VIC Underquoting?

Thoughts?

I had a brief initial interest in this 102/16 Separation Street, Northcote VIC 3070 | Domain then decided against it for a number of reasons but kept an eye out for it.

It went up for auction at the weekend with the pre-auction Statement of Information (SOI) guide of $500k-$550k. At auction, Domain reported it on Saturday night as 'passed in' at $510k. Today it is now advertised as a 'Private Sale' at a single price $650k with the Statement of Information guide of $650k.

This seems blatant underquoting by almost 20% over the maximum initial SOI but there are so many clauses and get-outs that its hard to say.

 

It’s a dirty trick, I’ve been to auctions where the bidding stopped at 700 although very well attended. Passed in and then listed for more than 10% higher. Out of price range. There should be a law requiring vendors to sell as long as price range was met. Otherwise if the reserve is higher than expected it wastes everyone’s time.

 

not much you can do as agents have worked around existing laws anyway. Unless the government mandates that vendors have a reserve price set prior to an auction (maybe a at least a week before) and SOI needs to be updated accordingly

It ain't going to happen

This behavior is frowned upon by the public and even by his fellow agents (within 10% of the upper range would be more acceptable)

 

Usual for Melbourne. Allow for +20%.

 

this is not correct advice