A Real Estate Agent Who Don't Respond to Queries Is Dodgy?

vchar on 01/06/2024 - 16:01
Last edited 10/06/2024 - 09:41

Hi folks,

In the last two weeks, I have made multiple attempts to inquire about a property I'm interested in Cranbourne, Victoria. I've made two inquires through realestate.com.au around 10 days in between the two but I didn't get any response.

I texted once but I didn't get any response. I've then made two calls in the last two weeks from two different numbers and I was promised that I will be sent some info I requested along with a sale contract. But I've never heard from the agent. I made a third call but was not picked up.

Last week, the listed price dropped 20k for some reasons. I have a genuine interest in the property and I have made multiple attempts to get more details to make a buying decision. I can say I'm a potential buyer so there is no good reason for the price drop before the agent gets back to me.

From my experience, there is only a motivation behind what the agent is doing is that they are trying to drag down the price to sell the property to their people ie. relatives, friends, even himself, etc. I'm not sure if this practice is common in Australia but it happens back in my country.

What is your thought, folks? Personally, I wish the landlord learns what is happening to the sale of their property.

Updated:

I was able to contact the agent and got the contract of sale eventually while the house hadn't been sold yet. However, while review the contract (the second day), the house was marked as sold at even a lower price and I didn't even get a chance to submit my offer. Apparently, they tried to get away as soon as they realised that they couldn't crunch the price any lower as there will be more buyers if keep the sale running any longer. The house was sold in a short period of time from the listed date to the sold date which is less than four weeks.

Cranbourne home owners be careful with agents in your area, I can't put their name here but you can always choose a more reputable or at least a wider known one.

Cheers,

General Discussion

Comments

  • Mikinoz on 01/06/2024 - 16:02
    +31

    Don't over think it, bad agent

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:45
      +2

      I could get over it mate but it appears to be a good opportunity for buyers.
      Plus, it is unfair to the vendor as they have to pay a big sum for a dodgy sale.

      • gromit on 03/06/2024 - 08:14

        If it isn't some tiny independent REA then go above their head and explain what is happening.

      • brandt on 03/06/2024 - 11:46
        +2

        Call the principal and explain what's up. Write on their Facebook page asking to be contacted. Drop a note in the property mail box explaining the agent has returned your calls.

      • CalmLemons on 04/06/2024 - 00:43
        +1

        Happens all the time. Especially an agent selling in cranbourne. Probably just tired of dealing with the client base around there.

        Or just terrible agent, imagine try to answer 100 phones calls a day.

        Could you share what question you actually asked because there are some questions agents know to never respond to.

  • Gdsamp on 01/06/2024 - 16:03

    there could be plenty of reasons for their unresponsiveness. Either way, you might want to explore other options or escalate your concerns to their agency.

  • Ryanek on 01/06/2024 - 16:05
    +51

    Real estate agent? You mean secondhand house salesman.

    • Antikythera on 03/06/2024 - 15:58

      used home dealer

      i kinda like where you are going with this.

    • SuperLate on 04/06/2024 - 01:31

      Hustler. Auctions everywhere.

  • freefall101 on 01/06/2024 - 16:11
    +8

    When I was in full house hunting mode the only way I could reliably get in contact with agents was to show up to an open house or go into their office and get details from reception. Barely any responded to anything from realestate.com.au messages or phone calls. They're just waiting for someone to come along and make their life as simple as possible.

    They probably do have to deal with a lot of tyre kickers, like selling anything used, but they have zero reason to work hard at it.

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:40
      +7

      I called three times as mentioned on my phone mate

      • AustriaBargain on 02/06/2024 - 17:41
        -5

        I haven't bugged your phone or anything mate.

        • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:46

          Sorry I mean my post, my typo is suck

  • tonka on 01/06/2024 - 16:35

    At this point it sounds like you haven't gotten past the office junior who is likely both exploited and incompetent. Had the same problem years ago. Had to really pursue the agent to get my offer presented, ended up buying the property.

  • plmko on 01/06/2024 - 16:59

    Not all listings are real either. Some are deliberately listed to get "arms length" valuations.

  • TheMindsetTraveller on 01/06/2024 - 16:59
    +1

    haha, in your experience, they do that to sell to 'their people'? WOW, that's a pretty crap agent then.

    This is what I would do, whatever the asking price, I would tell the vendor that nobody is interested except one person, and here is the price and i recommend you accept it.

    • azero on 02/06/2024 - 16:06
      +2

      Selling to their people - not so uncommom in new-ish outer suburbs.

      Happened to a friend. Trying to downsize to save money, with a very ill husbund. She fell for it.

      • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:40
        +1

        That was very unfortunate. The agent should have gone to jail if got sued

  • JIMB0 on 01/06/2024 - 19:16
    +4

    Have you been to the open house inspection?

  • cloudy on 01/06/2024 - 21:02

    you know which agent you would never hire to sell your house :)

    The reason for the price drop is the buyer thinks no one is interested cause the agent hasnt spoke to any buyers hahah

  • elgrande on 01/06/2024 - 22:00
    +4

    I had this once, he sold it under valued to his daughter.

    • Wiede on 04/06/2024 - 14:53
      -1

      how is that possible when most are through auction?

  • turbochris on 02/06/2024 - 08:19
    +2

    Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.

    • Sinnerator on 02/06/2024 - 08:42
      +1

      why not both?

  • Kranbone on 02/06/2024 - 09:24
    +2

    Send the enquiry to the dealer principle; "Hi X, tried multiple times to contact the listing agent but had no response. Am interested in the property, would you be able to help".

    Let us know if you get a response or not.

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:39

      I did exactly that but not to the principal. I’ll figure out who is the principal and try again then let you know. Hopefully, the principal is not their parents or associated😛

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 20:55

      Just had a quick check and realise that it is a small company with not many listings and four heads and one of which is the self-assigned director (I assumed) whom I have been trying to contact. Judging from their member names, they are either relatives or friends, I reckon.

      So contacting the principal of the company doesn’t work in this particular case

      • pwnd on 03/06/2024 - 15:18

        Go to the house and knock on their door. Ask them if they are selling their house. If they are, explain the difficulty you are having.

        • Antikythera on 03/06/2024 - 16:01

          and if they are renting, ask if they have a direct contact for the owner.
          but first convince them you would be a great new landlord.
          even if you are really gonna boot them out and move in.

      • Kranbone on 03/06/2024 - 19:55

        In that case, it's time to get creative…

        You mentioned you've tried to contact from another phone and had no response. Maybe send them an enquiry asking if they're able to help appraise a property as you're considering selling. See if they call back?

      • spal on 05/06/2024 - 08:55

        Based on what you are saying, this is possibly a ghost listing. They do not want to sell. I believe there are some concessions in Victoria for a new build not being sold for a year. There could be vacant residential land tax for vacant residential properties. It could be that an overseas owner does not want to sell or rent it out. But does not want to pay tax either. Who knows, it could be anything.

  • Meho2026 on 02/06/2024 - 09:44
    +3

    Walk into the office and ask to speak to the agent.

    • Save 50 Cent on 03/06/2024 - 23:14

      Nah, just ask to speak to the manager straight away.

      • Chandler on 05/06/2024 - 08:54
        +1

        manager

        Principal

  • jrvb42 on 02/06/2024 - 09:48
    +3

    Same thing happened to me. Sadly for the vendor, they ended up dropping the price. Not surprising if agent was ignoring contact (via web). After price dropped, I rang and got the agent str8 away, put in an offer and got the property.
    Some agents are either lazy, ignorant, or just don't care. Vendor should be able to sue agent here. Anyways, I'm happy.

  • jjjaar on 02/06/2024 - 11:07

    A Real Estate Agent Who Don't Respond to Queries Is Dodgy?

    FTFY

  • JIMB0 on 02/06/2024 - 11:19

    Sometimes if it's a divorce sale the property has to go to auction. I tried to buy such a property before auction and the agent was extremely difficult to get a hold of. I managed to get the section 32 from the office. The agent only got back to me a few days before the auction to see if I was attending.

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:33

      nah, this one is not an auction

  • 2esc on 02/06/2024 - 11:24
    +1

    Have you actually gone to the real estate office?

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:37
      +1

      I have had quite a few successful deals in the past and never pass by any real estate offices. Now is 2024 so I don’t expect to do that; however, I’m probably wrong.

  • LFO on 02/06/2024 - 11:46
    -1

    Not defending the "secondhand house salesperson" (brilliant nickname by Ryanek) but perhaps you are asking too many questions and perhaps there is/are thing to hide regarding the dwelling.

    All your questions are valid but perhaps they are expecting a clueless desperado that will buy, no questions asked.

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:35

      nah, not many and very common I believe. See my query below:

      Hi,

      Could you please send over the contract of sale?

      Regards,

      • LFO on 03/06/2024 - 17:11

        I was promised that I will be sent some info I requested along with a sale contract.

        Sorry, seems I misunderstood that part.

  • SlickMick on 02/06/2024 - 15:19
    +3

    Do you know whether it's currently owner occupied or rented? I'd leave a note in the letterbox suggesting that the REA is not representnig them well and that you're interested in purchasing.

    • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 17:36

      The property is currently vacated

      • SlickMick on 02/06/2024 - 20:47
        +4

        Just move in. Sounds like no one will notice.

        • vchar on 02/06/2024 - 20:56

          😛

  • Rel63 on 03/06/2024 - 07:18
    +1

    Go to another Real Estate and have them contact the selling agent. A lot of agents will split commission with buyers agent and that will motivate the agent you talk to, to get somewhere with the selling agent. They can get access to the owner of the property if they are also ignored by selling agent. If all this fails, they might still be able to find you an alternative property to purchase.

  • May4th on 03/06/2024 - 08:53

    not uncommon when they already have serious interested parties they don't want to spend the extra effort fielding new enquiries. can't comment on your circumstance but there's a lot of lazy/unscrupulous agents out there who doesn't look after their vendor and will sell it to their mates/developers/BAs at under market prices because it's takes much less time/effort. in a run away market anyone can make a quick buck.
    it will come back to bite them eventually as buyers will eventually become sellers
    good thing is there are so many online agent reviews to keep them a bit more honest - they are very good at search engine optimisation and scrubbing bad reviews though

  • sy8718 on 03/06/2024 - 09:59
    +2

    Could you please DM me the agent name? I am about to sell a property in Cranbourne and I will black list this agent…

    • SuperLate on 04/06/2024 - 01:40

      I'm interested in buying in Cranbourne. Sure you'll let me keep my Ozbargain badge.

  • RolandWaites on 03/06/2024 - 10:10

    brb checking out a place in Cranbourne that I hear has just had a massive cut in asking price

  • TopG on 03/06/2024 - 10:59
    +2

    Some of the listings are Fake listings or Dummy listings or Bait listings just to garner the interest of potential buyers or for advertising or just to show the real estate agency is doing business in the area.

    Personally came across many such listings.

  • Not a Troll on 03/06/2024 - 11:06
    +1

    Came here for the name and shame, I am dissapoint

  • bigbadaboom on 03/06/2024 - 11:41

    could be. but more likely to just be incompetence. never underestimate how incompetent an Australian real estate agent can be. Thanks to near-constant demand, the bar for 'effort to get a result' at the job is incredibly low.

    If they are able to construct a sentence and respond to an email - that's the top 20%.

  • Dollar General on 03/06/2024 - 11:47

    Could be a Lloyd Braun moment and your phone isn’t even working

  • 01011010 on 03/06/2024 - 12:21

    surely one of our ozbargain detectives are good enough to work out who the agent is? small agency with 4 directors?

    i too want the name and shame.

  • Spootage on 03/06/2024 - 12:50

    https://jenman.com.au/

    Is it this mob?

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 03/06/2024 - 12:53
    +1

    The house won't actually be for sale. They owner needs it listed for sale, likely to avoid legal action or repossession, but has no intention of selling.

    Or all of the related directors are overseas on holiday and DGAF.

  • pahuang on 03/06/2024 - 17:43
    +1

    some agents will leave sold houses, his/her own house, or managed investment house on realestate.com.au for longer time so that his/her name will appear in search. Kinda like search engine optimisation within realestate.com.au. It's dodgy practise to game the system for sure. So for this type of properties, you will NOT get any response as it's not really up for sale. I had the same experience before.

  • Hangryuman on 03/06/2024 - 17:44

    you may be right - they may be trying to crunch the price before doing a shifty deal for their friends or family

  • infinite on 03/06/2024 - 22:06

    Just move on, RA's are absolutely inundated with comm's & offers on listed properties currently. They are probably already in the process of negotiations with buyers the client is happy dealing with.

    A much better plan is to contact sales companies and get yourself listed with them as an active buyer in the area, with a stated budget in mind. A lot of sales agents go to people on that list before a property is even advertised. By the time it's advertised, people on those lists are already dealing with the seller in terms of negotiating.

  • ihbh on 04/06/2024 - 13:22
    -3

    a property I'm interested in

    There are two types of "interest":

    • Action: walk around the area the property is located in person, check public transport, traffic, pollution, etc. Check out the neighbourhood and neighbours, do a visual from the kerb, ask for an inspection, check out the agent's office in person and speak to the agent and other agents, speak to the neighbours.

    • Talk: post a dumb question on OZB.

  • ar7ist on 04/06/2024 - 22:56

    Happened to me. REA can be dodgy. During COVID I made an offer for a property which I thought could be a good buy. My offer was 610 and the REA told me that its too low. Next week, it got sold for 600k. Now that property is +150k.

  • Randxyz123 on 04/06/2024 - 23:52

    I’d say the translation for this is it is already under offer and the agent is waiting for the paperwork. OR the agent is just bad at their job. I’d say the former is more likely. A good agent would still call you to hear about your budget and requirements, then send you 2-3 options especially ones that are not yet listed but about to go up.

    If you want to get a response, find out who the supervisor/manager is at the office and contact them. Say you have had issues getting onto the agency and want to know if it is still available.

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