Is This an Example of Underquoting in Sydney?

Hi OzBargain, I would really appreciate your help on this one.

My wife and I attended an auction on Saturday, hoping to grab our first apartment to be our home. The advertised price guide was $700k-$770k. We were unsure about marker interest so thought it would be a great learning opportunity to go.

Of the 15 or so people there, I realised that I was the only registered bidder. So I started off the bidding at $700k, being able to react to the vendor bid.

The agent at this stage takes us into another room and tells us this this is not enough. That the vendor is only willing to sell for more than $800k. We say that the best we can do is $750k. We go back to the main room and they make a vendor bid of $800k. No one is willing to go over it including us, so it is passed in. They said they might negotiate with us throughout the week.

My question is are they underquoting the property? Since the price guide advertised was $700-$770k but they were clearly never going to sell it for that. They have now changed the listing price to $840k.

Thanks for your help OzBbargain.

P.S. We are also going to chat this through with our conveyancer before approaching the agent again

Comments

  • +109

    It is 100% underquoting. Of course the agent knew what the vendor wanted for the property. But proving it is nearly impossible.

    If you don't have proof the agent knew about the minimum price - then you can't make a complaint about underquoting.

    But we all know the real estate auction process is completely and utterly rotten in Australia.

    I'm sorry this monkey business is continuing.

    • +19

      In early 2021 I attended an inspection for a property that was advertised around the $600-650K mark. It was swarming with prospective buyers.

      As I walked back to my car I got chatting to the neighbours who were watching the commotion with interest. They told me the owners had told them they wanted $800K+ for it.

      Sure enough - at auction it sold for way above $800K.

      Just an entirely corrupt system, everybody knows it. And the official agencies in charge of stamping it out are pretending like nothing is wrong.

      • +14

        In fact I won't even bother wasting my time looking at any properties for auction. I wish the real estate websites allowed filtering of properties being sold by auction.

        • +1

          I like auctions. They are over very quickly and they happen in public so when there is a sale at auction, everyone gets to hear what the price is. That often doesn't happen with private sales. Lack of public pricing information benefits those with inside knowledge like estate agents, but hurts buyers (and sometimes sellers).

          The numbers quoted in advertising are fictional, that happens auctions and private sales. The best thing when purchasing property is to learn to ignore the advertising and start learning to judge the likely price based on comparable sales in the area. Auctions are really helpful in this regard.

          • +7

            @trongy: You can find the price of any sale after 30 days though. It doesn’t have to be an auction.

          • @trongy: Sales prices are recorded (and put on the web), so there are no secrets.

            Comparable sales in the area. Auctions are really helpful in this regard.

            Perhaps or just get your broker to pull the data (free) or if your just a lookie lou then you can use a web service (myhouseprice, etc).
            Even banks can pull this data (but obviously will try and lock you in to their product).

            Couldn't really be arsed driving to multiple auctions (guess its ok if its in one of those big rooms).

          • @trongy: Maybe if the agents had to pay something like 10% fees to every dollar the sold price was under the advertised price, things might change.

            You advertised $700k-$770k, but it sold for $810k, so the maximum difference is $110k, and you the agent have to shell out $11k fees.

            Oh don't like that? What's this, you're now changing the advertising? Going forward it's going to be a case of advertising it for $790k-$840k for the same/identical property? Wow, would ya look at that! Honesty* in the market, a miracle.

        • +2

          But it still can end up with silent auction.

          • @Richardc: Yes true - or just passed in (and the owner and buyer negotiate at a much latter date).

          • @Richardc: Very true, silent auction is worse than real auction, you only get told by agent that someone outbid you, real or bluffing…

            But, it all depends whether it's a buyer marker or seller market. When it's seller market, you could over commit in the real auction.

    • +16

      You might be able to prove underquoting in this case. The website price change to $840K after the auction and the auction history will be good evidence. You could use Wayback Machine to see historical changes of the listing. It just wouldn't make sense if an offer was made within the listed price guide, the property is passed and now is listed with a new price. Probably worth a shot.

      • +3

        I don't think that proves anything though, for all we know the vendor set their price the morning of the auction and the agent has since amended the advertising to reflect the vendor's expectations. You would have to prove that the agent knew the vendor wouldn't accept less than 800k which would be near impossible.

        • +1

          I am curious about this…
          So why then the REA quoted a price range if the vendor did not set one yet?

          • +3

            @MechEng: when you approach a REA they will give you a guide based on their experience, they quote and market this number. they also explicitly tell you when you do an auction, do not tell me what your reserve is until the day of the auction, this way they can deny ever knowing what that is if it's higher. Come auction day, the vendor can then raise or lower the reserve based on the interest in the property, or they can just give the agent the number that they really want.

      • Underquoting is to basically stop the agent (using this example) from saying house is (say) worth $700k and then opening the auction at the upper end of price range $770k.

        It doesn't stop the owner. In some ways (and people will dislike this) the agent is caught up by the owners behaviour.

        The agent could of said to the owner it will go for between $700k-$770k, the owner says yes and then demands $840k.
        Then its up to the Agent to 'condition' the seller - which is a euphemism for saying "the market is literally saying the price is $750k" (and in this example -'just like my range said').

        Who is wrong exactly? The Agent for not putting at $840k even thought they know no one will buy for that?
        The owner for demanding a too high price and perhaps ignoring the range the Agent suggests?

    • +13

      I sold a place last year and I told the agent I would sell the place for between $1.55 and $1.65. The agent put $1.45 on the contract and I said I would not be selling for that and he said that's okay as the $1.55 is 10% more and is legal.

      So 10% above the quoted price is allowed from what I can tell. It does not make it morally correct.

      • similar experience, for a just cheaper property haha

        I wanted 700k and agent said if i put 700k ppl will assume I'm expecting 770k and so they won't even show up. It's really annoying and it's a viscous cycle that can't be fixed without some regulation

        • That is a good point. Due to media hype we know what goes on with the buyers. But not much is known about what the vendors have to deal with.

          • @spal: So another way to get a close enough number is by adding 10% - 15% on top of the quoted price then.

            • @VXCT: yeah 10% seems ok to the authorities.

        • +2

          incorrect use of viscous…
          wait.. having a thick, sticky consistency between solid and liquid.. okay.. maybe it is viscous like a certain brown substance (not nutella)
          as you were

      • So 10% above the quoted price is allowed from what I can tell. It does not make it morally correct.

        Looks like even with all the "laws" now which weren't around when I bought the same +10% rule seems to still hold pretty well. Useless rules really.

    • am I missing something here? what's wrong with underquoting? they're only wasting their own time and money…

      • +10

        No. They're not only wasting their time.

        They're wasting the time of people coming to look, analyse, consider, evaluate, make a bid. These activities can be stressful. Perhaps they are time-poor. Perhaps they agonise about the value of the property and what amount to offer. Perhaps they hire services to help them decide if the property is for them.

        If the underquoting is serious then many people's time and effort can be wasted. Sum all of that together and you have the cause of a lot of trouble.

      • Do you have kids? You quickly realise how precious your time and money is once those little ankle biters are around and driving you to an early grave while you stress about one of the biggest purchasing decisions in your (and maybe even their) life

      • ok fair.. but it's more their own time and money than anyone else's.. it's not even 2-3hrs out of the buyer's day, doesn't cost them anything.. but for someone trying to sell their house, the auctioning preparation, costs etc… having that all equate to a waste will be plenty punishing

        • +1

          Jaspa7 you have no idea what you are talking about - you dont just rock up to an auction - there is a considerable amount of engery in all related activities prior - dealing with your bank / broker on getting pre approval, dealing with your conveyancer to review the contract, dealing with a building and pest report if you are serious about making a bid…. these things cost time and money - money that can be well spent if you avoid spending hundreds of thousands / millions of dollars on something that has serious un-visible issues

          • @chriskq: Yeah but you have to do that regardless of which house you go for.. and a lot of that stuff happens after you win the bid. Admittedly I've never bid on a house myself, we didn't buy ours through auction (and probably never would by the effort people make it out to be). But if we didn't like a house/agent due to beating around the bush etc.. it was very easy just to walk on to the next one, probably went through 10-15 houses this way - very little effort really

      • it was to stop people getting blow out of the water before the Auction even starts (ie saying yeah it will go for $500k+ and then opening the biding at $600k).

        Its not so much because of time, but because people may need to order and pay for pest inspections, building inspections, contract review (though many lawyers will do this for free), etc, especially if the owner demands an unconditional contract.

        Have 4 people who want too but can't really buy and that could be $6,000 in inspection costs.

        Have a buyer do this 3x and it eats away at their savings.

    • It happened to me too, once I was the highest bidder agents call me into a room I thought I was to sign contact of sale, but it wasn't the case. Agent wanted more bully me to a higher price. Its unethical they have no regard if buyers can afford such higher price.

  • +9

    Offer them $699999.99 lol

  • +3

    All of them do it and no one cares. That's how the game is played. You are rarely going get it at the advertised range.

  • +11

    The agents "get out" position is the vendor changed their reserve at the last minute - which they are entitled to do.
    Such a response would probably be a load of crap, but they will get away with it

    • +3

      Yeah this is pretty dodge.

      I did ask the real estate agent what would buy the property outright on Thursday before auction and they said 850k. This indicates they knew something about this, but they didn’t change their price guide.

      • +6

        I'm surprised you didn't learn how dodgy real estate sales are beforehand. What you are describing sounds normal to me.

        It costs only a little time to walk to a few local auctions that you are not interested in bidding on (arrive 15 minutes late to skip the blather). It helps to have seen a few auctions with emotional detachment before you go and bid in one. It's even quicker to check published auction results for other properties you have inspected. That is the real world price guide.

  • +10

    Typical dodgy real estate processes. I know they can say the price guide shifted after receiving interest which is then reflected in the bidding though clearly this wasn't the case as nobody was bidding.

    It's turning into a buyer's market so stick to your guns, they can chase you.

    Ask the RE if the vendors have seen the news recently or if they are aware interest rates are on the rise!? This isn't a year ago, doesn't sound like the vendors really want to sell.

  • +19

    Thanks everyone, definitely feeling better about this and makes me feel better as a buyer in the current market.

    We did like the place but 800k+ was way too much for the current market.

    • +21

      Screw the greedy seller. No one wants this place for $700k except you and they should have taken the extra $50k you offered.

      • +19

        Give it another month when interest rates go up another 0.5 %.

        They'll gladly take 700K

        • +6

          They'll gladly take 700K

          They'll gladly take the $680k lol

          • @ThithLord: That will be after Octobers 0.25% rate hike. RBA may ease up after Sept.

            • +1

              @TilacVIP: Nah, 0.75% from September onwards. TO THE MOON!

              (This comment is for humour purposes and is not a well reasoned argument for the above actually happening)

              • @Sleeqb7: It WILL be fun if that becomes reality.

            • @TilacVIP: 0.25% 'hike' isn't ease up though.. just less intensity.

    • +2

      Stick with your budget and your valuation. You are doing good

    • +6

      If they contact you again, you can do the opposite: tell them NOW your price is $720k, 750 was last week.
      And next week will be 700.

  • +20

    give them a offer for 750k
    say it will last until 6 sept 2.29:59PM
    offer will go down 5 percent

    repeat each first Tuesday of the month

    it's a buyers market, the real estate and owner has nothing

    plenty of apartments out there (well maybe a slow down cause all the builders are going bankrupt…)

    • +2

      Yeah definitely. Going to wait a day or two to see if they come chasing after me and so that we don’t look desperate. Then we are going to hold firm to our budget and see what happens.

    • +5

      Make the offers in writing. All offers are required to be taken to the vendors for consideration. For verbal offers, there are no records, so there is a risk of not being passed to the vendor.

      • curious how do you do that? email? paper? it's not like they can't just pretend they didnt get it… dodgey agents going to dodge.

        • Email is sufficient. Or even better if you attach an official looking letter in an email.

  • +1

    we are also going to chat this through with our conveyancer

    Why?

    • +3

      The conveyancer is his daddy?

      • +1

        That makes sense. Cheers

        • +1

          I liase with my conveyancer before making an Ozbargain purchase. It does slows things down so often miss out.

          • @elgrande: Yeah, but you can't be too careful paying $1 for a Mars Bar, lots could go wrong…

  • +1

    Offer $700k, take it or leave it

    • +4

      He offered 750, they left it.

      • +12

        Seller must still think it's still 2021 when people were paying ridiculous prices for property and interest rates were 1.79%

        Someone tell mutley to wake up & stop dreaming.

      • +1

        They might regret that as current interest rate rises mean prices for now are falling.

        We sold our old place for 935k in late 2016. The buyers decided to sell about a year or so after they bought it and advertised for 1-1.07 million. I saw this and couldn't believe it, as the price we got was more than expected and the market had turned by the time they were selling.

        It ended up on the market for quite a long time as the market continued to fall and they ended up selling for 830k having had to reduce the asking price more than once. They would probably have got at least what they paid if they had set a more realistic price to start with. Often wondered whether is was them or their agent that set that initial price. It certainly cost them.

  • +24

    If they don’t underquote how else would they attract the potential bidders in? They are hoping to get lucky with a couple of FOMOs going crazy with their bids. They knew the reserve is $800k so there is no chance the guide is $700-$770k. Dob the rea in.

    Amazing that you still bid $700k when you are the only one bidding and offered $750k afterwards. No one want this place for $700k except you. I would start the negotiation at $700k instead of $750k.

    • +5

      Exactly my thoughts. Now they sense buyer really wants it, and no way of going lower than $750k.

      Why offer 50K more when there is no other buyer & in a market where prices are predicted to fall further as rate rise???

    • +1

      They knew the reserve is $800k

      And you were able to determine that they knew this prior to the auction how?

  • +9

    Agents golden rule with pricing:
    Quote it high and watch it die
    Quote it low and watch it go

  • +21

    Yeah, when they call you back during the week, just offer your original $700k bid. You were the only bidder and it got passed in. The market is falling, so you have time and money on your side.

    Also, I have never understood vendor bidding. How the (fropanity) is it legal for a vendor to bid on their own property. In any other auction process, this is a form of bid padding where the seller tried to inflate the price of their auctioned item that they already own. It’s shady AF.

    • +9

      Offer them $675,000 as the market is falling

      • +1

        wait 2 weeks and offer 650

    • +8

      i would quote lower than 700k because it got passed in.

  • Last year there is property (unit 2) with 1.2 to 1.3 price guide.

    On auction date up to 1.5 still not on the market.
    Turned out vendor looking for 1.7 plus lol.

    Until now it is not sold, and the vendor decided to fixing up outside of unit one because it’s so ugly.

    Compared with yours, this is so out of the world under quoting lol

    • the vendor might be over leveraged and can't sell below an amount … but that's none of the buyer's problem.

      the undequoting is just to draw people in to a bait and switch imo.

    • It clearly doesn't follow 10% rule as some comment mentioned above (i.e. 10% underquoting is allowed).

  • +7

    I was a real estate agent for a fair while in the Sydney market and a quick tip would be that the agent wants it to sell. If it sells for 750 or 800, his commission is pretty similar…

    Get a friend or 2 to offer 670, 690… then come back with a 750 approx offer yourself (if that is what you believe the market value is and you aren't overpaying). The sticking point is likely the owners, but with a few low offers they may start to panic and try to escape the sinking ship like the dirty sewer rats they are.

    • +2

      Are you calling the owners or the agents "dirty sewer rats"?

      • +3

        I was just being dramatic about the owners. I don't know them or their situation.

    • +2

      So who put the idea of 800k in the owners head? Either the agent didn't set expectations before going to market or they promised the world. Either way you slice it, it's on the agent.

      Why would you as an agent take on a property that is worth max 700k when an owner won't sell it for less than 800k? I.E real estate agents have no clue what the market is worth and just bounce buyers off each other using underhanded tactics.

      • First of you are assuming the agent had lots of knowledge long before the auction that the owners wouldn't sell at $770k.
        Some owners refuse to take the advice of the agent and refuse to tell the reserve price until the day of the auction.

        Also it can condition the owner to accept a lower price, because this is what the market is saying (ie. firm price offer).
        This may get the owner to accept advice and sell the property for a lower price than they want.

        Not everything is "real estate agents have no clue what the market is worth….."

        I think most seasoned agents would actually have a fair idea of what it was worth.

  • +3

    It might sell for $840k as a lot of buyers in this falling market can’t get approved to bid in auction conditions as there is no cooling off for bank valuation. Buyers won’t risk the 42-84k deposit under these uncertain times.

    However I would personally be firm and stick to your $750k offer if that’s all you can afford

    • +1

      I haven't heard of buyers not being approved by bank to bid at auction - what are the circumstances?

      • property that is over valued.

        • Banks nearly always assume the auction price is the market price, unless it rings alarm bells in their systems

          Eg. the average price in a suburb is $650k, you buy a property for $1.2M, but there is a ridgeline with views to the CBD.
          Some banks get their local managers or their own valuers to check out and see if the price is actually reasonable.

    • +1

      I did this. Only bidder at auction and property passed in, during the week they came back to me and I said "ops, I got my sums wrong, we can't pay that much. can only pay this amount now. Geez I'm lucky they didn't accept at the auction!!" eventually they accepted a price $40k less than my original bid. I knew they'd bought a new place from the agent and I was the only bidder at the auction = play hardball.

      In this market I'd suggest buyers take their time. No rush when prices are falling like this. Sellers will eventually get FOMO.

    • +32

      So to summarise, you're defending a dodgy practice because:

      1. Wasting people's time and misinforming them is okay if it generates interest in the property
      2. Buyers should know that the advertised price range is a lie and should assume that they want more than that range.

      Riiiight…. Are you a REA?

      • +6

        you're defending a dodgy practice

        Not just dodgy, could be illegal in some states too.

      • +1

        Buyers should know that the advertised price range is a lie and should assume that they want more than that range.

        When has this not been the case? This has been true, in VIC, for my entire adult life.

        • +5

          Okay sure, but why does that make it okay?

          Not everyone buying a house is aware of dodgy practices in which ever market they are looking at. People move from interstate and overseas, others are might be entering the market for the first time with no experience.

          End of the day, we have laws against underquoting - to then turn around and justify underquoting based on the fact that it's standard practice (in spite of the law) and that buyers should know is just entirely illogical.

    • +16

      If I'm looking for staff and advertise a retail job for $40 / hour to get interest, then tell you during the final interview obviously that doesn't make sense and you should take it for $25 instead, that's ok too?

    • +1

      hey how about I post on OZbargain about $1 eneloops , then when you click on the website to add it into the cart, the price is actually $10 for one?

    • Doesn't really matter to the seller what they list it for if they want > $800k and no one is willing to pay it. Either way it doesn't sell. I was actually talking below about places that were listed too low for auction, but I think in the case of OP's situation the seller wants more than people will pay, so it might have been listed at the right price and they just have unrealistic expectations.

    • I'll break into your house and steal your t.v.

      Look at it through my perspective…..I get what I want at your expense because im a scumbag.

    • Lol dont support illegal practice please. $800k is definitely 10% more than $700k.

  • +5

    On the information stated you have been duped by a blatant case of underquoting.

    The agent and the vendor should both be fined for engaging in misleading and deceptive conduct.

    To stamp out underquoting real estate auction rules Australia wide need to be reformed to require agents to publish their vendors reserve prices in all auction advertising.

    We would then have a much more trusted and respected real estate profession.

    John Keating - Estate agent and auctioneer.

    • -5

      Sorry, you provided misleading info based on rules in VIC. I cant answer OP's question but I remember it is different in NSW.

      People from other states should not provide their advices unless you have been in this area in NSW.

      • +3

        Even in NSW the cap is still 10%. We are looking at a bit over 14% here.

  • +12

    I am reasonably familiar with the detail of auction rules in all states and that all states have different rules, which is ridiculous for the biggest transaction most people make.

    We need an auction model in all states that would give all real estate auction sales maximum transparency and integrity.

    And that rule would be a reform to introduce a simple new rule wherein agents would be required to publish their vendors reserve prices in all auction marketing, which would be welcomed by all stakeholders from first home buyers to the Reserve Bank.

    • +1

      Is only logical to include a reserve. It's a standard part of the general auction process. I can't get my head around the fact that it isn't.

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