In order to save that $12-$15k on real estate agent selling my house, I am considering to advertise and sell it myself.
Any experiences or comments welcome.
Selling My House Myself (Not by a Real Estate Agent), Does Anyone Have Any Experience?
Comments
purplebricks
They left Australia. Bad business model here, and people wised up and told others not to use them.
The experience is - don't do it.
Purple Bricks is a noble concept but they are not incentivised to get the best price for your house. At the moment, quantity would mean much more than quality to them, both because of their fixed price fee and the fact they are a budding business looking to increase their exposure.
Vendors make for poor self representation as they do not have composure. You're not able to play both sides of the coin. A REA will be able to tell the potential buyer that the seller is keen, and they play the same game flip side. They will adjust based on bull or bear market to ensure they land the best sale price to maximise commission. Also, as vendors, you're accountable for the representation of the condition of your property. An REA can lie through their teeth and get away because of caveat emptor.
The people around the corner from us successfully sold their house recently using https://www.forsalebyowner.com.au/
I don't know them, or know how things went for them but it sold fairly quickly and they got around the price they were after.
I'm going to give it a go myself in the future with forsalebyowner as houses sell themselves with the market in my area.
I had a mate who did this. He had some retail experience from 10-15 years ago and thought he could save some cash doing it himself.
He had a fixed price in mind and wouldn't budge. Took him 18-24 months to sell.
Use an agency.
There's a house near me and the owners have literally just put a sign up that looks like they got it from Officeworks or something saying "PRIVATE SALE, $965,000 (and their mobile number"
I sold a property privately some time ago the only problem i had was that i did not have the searches ready at the time of signing the contract which extended the cooling of period by a few days.
I sold 2 on my own using a service similar to forsalebyowner, in fact one of the buyers was found on Gumtree.
I will never use a real estate agent unless absolutely necessary.
The key things are :
- Know your property. Sounds silly but know how to sell the positive parts of your property like location to amenities / schools.
- Know your market and price accordingly. If you know what the market is doing and how similar properties that sell are priced you won't ever miss out on the 'extra' that agents could get you.
- Avoid being putting yourself in a position of pressure. eg time pressure or money pressure. Be in a position where you can hold out for the next buyer if one presents as a lowballer.
- Know how to negotiate.
- Get the relevant forms and paperwork ready, I got mine from the REIWA office, something like $2 a form and $5 for the terms and conditions of sale.
- Have your conveyancer ready to go. The nice ones will even give you advice before the sale.
I saved at least $20k in 2 sales.
I am not fond of real estate agents to put it mildly. I blame them a lot for our current housing affordability crisis by constantly trying to drive up prices and lying about other potential buyers to pressure people into thinking they are paying a fair amount. I can't see the problem with people selling their houses like any other asset and negotiating directly with buyers. This false economy that real estate agents have propagated through smoke and mirrors and deceit is shameful for their industry. They are just shonky middle men that have the easiest jobs in the world and make obscene profit by stopping people from being able to advertise and sell their homes through the main channels available in this country (realestate.com.au, Domain.com.au). People want to sell their house, other people want to buy it. Why do we need some middle man charging a fortune to bring these two groups together when we have so many free channels available to us?
Well said.
I dislike real estate agents as well but I don't blame them solely, sure they are part of the machine but hardly the only party.
We, the public, should take ownership as well.
Anyone that has ever bought or even bid at an auction played their part in pushng the market upward.
Australians have jostled, climbed over each other to buy the property they wanted to the point where a single average income family would struggle to buy.
You basically need 2 full time working adults to service the average mortgage, and the impact is felt later where children are put back or none at all or the buyer is stuck to repay when something like unemployment or ill health strikes.
Real estate agents are not to blame.
The government is not to blame.
Banks are not to blame.
We are to blame.I blame them a lot for our current housing affordability crisis
Not sure how they get the blame, they want to sell at higher price, they get more commission and you get more $$$. double win.
And if you are a private seller, you still sell for highest offer (best you can get). It just you don't pay someone else for the process. As if you going to sell it far less than market price? Still the end game is same, more money for you.Real estate agents are service providers, you use them if you need to, you don't have to.
We have sold 5 houses by ourselves and currently have a block of land for sale by owner . For house , as said above know your property and its worth. If you are in a rush use an agent but we have always achieved the prices we wanted. We do get professional photography and signage - my husband has mates who do both these things and it makes the difference. We sold 2 places just to people who weren't even looking to buy but came to our open houses for a sticky beak .
Selling yourself means you can choose the best time to show (2 were on busy roads so timing to avoid these was essential) and you can open for much longer than an agent would. My husband is a great negotiator and dresses in a suit for opens. We go for the cheapest advertiser who places the property on real estate.com and domain. this time it was zero commision but i have used others (they all do the same thing).
Purple bricks seems a rip off both for the seller and the agent.
5 houses wtf?! You guys must be like loaded with all that cash!
false economy, anyone can sell a house but to get the best possible price you need a good agent. A good agent will add value worth several times their commission to the final sale price.
"false economy, anyone can sell a house but to get the best possible price you need a good agent." Bullshit i sold a bock of land for a price higher than any agent would list it for.I also sold a house for over 10% dearer than the price 4 agents quoted me as a starting price.
99% of property sales are done through an agent…not because anyone is forced to do so but because there is obviously value in doing so. if there was no value the industry would not exist
here is some stats for sales by owner vs through an agent
https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/finding/residential-inve…
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/312410
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/392696