppor thru an agent and it was sold before the first open so he made 15k for maybe a days work. My question is in this scenario if I engage the same agent, what would be a minimum % or cost I could ask to sell a property worth $650k? Will they ever do it for a flat fee? Nothing in the area seems to be staying on the market very long so we are predicting a reasonably quick sale. Cheers..Paul
     
  13. meffn

    meffn Well-Known Member

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    If your property is a commodity and has a regular market for it or otherwise would sell itself then going for a budget option makes sense. There's an agent called Upside that charges a flat fee. Otherwise if you have a clear selling plan e.g. 4 weeks then auction some smaller local agents might be willing to negotiate.
     
  14. Fargo

    Fargo Well-Known Member

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    Now there is a concept, but what is the regular market for a commodity ? A broker or marketer who has bids for FOB, Delivered, Site Pricing. Future Contract. Carry, SWAP
     
  15. pauljm

    pauljm Member

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    Thanks for the replies. The house would be considered entry level 4 bedroom for the area so it wouldn’t be the sort of place that would attract a bidding war at auction or anything like that. It has a rental yield of 4.2% and is reasonably “low maintenance”. Good long term tenants who I can approach directly as I have got to know them over the years. It’s a flat 5km walk to palm beach which has boomed in the last 5 years. Will it sell itself? Only time will tell I guess.
     
  16. Shazz@

    Shazz@ Well-Known Member

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    Recently sold a property in Melbourne. Agent charged me a commission of 1.5% including gst.
    I didn’t even have to negotiate, he offered that upfront when I asked him what the fees were. However, he knew I was tossing up between him and another agent, so perhaps he offered that amount to seal the deal.
     
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  17. pauljm

    pauljm Member

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    Hi Shazz yeah if I go with an agent I’m not accepting any more than that (in theory anyway!). Both agents I am considering have sold for us before so we definitely feel they owe us and not we owe them. The bigger question I probably should be asking is whether we should sell at all. My uneducated gut tells me the prices are only going to go up but COVID has made us want to “live for the now” so being debt free with ample money to spend/ invest is looking super attractive right now. Thanks again...Paul
     
  18. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    I'll jump in and give my thoughts on selling. We'd planned on selling a house to clear a chunk of debt. We've recently built four townhouses and the rent is starting to flow our way. We've been paying out for three years whilst we prepared the site, moved houses, upgraded houses, and then did the build.

    We had tenants leave a house and had planned to list now to reduce debt. With the Brisbane market moving upwards, we've chosen instead to hold for another year, maybe more. We pay a fair chunk of land tax, but as long as the property value is rising more than the land tax, we'll hold.

    Now we have rent flowing, our loan is not as much of a struggle to pay as it has been many times in the past. So instead of selling now, and probably being able to pay off half our debt, we will hold and maybe in a year or two, we might be able to pay another $100k off the debt. With interest rates so low, we aren't suffering too much with the interest we are paying by holding.

    I think it all comes down to your individual situation. I recall selling a house for $200k (bought for $100k a few years before), thinking we did well. It would be worth $700k now. We did put that money to good use, renovated our own house, so no regrets. But looking back, if I didn't concentrate on what we actually did with the sale proceeds, made our house comfortable, added a pool and enough bedrooms for growing boys, and a second living area to give us more room, I'd be very annoyed at having sold.
     
  19. pauljm

    pauljm Member

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    Hi yeah been there done that... shoulda, coulda, woulda...as I said for us we feel we will have enough $ in retirement to sell now and live it up a bit. We are early 50s with a seven year old in private school. We have 500k in super and will have 300k and no debts if we sell the ip. Ppor value 800k. I’m a tradie and wife not working atm. Even without future inheritances we think if we put a bit more into super there will be enough to be comfortable in retirement without needing to be rich. Not meaning to hijack thread just trying to justify our decision to sell it! Does this sound reasonable enough? Cheers...Paul
     
  20. wylie

    wylie Moderator Staff Member

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    $500k in super if put into pension mode right now (assume you are 60), would bring in $25k if you ask for 5% of the balance (unless I'm wrong on how this works - we've not drawn down any pension from super).

    $300k invested at 2% brings you $6k interest.

    Early 50s with a seven year old in private school is going to eat up a lot of money for the next eleven years. You will be mid 60s.

    Are you paying the investment property easily? Does the rent cover the mortgage and outgoings?
     

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