Why would an agent quote one price to me and something else to another buyer for the same property?

The language of real estate is ambiguous. This is due mainly to the fact that every buyer interprets information differently. Agents need to make a judgment call on how you are likely to interpret what they say before they say it.

Confused??

How much do you add on to an agent’s price guide? 10%? $50K? $100K? It is a personal thing and varies greatly from buyer to buyer. Usually the amount you add on is a direct result of your experiences in the property market. The agent doesn’t know how much you are going to add on, so he/she is going to quote the lowest figure they can get away with in order to increase the chance that you will think it is within your budget.

Now for the other buyer. The agent may know them better than you. This buyer may have missed out on another property sold by this agent. Maybe the agent has appraised their home and is familiar with their buying requirements. If there is more trust in their relationship the agent can afford to be more honest, hence a different price guide.

So, what is the solution? If you are not dealing with an agent where you have built up a trust relationship, you need to know your market. Do your own research and make up your own mind on the price.

For more information on buying property in Sydney go to www.gooddeeds.com.au.

What does it mean if an agent is quoting $1.3M for an auction property?

If I offer $1.3M will they sell it to me prior to auction?

We have heard this question in numerous forms over the years – so many people get confused by Sydney’s auction price quoting system.

The fact they are quoting around $1.3M really means that they really want more than $1.3M. If the property goes to auction and the best offer they get is $1.3M, they might then sell for that price – but they might not. But for a buyer to buy it prior to auction, they need to make an offer that will entice the vendor to sell before the auction – as all vendors hope to get competition that will give them a price over their reserve. (I am not even going to venture into the area that deals with what price the agent put on their vendor’s agency agreement).

Without having done any pricing research on this property, I would think they’d be thinking at least $1.35M to sell prior to auction. But if there are other interested buyers, this figure can climb. For example, recently we had a client interested in a property that was being quoted as $940K+. I spoke with the agent about an offer and was advised that other buyers had indicated around $1.06M (a big jump, I know, and there were comparable sales to justify this). My clients were very keen on this house and decided to offer just over $1.1M. This would have bought it, had there not been at least three other buyers prepared to pay similar money. In the end, we secured it for $1.125M – and believe it or not, there were two other buyers then prepared to pay more!!

I hope this makes sense? It doesn’t make sense to me half the time…

For more information on buying property in Sydney go to www.gooddeeds.com.au.