Seddon auction underquoting prompts Village Real Estate to review property pricing process

Village Real Estate, which has offices in Seddon and Newport in Melbourne's inner west, have been found to have breached consumer law after being investigated by Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) for underquoting the advertised price of a property.

Marty Rankin, a director of Village Real Estate has spoken candidly about the underquoting.

The worst example was a Seddon property. 

The three-bedroom house was advertised for as low as “$770,000 plus” in January last year, despite agents having already rejected a private offer of $900,000 the previous month.

The vendors had also been advised they would not consider anything below $950,000.

Village Real Estate have resolved to implement changes in line with the new forthcoming regulations in addition to instilling company best practice policies to amend the whole property pricing process.

“We hold ourselves accountable for our actions.” said Mr Rankin. 

“We are not proud of the incident," he said.  

“Ultimately, if representatives of the industry cease trying to compete with other agents to irresponsibly promote properties with misleading price ranges, then all buyers and sellers will enjoy a more open and honest transaction."