KEY POINTS:
Half of the people trying to sell their homes plan to go private and bypass real estate agents, research released today shows.
The sellers blame high commissions and undue pressure from agents for their decision, the Nielsen research reveals.
Do you still use real estate agents? Here is a selection of Your Views:
Tom
There is always the good and the bad in every trade. I met both type of real estate agents. I think most people can decide what their ability is when trying to sell their own property privately. To be frank it is not as easy as you think. Time and emotion involved to get what the price you wanted and most buyers do not trust the home owner selling the property. You work twice as hard as the real estate agent sometimes. If real estate agents are not required at all and everybody is able to sell their home, why are they still there for so many years. Definitely, there is a requirement for some. I believe when private sales get involved into legal matters on the property, they will soon know how much they can save without the agent. I am sure some people do get the blessing of having a real estate agent to work for them. At the end, real estate agents are human too. They and their family need to be fed too.
Adam
No, I wouldn't use a real estate agent as the majority of them are overpriced and are only working for one person, themselves. I recently went to a viewing and got chatting to the agent. The house was on for $560k. She told me that they had rejected an offer of $520k but then said she felt that $525k would have secured the sale. The sellers were desperate as they had bought elsewhere already. I couldn't believe that the agent was giving me information that would save me $35k (potentially) and take the price southwards to that extent. Maybe the price was overhyped and $525k was what they wanted but maybe I was the buyer who was prepared to pay $560k. They will never know because the agent was too eager for the sale. Burn 'em and churn 'em is what most agents work to. They often see the seller as the problem to getting a quick sale. I would suggest to any home seller that if they have an agent representing them send around a couple of "mystery shoppers" find out what is being said and done to sell your house. Also auctions need far more regulation and independent auctioneers should be mandatory to stop the shenanigans that go on at many auctions at present.
PW (Auckland)
Bare in mind, there is a demand for properties, houses under 500k generally sales fast either through an agent or privately, so its easy for people who's been dealing with investment properties to say the have no trouble selling privately. But a property that is in the higher end of the market will require a good marketing team to be able to deliver, it needs to be marketed the right way, shown to the right people to get the right price. Private sales often don't market as well, and undersells, so who loses out? It is also true no real qualification is required to become an agent besides sitting a one week course, but it still takes a good sales person to do the negotiation and the marketing. I have a university degree, but I don't think I'll be able to sell a house, I don't have the charisma of a good sales person, and I'd hate to do face to face negotiation with someone who wants to buy my house. In saying all that, there are a lot useless, greedy agents out there, but this applies to all types of professions, there is always the good and the bad. I think people need to look at both sides of the story before slashing out and generalize all the Real Estate agents.
Goby
I think they should all [but a few] be trained up in the policy of honesty. There are too many sales people and too many managers pushing their staff to be less honest and wanting more sales at any cost.
Yrama
From personal experience dealing with real estate agents, it seems they are working for themselves first, the buyer second and then right at the bottom of the heap, comes the vendor, who if a sale is successful, pays the agent's outrageous and unjustified fees! Although we have had a registered valuation done by a very reputable and highly respected property valuer, we have been told by real estate agents a registered valuation doesn't mean much, as their (the agent's) appraisal is closer to the mark! In fact one real estate agency appraised our property at almost $200,000 below the registered valuation, while another real estate agency's appraisal was $100,000 less than the valuation! Despite having this recent market valuation, and not having had any prospective buyers to view our property, we have been asked by agents to drop our price, which we aren't prepared to do, although we have incorporated room for negotiation and the agents' fees into our asking price. We are now very seriously considering selling our property privately, minus the agents' fees, which will reduce the price considerably.
No Agents Whangarei
It is evident that Real Estate Agents will fight for their place in the sun, but the fact remains, we do not need them. For years we have been brainwashed into the idea that you cannot sell your own home without the aid of a Real Estate Agent. The time has come for this brainwashing to stop. The way for it to stop is to turn your back on these agents and stop being used as the means to fund their lifestyles.
PW, Auckland
I think generally there is a lot of negative feeling towards Real Estate agents because of the media portrayal, horror stories, people like reading about them, but it is all very one sided, there is a lot of behind the scene stuff that people don't get to see. There are a lot of good, honest, hard working Real Estate agents out there, who work extremely hard for their commission. My partner is an agent, so was my mum, I get to see what hard work it is, and I wouldn't want to be doing it. It is not uncommon for them to work up to 12 hours plus a day, 7 days a week, receive calls at all time of the day, they don't get a weekend, no days off, not even on public holidays. People think an agent should be working constantly and be grateful for whatever enquiry they're getting. When they do take a day off, people think they are being lazy.
Sharron
Four years ago, we purchased privately. There was no fuss. Our lawyer checked everything out. The buyers had the LIM & a valuation done. We had our own builders inspection & valuation done. We got it for $25000.00 less than other similar properties being sold in the area. We would go this way again .
Win Win Win
Yes we dumped two Real estate agents after I realised they did little yet took thousand in real estate advertising costs. They kept telling us to sell at a lower price, to which we said no. So in the end we took out a four line ad in the Herald and sold for $100,000 more than the agents said our property was worth. On top of that, we saved $30,000 in real estate agent fee's, which recouped our advertising loss paid to time wasters of agents. My advice to people selling, do it your self. Real estate agents are a waste of space.
Ms Auckland
If I had to buy a home I sure as heck would bypass these greedy real estate agents and deal directly with the owner. All you get out of using an agent is to pay an outrageously high fee with no benefits of all, besides the real estate agent. No one else benefits.
Property investor
Most of the comments from others on this subject sound as under-educated as the agent they claim to want to rip them off. Did you know that 90 per cent of private sales end up with an agent who achieves the results? Did you know that 70 per cent of people who sell privately end up missing out on more money? Yes there are some incredibly slimey and suspect agents out there but only an unintelligent person would list with them. Oh and if an agent has made a purchaser pay more money than they wanted to on a property then that's the agent I want selling my place. By the way, I'm not an agent just an experienced property investor.
Smarty Pants
If you know anything about Real Estate Agents, a smart person would not use them. You do not have to look too far to see how the 'wheelers and dealers' in the industry have done more than their bit to 'drive prices' with their greed. I am all for a capitals gains tax on these people. Many have little or no conscience on how their behaviour is going to affect future generations. They are too busy looking after themselves.
Ross Brader AREINZ
Most buyers looking at a private sale property make their offer based on the fact there is no agent fee payable and set their offer price accordingly, so it is not the owner who saves the fee - it is the buyer! A top salesperson who has a proven track record in their local area will always get a better result than a private seller. We recently took over a private sellers property who could not get any offers over $700,000 after 8 weeks trying on her own, yet we obtained offers within 3 weeks ranging from $727,500 to $740,000 and our fees were easily covered by the excellent result obtained. A job well done! I know of another person who sold in a few days privately, yet less than six weeks later the same property sold for $300,000 more through an agent. So yes it can be dangerous to sell on your own!
Paul (Wairarapa)
Having sold six properties privately I can assure you it is easy. Use Trade Me, get a cheap sign and a few open home arrows made by Speedy signs or similar, and buy a few wooden stakes from Placemakers to nail the signs onto. Take the name and phone number of everyone you talk to or who looks through the property and phone them the next day to ask what they think. If you find someone who wants to make an offer you just tell them to contact your solicitor. Your solicitor makes up the agreement and puts in clauses as needed to protect you. I've saved over 50,000 dollars and it probably only took 20 hours per property. Oh, by the way, I have been a real estate agent but not until after my 5th sold privately, so I know both sides of the fence. Anyway, if it doesn't sell after a month then you can list it with an agency anyway and all it will have cost you is a bit of time and $300-$400. Give it a try - it's easy.
Intelligent Kiwi
In response to "John from Wellington" - of course it is all about the commission! Do you work for free? Everyone who is in paid employment goes to work for the money, not just for love. Your comment about buyers being pushed into paying for property, might I remind you that all agents are bound by the law to work for the vendor not the buyer and that means getting as much money for the vendor as the market is willing to pay. Welcome to the real word.
Kay (Palmerston North)
I would be reluctant to sell through an agent, although some buyers seem to prefer this. When I purchased my last home the agent deliberately withheld the fact that the occupying tenant was on a fixed-term rental for another year, we discovered this (after it went unconditional) when the tenant refused to leave! We eventually moved in. Two years later when I sold it, an agent from the same company as the listing agent rang to arrange to come by to look at the house and to show the home to a couple half an hour later. I thought the well-dressed person at the door was the REA and gave them the guided tour, pointing out the features that I thought would appeal. Turns out they were the client and they bought the house the next day. $10,000 for nothing. The house was on the market for two days. I would suggest people negotiate commission when signing an agency as they had wanted $17,000 and I would have been even more disgruntled if I'd paid them $17K for me to sell it. I've since bought and sold a property privately and it has been plain sailing all the way.
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