Real estate agent again

[Rocker]

I have to say that I agree with Jackiew, that Australian Real estate Agents have something to learn from those in the UK. In the UK, agents normally hand out detailed house descriptions covering two or three A4 sheets to prospective buyers. By collecting the details of a number of houses in your price range, the potential buyer can avoid wasting time looking at houses that are clearly unsuitable. Here, it seems, it is too much trouble for the agent to prepare a detailed description.

Rocker

[jackiew]

for those who haven't heard of the jenman system ....


http://www.jenman.com.au/

[DanP]

Neil Jenman gets a big bouquet from me with 'The Jenman Way"

That's funny. I sold a house through a Jenman agent. They guarantee your house will get btwn XXX dollars and XXX dollars, so if your house sells for less than the lower figure, you pay less fees. The figure, mind you, is about $20,000 less than what the house is worth. So no real risk there.

BUT...(there's always a but when there's a real estate agent involved)

They charge about $3,000 as base fee which you have to pay regardless of price guarantee. Then they stick you a further 2.7% of sale price, which is about what all the others charge. So either way they win and there's no risk to them. On top of all that they have you sign a sole agent contract so you can't use any other agent to sell your house.

The area I used to live in had several RE Agents. Most of them offered "no sale, no fee". I was a bit naive (sp) and got sucked in by the "honest dependable" Jenman rubbish.

Dan

[DanP]

The way those stories are written by Neil JENMAN shows the type of person he is. Most of the story is hearsay and biased rediculously. JENMAN could easily graduate to what is, IMHO, the lowest form of life, the journalist. :mad:

Dan

[Wood Borer]

Gee Dan,

Looks like your trying to pick between lowest of the low and lower than lowest of the low. :eek:

I am sure there are some good people in both groups but they are rare in my experience.

[simon c]

The agent's responsibility is to get the best price for the vendor. Full stop.

...snip...

I agree that many are only interested in their cut

I think you've got it right in your second point rather than the first. An agent's responsibility to make money for their business. This does not necessarily mean getting the best price for the vendor. An agent will push a vendor to sell at a reduced price if it means a quick sale as losing a small part of his commission is acceptable for a quick return as the agent gets paid out of the deposit.

Simon

[Iain]

Thanks for the singing birds Jackie, reminds me of a few years ago when I went to inspect a block of land in the sticks, quote 'with a babbling trout stream at the boundary'
Took the fly rod along and took six nice trout, kept one of about two pounds, went to the inspection and the agent asked where I got the fish from, told him in the stream in the ad, his response, 'is there fish in there?'
When we sold our house two years ago I read the ad and was tempted to buy, ye gods it sounded pefect and just what we were looking for

[silentC]

Just on the issue of 'buyer beware', I assure you that is a thing of the past.

Three years ago we sold our house (very happy with the price, agents worked in our favour). Since then, it seems that the second bathroom has been attacked by termites. I don't know the extent of the damage but it's enough that the new owner called last night to get details of the termite protection that we put in when we built the bathroom (owner builder). We gave her the details - pipe flanges fitted to the slab penetrations by a company in Sydney.

In the event that she gets no joy from them, she either has to fix it herself, or she forces us to. All she has to do is prove that we, or one of our subbies, were somehow neglectful and failed to provide adequate termite protection. If successful, we not only have to fix the termite protection, we also have to repair the damage. The best bit - we can't do it ourselves, we have to get a licensed builder to do it and he has to guarantee HIS work for 7 years.

The fact that in 3 years she has NEVER had a termite inspection - until now when it's too late - apparently carries no weight, even though we advised her to get it inspected at least every 6 months because there are active termites in the area.

I'd rather ghosts than termites...

[himzol]

I'd rather ghosts than termites...

Someone on this BB may get a bit miffed at this

[silentC]

Bill is a friendly, helpful termite, not the kind that eats your house

[Alastair]

Besides, if he complains, we'll just sic the Numbat on him!

Alastair

[jackiew]

[QUOTE=silentC]
The fact that in 3 years she has NEVER had a termite inspection - until now when it's too late - apparently carries no weight, even though we advised her to get it inspected at least every 6 months because there are active termites in the area.
QUOTE]

would suggest that this comes under the heading of contributory negligence which means that while she might screw you for some of the money she shouldn't be able to screw you for all of it.

which reminds me ... got to go under my house for a look see.

[jackiew]

my lunchtime house inspection down the road was very interesting. The renovators have turned what was a total heap into an absolutely amazing house but ......

1. front verandah doesn't slope so when it rains there is a big puddle on it ...right up against the timber front wall of the house.
2. the new three storey block of flats planned for the bottom of the garden is going to look right into the fantastic new family room. Of course the agent won't be mentioning the flats.
3. the double garage advertised on the front of the info sheet turns out to be a car port ( as shown on the plan at the back of the sheet!!!).
4. the sewer pipes from the house must run down the garden to the laneway ( either under the carport slab or under the garden ) ... there is no inspection hatch in the garden or carport and there ain't one in the laneway. wonder what happens if they get a problem. I asked the agent about this and he said "oh you'd have to ask the council ... they've replaced everything new". you'd think if they replaced everything new the builder would know where the drains went and then you wouldn't need to ask the council would you?

[silentC]

... she might screw you for some of the money ...

Such a lovely turn of phrase. She's not my type though, really

... contributory negligence...

You're probably right but in the eyes of the Dept. of Fair Trading, the builder/owner builder is an untrustworthy scumbag who is always trying to rip-off poor, innocent, unsuspecting home owners. In other words, she gets the benefit of the doubt, we get bent over the desk and... well you know what we get.

[himzol]

I'm with Jackie, now that the subject has turned to Termites it's reminded me that it's time I had a look under the house as well. I remember all too well having to replace a section of floor and some other timber work in my Parents house.

To get the thread back on some sort of path...
If I was in the market for a house I don't think that one of my first questions would be " So.. has anybody been killed here recently?" . If they've managed to clean up the blood stains and remove the chalk outline from the floor, and the axe murderer wasn't still on the premisses and the house was to my liking then I would probably buy it. ( as long as there were no termites).

Himzo.