Five dirty agent tricks in the real estate market: Robert Skeen

GUEST OBSERVATION

If you want to stay ahead of the curve in the Sydney property market, you need to know how to tell fact from fiction. 

“We have another offer”

Why is it every time you are interested in a home the agent comes up with this line? Naturally it’s always to create a sense of urgency in you. Don’t always bite at this comment.

"The rental value should really be … [grossly over quotes the rental value]”

Clearly the tenancy agreement in the contract states what the current rental is, making it a property investment you won’t ever receive a decent yield from …ever!

You ask, “What is the Price?”

They reply, “This is the first open and we have not have had any feedback from the buyers yet” If this happens, you then need to ask “Well what was the price you wrote in the seller’s agency agreement?”

Underquoting

Another outcome of asking “What is the Price?” is the agent can quote you a figure that is $150,000 less than what they told the owner. Come auction day you were never in the running to buy the property.

Pre-auction offers

You put in a pre-auction bid because you don’t like auctions, which the agent then uses as leverage with all the other buyers that attend the open inspections.

The agent then advises you the owners will not sell to you at your pre-auction offer, however also tells you for some miraculous reason the owners will accept your offer on auction night… Yeah right!

Robert Skeen is the director of Skeen Property Buyers – a boutique firm that specialises in searching, investigating, evaluating and negotiating property.