How thousands of home sellers get ripped-off.

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/the-true-cost-of-real-estate-marketing/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading Time: Apx 5 minutes

Real estate is full of myths and misinformation.

Unless things go wrong, myths can go undetected. Home sellers may never realise they have been over-charged or under-sold.

Once sold, sellers move on. Their home was sold; they got their money. Sure, the commission and the costs were high but that’s behind them now.

There’s one word on the board outside their home – SOLD. It doesn’t say ‘duped’ or ‘conned’.

But if their home doesn’t sell, if their costs start to hurt, that’s when sellers may ask questions they should have asked earlier.

Questions such as: What happens if we don’t sell?

THE STORY OF JOE AND MARIA – ONE OF MANY.

Joe and Maria own a home in a beautiful street in a beautiful suburb. The median price in their area is close to $3 million.

Joe and Maria are nurses – the most trusted of all professions. Like most sellers, they are dealing with members of the least trusted profession – real estate agents.

Joe and Maria are now into their fourth year of trying to sell their home.

And on to their fourth real estate agent.

With marketing costs of $24,000; staging costs of $16,000 and repairs (suggested by agents) of around $18,000 – their total costs (so far) are nearing $60,000.

Plus, their home has been empty for two years – on the advice of agents – which has meant they’ve had loan and holding costs of around $135,000. Never mind what they could have earned in rent – at least another $100,000.

So far, it’s cost Joe and Maria nearly $200,000 to not sell their home.

But it gets worse when another factor is considered – the damage to their home’s value.

From starting at close to $3 million (the agents advertised a “guide” of $2.8 million) they are now close to $2 million (the agents are now advertising a “guide” of $2.1 million).

Australia is the only country where homeowners can place their homes for sale – and those homes fail to sell – and the owners lose thousands of dollars in advertising costs.

Advertising costs have exploded by around one hundred times in the past 20 years. Before the advent of VPA (Vendor Paid Advertising), agents bore the cost of advertising. It was built-in to their commission.

But once sellers began to be duped into paying advertising costs, well, of course, the advertising rates – and the amount of advertising – soared.

THE TYPICAL TWO-STEP SELLING PLAN

Most agents have a two-step plan for selling real estate.

Step one: Spend a massive amount of money marketing a home.

Step two: If the home doesn’t sell, massively reduce the price.

Repeat – and keep repeating – until sold.

THE DAMAGE OF THE DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

The thousands of dollars that sellers lose in outrageous advertising costs pales compared to the damage to the value of their homes from excessive and prolonged advertising.

Go online and type in the address of Joe and Maria’s home. Wherever you look, there’s their home – three years’ worth of advertising with dates, prices and comments.

Almost every buyer will now ask: What’s wrong with it?

According to most agents (another myth): If a home fails to sell, there are only two reasons: the price or the marketing.

But what’s missing from this reasoning?

The agent, of course.

Incompetence on the part of agents is never considered by most agents.

But that’s exactly why many homes are not sold.

Most of today’s agents are too incompetent, too thoughtless, too greedy, too lazy and too egotistical to consider any method but massive advertising and massive price drops.

But massive advertising forces a home down in price.

Most agents don’t care. Regardless of the sale price, they still get a high commission.

PROTECT THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME.

Nothing should be more important to sellers than protecting their home’s value. But try finding an agent who’ll tell them how advertising can damage the value of their homes.

As for the major real estate websites, they have one major goal – to milk sellers for as much as possible. I sincerely believe they should be known as real estate dot con.

These websites and their acolyte agents spread one of the biggest myths in modern real estate – that “it’s essential to advertise a home on-line”.

That’s such nonsense. Give me five minutes with any home seller and I’ll show them how to save thousands of dollars, protect their home’s value and get a better selling price.

WHAT SELLERS ARE NOT TOLD ABOUT ADVERTISING.

Here are 12 important points that sellers should know about today’s real estate marketing.

Truth 1. Never agree to pay for advertising costs – at least not until your home is sold and you are happy with the price and the service. It’s simple. Say no. Be strong.

Truth 2. The best homes are seldom advertised. Ask any decent buyers’ agent and they will soon confirm that the best homes are often NOT advertised.

Truth 3. The main purpose of real estate advertising is to promote agents not homes.

Truth 4. Agents use advertising as a “conditioning” tool. If a home doesn’t sell, agents push sellers to drop the price.

Truth 5. If advertising was the only way of finding a buyer, why use an agent, just advertise yourself, cut out the agent and save thousands of dollars in commission.

Truth 6. Upgraded advertising is a con. Sellers are told they need to pay thousands of dollars extra so that their advertisement can be at the top of search results. Every seller is told the same. How can everyone’s home be the first home seen?

Truth 7. Research shows that a standard advertisement is just as effective (or even more effective) than a premium advertisement. This is from inside information.

Truth 8. If you hire an agent, it will cost you many thousands of dollars to advertise on a major website. If you hire a private sale company (like ‘Property Now’), it will cost you hundreds of dollars (not thousands) to advertise on a major website. I’ll bet no agent ever told you that.

Truth 9. One of the biggest myths is this statement: “You can’t sell a secret”. But as any good negotiator knows: Secrets are treasured. The best-paying buyers pay a premium for homes that are not advertised.

Truth 10. All agents have buyers on their books. They don’t need to advertise every home. One network boasts that they have “two million potential buyers on their data base”. Yet they still ask sellers for money to advertise. As one of their directors told me last month about their claim about two million buyers, “That’s BS.” Charming.

Truth 11. Back when the cost of advertising was included in commission, there was a fraction of today’s money spent on advertising. Agents waste your money but not their money.

Truth 12. In many areas, commissions are now up around $50,000 per home. What sellers need to ask agents is this: “Is $50,000 (or whatever they are charging) not enough for you?”

There are many ways to find buyers for homes without spending thousands of dollars on a major website. At last count, I listed 13 methods to find buyers at no or low cost. Unlike agents, I’m always happy to share them with sellers.

Online advertising should be the last method in the search for buyers. Not the first method.

Why do agents automatically default to the most expensive method of finding buyers?

Three main reasons: First, it’s not their money. Second, they get free publicity and third, other ways require something that many agents don’t like – work.

If you’re selling a home, don’t get misled by advertising myths.

If an agent doesn’t know how to find buyers without charging you thousands of dollars for online advertising, find a better agent.

It’s better to spend two or three weeks searching for the best agent than to do what Joe and Maria have done – spend two or three years (and lose tens of thousands of dollars) with the wrong agents.

The post The True Cost Of Real Estate Marketing appeared first on Scott Kim.

How Agents ‘Guilt’ Sellers

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/propertys-prickly-pear/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading Time: 8 mins apx

VPA – ‘Vendor Paid Advertising’. It’s now the most common scam in real estate.

More than 90 per cent of agents perpetrate this scam. In some areas, it’s 100 per cent – all agents are conning all sellers.

Except those sellers who know the truth. And those who know how to protect themselves.

The VPA scam is a plague unique to Australia. A scam that, in the 2020s, has spread like the prickly pear plague of the 1920s that hurt farmers. Only now it hurts home-sellers.

If you are selling a property, agents manipulate you emotionally. They make you feel it’s “fair” for you to pay to advertise your home. But, in real estate, “fair’ is as rare as, well, as humble agents.

It doesn’t matter how often I see this scam; it makes me wild. Especially how agents prey on the inherent goodness of sellers. Decent people like nurses and paramedics, who spend their lives helping others.

People such as Elizabeth, a nurse in the cardiac ward of a hospital. Elizabeth saves lives. If a real estate agent was Elizabeth’s patient, she would fight to save the agent’s life. Her patients’ welfare is her priority.

But if Elizabeth was the client of that same agent, the agent would con Elizabeth with the VPA scam. Most agents make their welfare their priority.

Caring for people is the nature of nurses. It’s why they are the most trusted of the professions. The nature of most agents, however, is to take care of themselves, especially with the VPA scam. It’s why agents are the least trusted of all professions.

Here is how devious agents deceive decent sellers. And emotionally “guilt” them.

THE ‘GUILT TRIP’ TRAP.

Agents will make you feel that, as it is your home, you should pay the advertising.

If you are like most sellers – inexperienced – you may not know that, everywhere else in the world, advertising is included in agents’ commissions. VPA is a nasty Aussie scam.

You may be shocked to discover that commission is as much as, say, $50,000 (2.5% on a $2 million home) and advertising costs – payable in advance (or via a grubby money lending pay-later mob slugging 50% interest) – can be another $20,000.

Agents say the more you spend advertising, the more your sale price.

What agents will not tell you is that they already have buyers known to them. Most agents are lazy. Instead of following-up buyers, they take your money to promote themselves and attract buyers known to them.

The honest meaning of the letters VPA should be Vendor Promotes Agent.

Do not fall for this scam. As I often say, if you went to a butcher to order steaks for a barbeque, imagine if the butcher said: “Give us money to advertise to find some cows.”

Sound stupid?

It’s no more stupid than agents asking you for money to find buyers.

Please get this: Just as you buy meat from a butcher, so do you “buy a buyer” from an agent. You do not go to an agent to buy advertising to promote the agent.

“But it’s your home,” wails the agent. “It’s only fair you pay advertising. If I pay and you don’t sell, I lose my money.”

Do not fall for this guilt-trip con game.

Here’s what happens if you get suckered into paying money, supposedly to advertise your home: Other home-sellers contact the agent. The agents then sell these other homes and earn tens of thousands of dollars in commission.

All at your expense.

Let’s think about something. Most agents don’t like you to “think about it”. And here’s why.

If you pay the advertising, shouldn’t you get the commissions from homes the agents find and sell? You paid for the agent’s leads. You should “own” these leads.

No, this is the scam.

These VPA agents want it both ways. They give you the risk. But they take the reward. They charge you for advertising then pocket commissions from the sales from your money you spent advertising. Plus, often a major kickback (they call it a “rebate”) on your advertising money.

And guess what?

If your home does not sell – because you refuse to drop your price – you lose the advertising money.

With the VPA scams, the agents can’t lose. Only you, the sellers, can lose.

This happened to Elizabeth. She put her home for sale. The agent promised her $800,000. He charged her $3,000 advertising. He then pressured her to sell for $700,000. “The market is softening,” he said.

Rubbish. Property is still booming in her area.

Elizabeth refused to sell for lower than the agent quoted her.

So, she lost $3,000 for “advertising costs”.

As happens with the VPA scam, the agent got free promotion for himself (they call it “profile”).

The agent also got plenty of extra buyer leads. Indeed, in this case, the agent picked up several sellers and listed and sold at least two other homes – with a commission of $40,000 for one home and $53,000 for the other home. Maybe more sales will come soon.

Yes, the agent got $93,000 in commissions (plus more VPA scam money) as a direct consequence of the $3,000 advertising money spent (lost!) by Elizabeth. So far.

Elizabeth, the nurse who spends her life saving lives (of people like agents who rip off people like her), lost her $3,000.

This happens to thousands of sellers: The agent profited from the loss of Elizabeth. To profit from losses of clients is highly unethical. That’s the VPA scam, the financial prickly pear.

I asked Elizabeth: How long would it take you, a nurse, to save three thousand dollars?

Her answer: “Maybe three months.”

And you wonder why I get wild at these agents who recklessly destroy the savings of decent people like Elizabeth with VPA scams.

PROTECT YOURSELF.

What can you do to avoid property’s financial prickly pear? The VPA scams!

First, stand up for yourself.

Follow the Golden Rule: “NEVER PAY ANY MONEY UNTIL YOUR HOME IS SOLD and you are happy [with the price and the service].”

Second, ask the agent: “If you want me to pay thousands of dollars advertising to find a buyer, why do I need you? I can place my own advertisement and save the commission.”

As many sellers are now doing: Finding their own buyers and making their own sales. And believe this: Many are not only saving tens of thousands of dollars in commission and the VPA scam but, they are also getting hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the agents could get. [Feel free to ask us how].

Please don’t fall for another other great con line – “Agents are great negotiators”. Try asking any agent how many books they have read on negotiation. Most have read none.

Show them this article.

And ask: “If I pay advertising, will I get the commission on sales from my advertising?”

Finally, just say this: “This is my home. I want an agent who takes the risk, not one who gives me all the risk. If you think my home needs advertising – because you don’t have any buyers on your books – you pay. When you find a buyer acceptable to me, then – and only then – I will pay you.”

Yes, only pay when you get the result you want.

Just like when you buy meat from a butcher.

This is the way business should be. It’s what smart sellers now demand. They pay when they get the result. Not before.

It’s the way to sell your home without being part of the prickly pear VPA scam!

*************

The post Property’s Prickly Pear appeared first on Scott Kim.

How to spot smarter agents and sell for more

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/the-high-price-of-stupid/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading time: Apx 7.5 mins

Most real estate agents have three characteristics: Greedy, Lazy and Stupid.

GREEDY

Greedy is not too bad – provided sellers control the agents.

Don’t sign up for longer than 42 days (six weeks). If you give agents time to condition you down in price, that’s what they’ll do.

At the expiration of each six-week period, you can sign-up for another six weeks – if you wish. If not, choose another agent.

The big point is this: You are in control.

Offer the agent a high commission in return for a high price. If they think they are going to get a big payment for a big sale price, greed will make them try harder. But always remember, that’s a big IF. You can negotiate an agent’s commission up to the point of sale.

Studies have shown that when agents sell their own homes, they get better prices than when they sell clients’ homes.

LAZY

Don’t reward laziness.

For example, it’s less work for agents to nag one seller to lower the price than to contact several buyers to increase the price.

Hold out for your price. Stubborn sellers get higher prices, as agents know. They may not like you, but if you assure them that you are serious, most will work hard to get the price you want.

And then, of course, once they get you a price that makes you happy, tell them you want it “net.” In other words, they must add their commission.

They’ll get cranky, but who cares, it’s thousands more for you.

Watch how much harder they work when they are fighting for their own money.

STUPID

The biggest cost of selling is not the agent’s commission, it’s the agent’s stupidity. Your family home is too valuable to place with most agents. They are too stupid to negotiate the highest price for you.

Add this to their lack of care, it means you’ll have stupidity and apathy. That’s a dangerously expensive combination.

With today’s prices, it’s common to see homes sold hundreds of thousands of dollars below true value. This is especially true with auctions, a favoured method of stupid and dodgy agents.

Of the three qualities possessed by most agents – greed, laziness, and stupidity – the final one, stupidity is the worst.

If you don’t believe most agents are stupid, ask yourself: Have you ever heard of anyone failing to qualify as a real estate agent?

No, neither have I.

I have never seen an agent fail to get a license to sell real estate – which should be called “a license to vandalise the value of homes” because that’s what stupid agents do.

You are better off selling your own home (especially when you realise there’s little to no “selling” involved) than placing it with a stupid agent.

BE POSITIVE

Be positive. Learn to recognise the smartest of what is, essentially a stupid bunch.

And yes, sometimes, selecting an agent is more a case of choosing the one you dislike the least rather than finding a smart one that you like.

The difference between a smart agent and a stupid agent can mean as much as 25 per cent of a home’s value. On a million-dollar home, a stupid agent could cost you as much as a quarter of a million dollars.

Recently, a farmer sold for an extra $14 million. He told his stupid agent to cancel the auction and switch to a ‘best offer system’ – while maintaining confidentiality.

Smart agents use the right strategy to get the right price.

The right price is the highest that any buyer is willing to pay.

HOW TO PICK SMARTER AGENTS

NEGOTIATORS. Smart agents study their craft. Instead of common training courses which teach agents how to “grind” sellers down (yes, that’s the term used these days – “grind ‘em down”) – smart agents study negotiation.

How do you tell if an agent is a good negotiator and capable of achieving the highest price possible?

Ask them to tell you how they plan to get the best price.

If they give you the standard cliches – such as: “The market sets the price” or “It’s only worth what the buyers are willing to pay,” reject them.

Unless you are impressed, don’t hire the agent.

Here is what to say to all agents: “Please tell us how you will get us the highest price.”

HIGH, HIGHER, HIGHEST. Smart agents know the difference between a high price, a higher price, and the highest price. The difference between the three levels can be huge.

Many times, stupid agents claim to have got a “high price” or even a “higher price” but they did not get the “HIGHEST PRICE”.

So, ask the agent: “Can you explain the difference between high, higher and highest price?”

DON’T FOCUS ON ADVERTISING.

Smart agents protect the value of a home. The minute a property is advertised, especially on the Internet, it enters the “comparative market”. Buyers compare prices. They buy properties offered at the lowest prices. It’s madness. Most sellers fall for it.

Here’s an example: An investor wanted to sell a home unit. It “owed” him $700,000. He wanted to ask $750,000.

The [stupid] “managing” agent said: “No way. When it goes on-line, buyers will see similar units as low as $600,000.”

The owner instantly said: “Well, don’t put it on-line!” to which the [stupid] agent asked, “How can I find buyers?”

The owner hired an agent who used an old-fashioned method – work. The agent called investors.

He asked them: “Would you be interested in another investment property with a first-class tenant?”

He only called twenty-five investors to get four inspections. He sold the unit for $727,000.

BANKS OF BUYERS

Smart agents keep records. They note which buyers are looking in which areas. When a property comes for sale, smart agents call buyers in their “bank” and offer them the chance to get in early.

Such buyers often pay a premium price.

Smart agents are usually ethical. They know that if they make owners pay for advertising, most times, this money is wasted.

Most (sometimes “all”) of the buyers who respond to advertising are known to the agent.

There is a maxim in selling: “Advertising is what salespeople do when they are too lazy to call prospective buyers.”

Make sure your agent makes calls rather than waits for calls. You’ll save money on needless advertising. Plus, you’ll get a better price.

YOU CAN “SELL A SECRET”

Contrary to what [stupid] agents claim, you can “sell a secret”. Indeed, the biggest price – for any product, not just real estate – is when buyers find something secretive. Further, many buyers are conscious of privacy. Security is a big issue. Such buyers shy away from homes where hordes of sticky-beaks have traipsed through.

Only the smartest agents understand that the less you advertise, the more you get.

PAY ON SUCCESS ONLY

The dodgiest businesspeople demand a substantial payment in advance. They know that once the clients know the truth, they will be unhappy. They use glib lines about why clients must pay in advance.

Smart businesspeople have good intentions. They are confident they can make clients happy. They are also confident of success. They say to home sellers: “Pay us nothing until your home is successfully sold.” Most agents won’t make such an offer. But most agents are stupid.

As Earl Nightingale once said, “If honesty did not exist, it would need to be invented because it’s the surest way to succeed in business.”

NOT LIKE AGENTS

The smartest agents are not typical agents. If you find yourself thinking: “This person is nothing like other agents,” maybe you’ve found a “good ‘un”.

Most agents say the same things. They are riddled with cliches. They talk constantly about “the market”. They are vague about price. Or worse, they promise a huge price. Several suggest auction. Yet, as any smart agent knows, with auction, it’s near-impossible to obtain the highest price possible. Unless it’s a private auction, of course.

BUYERS UP NOT SELLERS DOWN

Smart agents are not interested in the lowest price sellers will accept. They focus on the highest price buyers will pay.

To give you an idea of the stupidity in real estate: One Melbourne agent is saying: “The only way to stop under-quoting is to make it compulsory for sellers to reveal their reserve price.”

Like all stupid agents, this bloke is focused on the “sellers’ lowest price”. Smart agents focus on the “Buyers’ Highest Price”. They know how to discover it and how to deliver it to sellers.

IN SUMMARY

Smart agents are the ones you need when you are selling, especially now, when prices in many areas are supposedly “falling”. Don’t make matters worse by hiring a stupid agent.

No matter how long it takes, find a smart agent to sell your home. If it takes you four weeks of interviews to find a smart (or the smartest) agent, it will repay you by several thousand dollars.

Smart agents only – that’s the least you and your family deserve.

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The post THE HIGH PRICE OF STUPID appeared first on Scott Kim.

And sell it for a better price

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/how-to-price-your-home/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

If you want to sell your home for the best price, there is one simple rule you must follow.

Put a price on it.

Never mind what agents tell you, if you fail to display a price; or worse, if you use a ‘price guide’ or a ‘price range’ you will almost certainly under-sell your home.

These days, thousands of sellers are being coerced into under-selling their homes because incompetent or deceitful agents persuade them to conceal the price.

It’s basic Negotiation 101 to display a price. It’s also honest and upfront. Buyers love it.

Be warned: Agents these days will apply enormous pressure to you to convince you to hide the price – or use one of those bait-price strategies. You must resist them. Stay firm. Be determined to sell your home in an honest manner, with no deception.

If getting the best price doesn’t matter to you, if you want a sale at any price, then do what most agents suggest: Hide the price or, advertise a lower price than you will accept.

Of course, your first reaction, when an agent suggests such a strategy, may be: “But we won’t sell for that price.”

Your second reaction may be: “Isn’t it dishonest to advertise a price we won’t accept?”

Well, of course it is dishonest. And illegal. But the real estate industry has managed to con authorities by allowing a “range” of price variances to disguise their deceit. Agents figure out ways to break laws as fast as laws are enacted.

When selling your home, an important point to understand is this: You and the agent have different goals. Your goal is to sell at the best price. The agent’s goal is to sell at any price.

Here is what most sellers fail to grasp: Whether the agent sells your home for a high price or a low price, the agent still gets a high commission.

The lower the price, the easier your home is to sell. And the faster the agent gets paid.

This is why agents are always pushing sellers down in price.

Here is a trap that catches thousands of sellers: Agents say: “Hey, hey, wink-nod, if we advertise a lower price, we will attract more buyers.”

Now, while it is true that a lower price attracts more buyers, here’s what is also true: You attract buyers at a lower price.

The agent then uses the ‘This-is-what-the-market-is-saying’ pitch. But here’s the trap: The agent is looking in the wrong market.

If you want to sell your home for say, $2 million, the first thing you need is a buyer who can afford $2 million. If you advertise it for, say, “$1.7 million to $2.1 million,” you will just attract buyers who offer you $1.7 million. Or even lower.

That’s what most agents want: If your price is lower, they sell your home faster. Pocket the commission and then find their next victim.

Look at all those price ‘ranges’ or ‘guides’ nowadays. How often do buyers see a property advertised “from $2.5 million to $3 million” and offer $3 million? Almost never.

By advertising a lower figure, you force your price lower. Never do it. No matter how good or how slick the agent’s spiel, you are almost always better off with an honest price.

Please realise how frustrating it is for buyers when they see no price or when they are “suckered” with a bait-price. Imagine if you try to buy a car and there are no prices. How would you feel?

What about a fridge or a washing machine? You need a price. If not, you get frustrated.

Here’s a golden rule of negotiation: Never make your customers angry.

With so much deception these days, with many agents failing to give buyers a straight answer, you will attract more buyers – and make them a lot happier – if you display an honest price.

And even if you don’t get as much interest, so what? What’s the point of having lots of interest at an unacceptable price? The only advantage is for the agent who can say: “Look at all this activity, this is what the market is saying, you need to accept this offer, it’s the best you’ll get.”

Rubbish.

Many times, agents tell sellers that an offer is “the best you’ll get”; the sellers hold out and, sure enough, the home gets sold for a higher price later.

Be wary of agents who say, “If you put a price on a property, you can only go down.” This shows their lack of skill at negotiation. If you display a price and two buyers wish to buy at that price, you can ask each buyer to make their best offer. You accept the best offer. Recently, an agency that always displays prices, reportedly sold more than half their properties in one month above the asking prices. They are constantly selling similar properties for more than other agents in their area.

Do not be frightened of selling too low by displaying a price. But, again, be careful that you do not leave it too high for too long. If an agent has done everything possible to find a buyer, then you can gently reduce your asking price – until you find a buyer.

Also, be wary of the “more buyers” trap. Agents constantly talk about “more buyers” or “more enquiries”; but how many buyers do you need? Just one. The best paying one.

And, believe it, agents who display prices are always finding that one best paying buyer. They are getting far better client satisfaction – without fake reviews (the latest big scam with agents) – and, best of all their sellers are getting great prices.

So, how do you decide what price to display?

Well, if you are lucky enough to find an agent you trust, this agent will guide you.

If not, invest a few hundred dollars and hire an independent reputable valuer, one with no connection to agents. Overall, valuers are more honest than agents. In addition, valuers do not have a vested interest in inflating the price. You pay them regardless of the price they value your home.

Michael Kies from South Australia is one of the most honest and competent agents in Australia. In his real estate career, he averaged 11 sales per month for a dozen years. He is now a respected real estate trainer. Recently he made a comment that is echoed by thousands of consumers: “The real estate world has gone mad”. He was referring to the madness of price ‘ranges’ and the damage it does to sellers, most of whom never realise what’s happening.

Michael never used deception to make his sales. As a great negotiator, he knows that a fair starting price is the best way to get a great finishing price.

It’s true: If you want to sell your home for the best price, the best rule is to put a price on it.

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The post HOW TO PRICE YOUR HOME appeared first on Scott Kim.

Don’t let them take your money.

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/lazy-real-estate-agents/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading time: 6 mins apx

Zac is a Sydney schoolteacher, one of the best. Zac cares about the children with whom he spends each day. Indeed, he cares so much that he takes extra courses (outside the school or Education Department) on how to be a better teacher. Given how much his students admire him, Zac is certainly a successful teacher. Yes, surely one of the best.

As well as teaching subjects in the school curriculum, Zac also teaches children how to live a good life. His pupils learn values such as honesty, industry, and responsibility.

“Zac’s kids” are the best-behaved kids in the school. That makes Zac proud.

Zac is the sort of teacher that children remember all their lives. He is influencing hundreds of future citizens.

Well done, Zac. You – and teachers like you – are hidden heroes in society. Being a teacher is not easy in the 2020s, which is why teachers are among the most trusted of all the professions.

Unlike real estate agents who are now the least trusted of all the professions.

Last week, Zac decided to sell an investment apartment in Sydney’s western suburbs.

He contacted the agent who’d been collecting his rent for several years.

MEET ZAC’S LAZY AGENT

The agent told Zac his apartment was worth around $850,000. After paying out his loan, Zac and his wife would need a bigger loan to buy a family home. Sydney prices are high, especially on a teacher’s wage.

Zac asked about the agent’s costs. The commission was 2.5 per cent, a little steep, but Zac remained tight-lipped.

But then the agent said Zac must pay $4,500 for “marketing costs”.

Zac was shocked. He had previously sold two properties without paying marketing expenses – or indeed any costs – before a sale.

The agent replied: “How long since you last sold a property?”

“About ten years,” said Zac.

“Ah well,” said the agent. “Things have changed.” The agent smugly said that sellers now pay marketing costs – usually thousands of dollars – when they list their properties. Regardless of whether their properties sell, marketing costs still get paid.

Zac said he didn’t feel comfortable.

The agent was ambivalent. “That’s the way it is,” he repeated. “It’s the policy with most agents.”

AGENTS’ POLICY OR CLIENTS’ POLICY

Zac had researched the real estate industry. He’d read articles including one from this author on the topic of “company policy”, a common term used to shut-down dissent from customers in many industries. Fair or unfair, doesn’t matter. Company policy is company policy.

But $4,500 is a lot for a schoolteacher. It would take Zac and his wife at least three months to save such an amount. Zac’s prudent nature was not going to allow him to pay $4,500 without a valid reason.

Like many savvy consumers – in today’s treacherous business world – Zac and his wife have set their own ‘Family Policy’.

They had heard about agents who offer “No charges until sold,” and that’s the policy they embraced.

Zac had also heard about an agent in Melbourne called Scott Kim.

HARD-WORKING AGENTS

Despite their dreadful reputation for dishonesty and now, as Zac was discovering, their laziness, there are some agents – albeit a minority – who are scrupulously honest and who do work hard for clients. Best of all, these agents never charge for marketing or commission until two results are achieved: First, a property is sold at the highest price. And second, when sellers are happy.

Scott Kim is such an agent. Even though he works in Melbourne, his work ethic can apply to any agent in Australia.

When Scott listed an investment apartment, instead of asking sellers to pay thousands of dollars in [needless] marketing costs, Scott used another method to find the right buyer.

That method is hard work – something that’s anathema to most agents today.

Here’s what Scott did…

Knowing his agency managed properties for hundreds of investors, Scott telephoned investors and asked if they’d be interested in another investment property.

After just 25 calls, Scott had 14 investors interested. He made five appointments. Within two days, he had two buyers offering an enormous price – far above the price for similar apartments in the same area marketed on websites.

This is exactly what Zac’s agent could have (and should have) done. Instead of asking a schoolteacher on a meagre salary to pay $4,500 for marketing expenses so that this lazy agent could sit on his bottom and wait for buyers to call, the agent should have done what agents used to do (yes, ten years ago when Zac last sold).

LAZY AGENTS COST THOUSANDS OF NEEDLESS DOLLARS

Things sure have changed. Agents have become greedier. All over Australia, agents now ask sellers to fork out thousands of dollars in marketing expenses (in addition to commission) purportedly to “find buyers”.

But agents have prospective buyers. For investment properties, many agents have hundreds of investors for whom they collect rent. They should contact these investors before asking sellers to waste thousands of dollars in needless marketing costs.

As anyone who understands the real estate industry knows, the purpose of real estate marketing is not to promote properties, it’s to promote agents – lazy agents.

It’s not just investment properties where agents expect sellers to fund their laziness, it’s all properties. Here is what happens all over the country:

A home seller calls an agent. The agent persuades (cons) that seller to pay thousands of dollars in marketing costs – let’s say $5,000 (often much more). The agent advertises the home and sits at an open-inspection for 30 minutes on Saturday.

Let’s say – in three weeks – 200 people inspect that home.

The home is then sold – to one person.

That means 199 people inspected the home and did not buy it. Sure, many will be sticky beaks, but many will be prospective buyers for other local homes.

The next week the agent gets a call from another homeowner in the next street. Again, the agent persuades (cons) the second sellers to fork out $5,000 for marketing costs.

And guess what?

The same people who inspected the first property now inspect the second property.

Obviously, the agent should have called all the surplus buyers from the other property before asking the second sellers to pay $5,000 to attract the same buyers.

ZAC INVOKES HIS FAMILY POLICY

Zac told his agent: “It is out family policy to pay nothing until our property sells. We suggest you contact your current investors or prospective buyers before you ask us to waste thousands of dollars. If you do not want to accept our policy, we will find an agent who does accept our family policy.”

Like many sellers, Zac was too polite to say something else.

Such as: The average commission in Australia is now about $20,000. Commissions have risen about seven times higher than the average wage (yes, including schoolteachers). On average, an agent spends four hours to sell a property – most of which is spent conditioning sellers down in price. To earn $20,000 for four hours, is $5,000 per hour.

To demand another $5,000 in addition to the $20,000, well, as many sellers – including Zac – are now saying: “It’s obscene.”

Well-informed sellers are now looking for agents who are smart enough to realise that placing the interests of clients first is good business. Everywhere else in the world (except NZ) agents have one charge. It’s called commission and it’s only paid when a home is sold.

Your family policy should be this: Never pay any money to any agent – especially for “marketing costs” before your property is sold and you are happy.

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FOOTNOTE: Although Zac’s rental agent belongs to a network with the slogan: “We put you first,” Zac realised that this lazy agent was putting his family a distant second. Let’s hope Zac teaches his pupils how to use prudence and character to stand up to lazy agents. And let’s hope Zac’s story becomes an example and an inspiration to thousands of property sellers, thereby collectively saving them tens of millions of dollars every year. Don’t let agents take money that will take you months to save. If $5,000 an hour is not enough for agents, then not only are they lazy, they are also greedy. And worst of all, by not doing what’s best for their clients, is stupid.

Lazy, greedy, stupid – the three characteristics of so many agents today.

But not for you.

Find a hard-working, decent and smart agent. Someone like Scott Kim – or like Zac the schoolteacher. People of character. Not con artists.

Finally, if you can’t find an agent who’ll agree to such a fair condition, contact us at Jenman Support on support@jenman.com.au. We will find you a good agent. If not, we will show you how to sell without an agent.

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The post LAZY REAL ESTATE AGENTS appeared first on Scott Kim.

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/sell-your-home-for-a-good-price-in-a-bad-market/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading Time: 5.5 mins apx

If you’re selling your home, the first thing you’ll likely hear in many areas (not all) right now is that “the market is bad”. Or that “prices have dropped”.

And who will give you that sad and bad news?

Probably a real estate agent, that’s who.

Now, before you cave-in and accept a lower price for your home, there are eight important points you should consider – points you are unlikely to be told by most agents.

POINT 1 – HOUSES ARE NOT SHARES

The real estate market is not like the stock market – not even close. And yet, the way statistics are released, you’d think it’s a forgone conclusion – when you hear that property prices are down, that your house must be down too.

Well no, not necessarily.

Unlike the stock market, where shares in the same company are identical and the price is set by whatever price buyers are currently paying for that stock, the real estate market is different. In real estate, most properties – especially family homes – are different from each other.

So, just because the average price of homes in your area have dropped, it does not necessarily mean your price must drop.

Especially if you have a good home in a sought-after area.

POINT 2 – GOOD HOMES ARE ALWAYS IN DEMAND

Good homes are like good life-partners. They are always in demand. Ask any agent – in a forceful manner, if you must – and most will admit that the best homes in the best streets always get the best prices.

In a bad market, good homes are resilient to the price falls of lesser quality homes – especially in the hands of good agents.

POINT 3 – GOOD AGENTS GET GOOD PRICES FOR GOOD HOMES

Just as there are good homes and bad homes, there are good agents and bad agents.

Right now, the first thing that bad agents are doing is telling sellers – all sellers – that prices have dropped. These agents are lazy. They don’t even try to get sellers a good price.

Bad agents have a blanket policy of charging all sellers several thousand dollars for marketing costs – regardless of whether such costs are needed. Bad agents put themselves first, not their sellers.

When a market is supposedly falling – as is happening now – it is more important than ever to steer clear of bad agents when selling your home.

Quite simply, bad agents get bad prices.

Good agents get good prices.

Or, at the very least, a good agent will work hard to get a good price in any market.

So, if you are fortunate enough to own a good home, a good agent is your best chance – indeed your only chance – of getting a good price.

POINT 4 – TAKE THE TIME TO FIND A GOOD AGENT

It’s always been true when selling property that a good agent can make an enormous difference to the final price of a property. So don’t rush when choosing an agent.

It’s far better to spend three or four weeks searching for a good agent than three or four months stuck with a bad agent.

In a bad market you simply can’t afford to hire a bad agent.

POINT 5 – AGENTS GET PAID AT ANY PRICE

Two words dictate almost everything in the real estate world – “commission only”. Unless the agent sells your home, the agent gets no commission. Therefore the main focus of most agents is to sell your home.

The name of the game for agents is sell at any price. Agents get a hefty commission for selling your home at any price. So any price becomes their aim.

So, if you want a great price, you need to resist the pressure from agents to lower your price, to accept low offers.

POINT 6 – PUSH QUALITY NOT PRICE

The biggest mistake made by agents is focusing on the price. It’s as if they have a one-track mind that can only think about price.

But price is rarely the main reason buyers buy a home. Buyers buy a home because they like the home. Indeed, if you own a lovely home and buyers fall in love with your home, they will gladly pay you a good price.

So, make sure that the agent pushes the features and benefits of your home, not the price.

POINT 7 – KEEP CONTROL OF YOUR AGENT

Agents love “controlled listings”. This means the sellers have signed a Listing Agreement (a legally binding contract) with the agent that contains horrendous clauses. Such clauses – known as “nasties” – are rarely discovered until after the sellers have signed up.

You can’t afford to let an agent control you in any market, especially a falling market. You must control the agent.

To keep control, never sign-up with an agent on the spot. Ask them to leave their “paperwork” with you and then read through it. You’ll soon spot the “nasties”. You then inform the agent that, unless those nasty clauses are deleted you will not be using their agency.

Control is vital if you want to sell your home for a good price.

POINT 8 – AVOID LOCKED-IN CONTRACTS

The biggest regret of home sellers, especially in a tough market, is being stuck with a bad agent. It is vital, therefore, that, unless you have an escape clause, you never sign-up with an agent for more than 30 days at a time.

At the end of each 30-day period, if you are happy with the agent, you can extend the agreement for another 30 days. And so on.

Finally, just because other sellers – who may be in different financial positions to you or whose homes are totally different to yours – have reduced their price, it does not automatically mean you should reduce your price.

If you have a good home you should still be able to get a good price. At the very least, have a good try at getting a good result.

Sellers who try hard and stay strong often get the best results.

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The post HOW TO SELL YOUR HOME FOR A GOOD PRICE IN A BAD MARKET appeared first on Scott Kim.

A classic mistake of many home sellers

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/dont-focus-on-faults/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading time 3 mins apx

Famed psychologist (and lover of Ayn Rand) Nathaniel Branden, once wrote: “Of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.”

The same applies to home sellers.

If you’re about to sell your home, don’t make a common mistake: Don’t focus on faults.

Homes are like people, none are perfect. But consider this: When you bought your home, you didn’t buy it because of its faults. You bought it because you liked (perhaps loved) it. Sure, you may have been aware of faults. But these were immaterial alongside the benefits.

So it should be when you sell.

But when it comes time to sell, the first thing many sellers do is point out the faults of their home. They are like dodgy characters making a confession. But home sellers are seldom dodgy, they are usually fair people who want to treat others fairly – the classic “do unto others” types.

Yet here’s the problem: Most of the people with whom sellers deal are not friends. Many are not even fair, especially most agents. Most agents don’t care about your sale price – they just want your home sold low enough to get a fast enough sale to get their commission and make the [often overdue] payment on their flash cars.

When you focus on faults, you give agents a perfect excuse to talk you down in price.

Sure, sellers may feel they are being honest by discussing their home’s faults. But agents often treat them as chumps. “A fool and his money are soon parted”, as the saying goes. It’s true. Don’t be foolish. Don’t focus on the faults of your home.

No one is suggesting you cover-up faults, especially something major that could severely impact your sale price. It’s obvious faults (if you must call them “faults”) that you have no need to highlight.

Believe it, the agents – and the buyers – will soon tell you all that’s wrong with your home.

So, if you don’t stick up for your home, if you don’t accentuate its positive points, who will do it for you? The agents? Rarely. The buyers? Hardly.

TURN NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES.

Rather than focus on faults, do what good agents do: Turn negatives into positives – or, at the very least, play them down.

For example, if your home is on a busy road, don’t say, “I know we are on a busy road.” Wait until agents or buyers say to you, “But your home is on a busy road.” You might then reply, “But it’s only busy in peak hours. At nights and weekends, it’s much quieter.”

Or if your home backs onto a railway line. Some buyers – especially grown-up little boys (men) – love trains. They fondly remember a model train set from childhood. There is something about the sound of a travelling train that triggers a warm sensation in some (usually male) buyers.

To any negative that’s pointed out to you about your home, you should reply: “That’s why it’s priced so reasonably.”

Yes, if your home was perfect, if it had no faults, if it was everyone’s idea of a dream home, you might get double the price. But who owns such a home? Almost no one.

LIST THE FEATURES YOU LOVE.

Instead of focusing on the faults of your home, here’s what to do: Prepare what’s known as a ‘Love List’. On this list – which can be headed ‘Reasons We Love Our Home (and you may do the same)’ write down as many positives as possible.

In the 42 Rules of Real Estate Negotiation, Rule Number 8 is called ‘Positives”. It reads as follows:

Research has shown that asking yourself positive questions (that can only be answered by ‘yes’) before you start to negotiate, increases the chance of a successful negotiation by at least 35 percent.

Skilled negotiators always start on a positive note. They are genuine (never phoney) about positive points they feel will lead to a successful negotiation. For example, if there is one major reason buyers really want a home – such as it being near a favourite school – the agent will often say, especially in response to any negative points made by buyers – “Yes, but it’s close to the school you want your children to attend.”

When buyers show concern about the price of a home, a skilled negotiator will ask a positive question about one of the buyers’ favourite features, such as, “But surely it’s worth this price to be near the school you want?”

If a negotiation is allowed to focus on too many negative features, buyers soon forget the main reasons they like the home. A skilled negotiator never lets buyers forget why they like a home.

Good negotiators know a fact of homeownership: buyers never regret buying a home they love.

A good negotiator will have no qualms in asking a question such as: “Where would you rather live for the next 20 years: In a ‘this’ll do’ home or in a home you love?” The more positive a negotiation, the more likely it is that buyers will pay their highest price.

DON’T SHORT-SELL YOUR HOME.

No one is asking you to deceive or cheat buyers. But don’t cheat yourself by focusing on the worst features of your home. As the psychologist, Nathaniel Branden, urges: Have a high opinion yourself and your home. Don’t short-change yourself.

As mentioned, you are going to be assailed by all sorts of reasons why the faults in your home mean its price should be lower.

But here’s your response:

To an agent – “If you don’t like my home, what hope have I got of liking the price you get?”

To buyers – “If you don’t like my home, buy another home.”

How can a home be sold for a great price without great enthusiasm? It can’t. Indeed, one of the truisms in the sales world is this: Selling is the transference of enthusiasm.

If homeowners aren’t enthusiastic about their own home, how can others be enthusiastic? Don’t make the only factor that excites buyers about your home become the low price. That hurts.

Focus on what you love about your home. Let buyers know they are likely to spend many happy years in this home. If you (or your agent) can convince buyers to fall in love with your home, that’s your best chance of getting the best price.

As another saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.” And when buyers love a home, when they focus on its positives, that’s when they’ll offer you the best possible price. Wallets follow hearts.

Don’t focus on faults. Focus on positives.

As a seller you need to stand up to people who point out the faults of your home. Don’t join them. Don’t collaborate to sabotage your sale price.

If your home is a home worth loving, surely it’s worth the best price.

Good luck to you.

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The post DON’T FOCUS ON FAULTS appeared first on Scott Kim.

Enough is enough. SAY NO TO VPA.

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/national-home-sellers-strike/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading Time: Depends how serious you are. Max 7 mins

WARNING (to self): This article will make agents hate me (more than they do now). I don’t care. I only care about the home sellers of Australia, most of whom are overcharged by thousands of dollars each.

Are you a homeowner?

Do you like getting scammed?

Of course not.

Well, here’s a fact: Most of Australia’s home sellers are scammed. Yes, that’s right – thousands of decent and trusting family homeowners are being over-charged – deliberately and ruthlessly – when they place their homes for sale.

And this scam is unique to Australia.

In all other countries in the world, home sellers are not scammed like this.

The scam is known as VPA. It stands for Vendor Paid Advertising.

So, let me be clear about something: You, as the homeowner, should not be paying for advertising your home.

There are dozens of reasons why you must say NO to this awful con job. For every argument that any agent can give to any home seller about why home sellers should pay the cost of advertising their home, I can promise you this: I can destroy that argument.

VPA is a rip off.

And it’s time that you – all the homeowners of Australia – said NO.

It’s time you went on strike.

And by ‘strike’, I mean this: If you are selling your home and the agent will not agree to do what agents do in all other countries of the world – include the cost of any advertising in the cost of the commission – then you must say NO.

No, I will not permit myself and my family to be scammed with VPA.

Vendor Paid Advertising. Whoever thought up this scheme?

Well, the real estate agents – and the advertisers – of course.

OUT OF CONTROL PRICE INCREASES

Get this: Over the past 25 years, the cost of real estate advertising in Australia has increased by around ONE HUNDRED TIMES.

A home used to be able to be advertised on-line (or in a newspaper) for around $50.

Today, thousands of home sellers are forced (sold, conned, duped) to pay $5,000 or more.

Yes, for one ad on the Internet.

Recently, I read a terrific book (I wrote one too – hopefully).

That terrific book is called ‘HOW THEY GET YOU’.

It’s written by a young, smart and respected finance journalist called Chris Kohler (son of the much-admired ABC finance presenter, Alan Kohler).

Here’s what Chris says about home sellers being asked to pay thousands of dollars in advertising in addition to tens of thousands of dollars in commission…

“What vendors can and should say [to their agent] is: ‘Okay, I’ll pay you 2 per cent of the sale price, but I want that to include marketing costs.”

Chris Kohler – and every journo or advocate who cares about home sellers – understands this: Sellers should not pay advertising costs PLUS commission.

And they certainly should NEVER agree to pay advertising costs if their homes are not sold.

Here’s what happens to thousands of sellers: An agent entices sellers to sell by quoting them, say, $2 million for their home. Once they sign-up, the agent starts the “conditioning”. That means talking the sellers down in price. The sellers become annoyed and decide not to sell.

The agent then slugs them thousands of dollars in advertising costs.

Only in Australia does this happen.

HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.

I see this happening all the time. And usually to the most decent and trusting and hard-working people in society.

It makes my blood boil. It breaks my heart.

And here’s what really annoys me. The agent says, “Oh but it’s your house, it’s only fair you pay for advertising.” To good – and naïve and inexperienced – homeowners this sounds fair enough – “My house, I pay for the ads for my house”.

But there is so much that most sellers do not know. Least of all they don’t know that all these slick lines trotted out by the agents are just that – slick lines.

Sleazy sophistry dressed up as sound and sensible advice.

It’s not good advice. It’s unethical. It’s unfair. And it’s a massive scam.

WHOM DO YOU TRUST?

If you are a homeowner, I ask you to make a choice: First, do you trust the agents (backed by the billion-dollar advertising website) who are coercing you to pay 100 TIMES MORE than you should be paying…

OR second, do you trust people like me, Neil Jenman, or other advocates or even a few agents (maybe 5 per cent of them) who are fervently opposed to the VPA scam?

The average commission on the sale of the average home in most capital cities is now more than THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.

Seriously, $30,000 to sell one house?!

HOUSES “SELL” THEMSELVES!

There is less than ten hours work in “selling” any house. As another observer, David Kaity, will tell you: REAL ESTATE AGENTS DON’T SELL HOUSES.

That’s the title of his book. He’s right.

Houses sell themselves.

The only “sell” in the real estate world is the selling of home sellers to pay massive amounts of money to sell (or not sell) their homes.

Yes, because even when their homes do not sell, thousands of sellers lose thousands of dollars each in needless advertising costs.

The aim of most real estate advertising is not to promote your home and find buyers. Agents already have buyers on their books.

No, the real reason they are scamming you for around $5,000 (often more) for advertising is because they are promoting themselves. They are using your money to promote their “brand” or “increase their profile”.

Don’t fall for it, home sellers.

When it comes to Vendor Paid Advertising (VPA), I urge Australia’s home sellers to STRIKE.

Refuse to pay for advertising.

Tell the agent that you will pay commission, sure; but only when your home is sold and you are happy with the price and the service.

Let’s change the letters VPA to APA – the way it is in the rest of the world. The way it used to be before insatiable greed consumed Australia’s real estate world.

APA stands for Agent Paid Advertising.

If the agent insists on advertising (if it is needed, which it often isn’t), let them pay for it.

See how they like it when they are asked to pay $5,000 for an online advertisement.

After all, they are going to get $30,000 (or more) in commission.

To borrow a quip from Bob Geldof, I have a question for every agent: “Is $30,000 not enough for you?”

So, my plea to all of Australia’s home sellers is this: Go on STRIKE. Don’t be scammed with the VPA scam.

If you can’t find a good agent who will agree to drop the VPA, then drop the agent. Sell your house without an agent. It’s not hard to do better than most agents.

My name is Neil Jenman. Today (the day of this article) is my birthday. And my present to you is this article that will save you thousands of dollars PROVIDED THAT YOU STRIKE.

Say ‘NO WAY TO VPA’.

And, if you can’t find a good and honest agent who will drop the VPA, let me know. I will gladly help you to find you a good agent.

I will write more about this VPA (Vendor Paid Advertising) scam. Follow me, please. If you don’t already subscribe to receive our Real Estate Alerts, please do.

Neil Jenman

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The post NATIONAL HOME SELLERS STRIKE appeared first on Scott Kim.

How to protect your valuable asset.

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/what-are-you-thinking/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

The author Earl Nightingale once told how the famous philosopher, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, on a visit to London was asked by a journalist: “What’s wrong with people today?”

The doctor paused for a moment and said: “The trouble with people today is that they simply don’t think.”

This question was asked in the early 1950s. It’s just as relevant today. Especially for those who place importance on their financial assets.

Imagine something for a moment if you will. Think about something.

Imagine your most important financial asset, probably your family home.

Now, imagine you looked at the value of your home as if it was money – cash in the bank.

These days, the average Australian home has a value of a little more than a million dollars.

So, imagine your home is worth at least a million dollars. Think about this money, it’s ten thousand one-hundred-dollar notes. Imagine it in a suitcase.

This is your money. Your million dollars – or more.

How important is this money to you – on a scale of one to 100 with 100 being the highest level of importance?

Is your million dollars worth 100 out of 100 in importance? If you are prudent, hopefully your money, your million dollars (or more) is highly important to you.

Okay, so now that you have agreed that your home is ranked as high as it’s possible to rank an asset – one hundred out of one hundred – imagine something else.

Imagine handing control of your most important financial asset to someone who is completely and utterly untrustworthy – a scoundrel who has one goal – to exploit you as much as possible.

And, in doing so, someone who will greatly damage the value of your home.

This person belongs to a group of people who are distrusted by 95 out of every hundred people.

And imagine you have only known this person about 90 minutes. Maybe even less.

And then, of course, imagine this…

Having given control of your most important financial asset to someone you should not have trusted, that person runs true to type and damages the value of your asset.

Imagine their incompetence, their lack of honesty and their untrustworthiness literally translates into you damaging the value of your asset, your family home.

It causes you to lose at least one hundred thousand dollars.

Think about your friends or your family members – people you love deeply and trust totally – imagine you told them that you gave control of your greatest financial asset to someone who’s distrusted by 95 per cent of the population.

And this decision had caused you to lose somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000.

They would probably ask you:

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!!

The correct answer, sadly, would be: “I wasn’t thinking.”

This is what happens to thousands of home-owners every week in Australia. When it’s time for these owners to become home-sellers, they give control of their home to a real estate agent.

Ninety-five per cent of people do not trust real estate agents. And for good reason. Most agents – about 95 per cent – cannot be trusted.

This is why most home-sellers under-sell their homes. Some lose hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Far more home-sellers under-sell their homes than sell their homes for the full value.

Why?

Because they trusted someone who did not deserve to be trusted. They trusted one of today’s typical agents, a group of people who have never been more distrusted.

And deservedly so.

Almost all of today’s home-sellers lose money in three ways.

First, they pay too much in commission, far too much.

Second, they are massively ripped-off by a system called VPA which means “Vendor Promotes Agent” in which agents convince sellers to pay thousands of dollars to promote their homes when the main reason is to promote the agent and find more victims (sellers) for the agents.

And the third way home-sellers lose money is the worst. It’s through under-selling their homes – on average by around ten per cent of their home’s value.

It happens to most sellers.

The reason is simple: Most sellers deal with agents who can not and should not be trusted.

Oh, to be sure, these agents – especially the worst – are so convincing. The sellers know that agents are dodgy, they have heard stories, they have read polls, they know. But then, when an agent gives them the pitch (the “con”), the sellers fall for it.

Hook, line, and sinker.

They seem to abandon thought. After all, this agent seems so convincing, so trustworthy.

Here’s a warning to all home-owners who are thinking of becoming home-sellers.

Forget what you see, forget what you hear. Focus on one factor alone: What an agent does.

It’s what they DO that signifies whether they are among the five per cent who can be trusted or the 95 per cent who will cause you to lose tens of thousands of dollars.

Here is how to recognise agents you can trust:

1 They never ask you for money in advance of your home being sold.

2. You only pay them when your home is sold, and you are happy with the price.

3. They never ask you to sign-up without leaving their listing agreement (“contract”) with you so that you can read the fine print in your own good time.

4. They allow you to delete nasty clauses in their listing agreements.

5. They allow you to negotiate their commission up to the point of sale.

6. They allow you to cancel their selling agreement if you are not happy with them.

7. They never use any deceptive selling strategies – such as “bait pricing”.

8. They are open seven days – buyers love to inspect homes on weekends.

9. They GUARANTEE their quotes and their performance.

10. They are great negotiators. Just ask them and if you’re not impressed, don’t hire them.

11. They are not “Hollywood agents”. They focus on you not them. They are courteous.

12. They will allow you to sign-up for an initial trial period of 30 days only.

Keep this list handy. Think about it. Use it to measure the worth of any agent who is pushing to sell your home.

And please, be careful of fake reviews. Look at Rate My Agent, and think about something, please. If credible research shows that 95 per cent of people do not trust agents, why does Rate My Agent look as if 99 per cent of people love real estate agents.

Yes, think.

And please, never say you can’t find an agent with these 12 ‘TRUST QUALITIES’.

Think please. Your home is your greatest asset.

If an agent says they can be trusted, never mind their words, look at what they do. Do they agree to give you all of these 12 ‘TRUST QUALITIES’?

If not, why not?

Henry Ford once said: “Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.”

So, please THINK before you sign.

Protect your greatest asset. Hire an agent you can trust.

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The post WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? appeared first on Scott Kim.

HOW MOST HOME SELLERS GET TRAPPED!

by  Neil Jenman

Article written and provided by Neil Jenman from Jenman.com.au . To see the original source of this article please click here. https://jenman.com.au/danger-exclusive-means-excluded/. Neil Jenman is Australia’s trusted consumer crusader. He can support you, all the way, from choosing an agent who will get you the highest price guaranteed to when your removalist comes! You get an unprecedented level of total support. All for free. To find out more visit jenman.com.au

Reading Time: Apx 9 minutes

If you are selling your home, you need to learn a tip to save you thousands of dollars. It’s simple and easy to use. And yet, probably 99 out of one hundred home-sellers would never use this tip. They’ve probably never heard of it.

Here’s a fact home sellers probably do know: Most agents get paid too much for doing too little. Very few agents spend more than ten hours “working” to sell any home. And yet the average commission on the average sale by the average agent is near $20,000.

That’s two thousand dollars an hour. More than cardiologists. Or barristers. More than the Prime Minister and the state premiers – collectively. Check it yourself. It’s true.

If that’s not insulting enough, consider this: Most estate agents are paid more than rocket scientists – on an hourly rate.

Okay, but, as many sellers say: “At least our house sold, and we can get on with our lives.”

But what if the agent did not sell your house? What if someone else sold it? Or what if there was no “selling” – maybe one of your relatives bought it?

How would you feel paying $20,000 for nothing?

WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO PAY AGENTS FOR DOING NOTHING?

Here’s a hypothetical scenario: You sell your home to a mate. No agents. Lawyers handle it all. But your local agent is not getting a massive commission. And that makes you feel bad. So, you decide to pay the agent anyway.

Give it some thought – that flash European beast roaring down streets in your neighbourhood with your local agent at the wheel, it’s leased. And lease payments are not cheap. Nor is cocaine (so I hear).

The agent has expenses, you know.

Got it? Good.

So, you call your local agent and say: “Hey Nigel, I sold my home, no agent. Even though you didn’t sell it. Even though I did the “work”, I want you to be paid, mate. I calculated, based on $1.5 million – that’s $30,000 in commission you didn’t get. I am going to give that to you.”

Money for nothing to the agent.

How does this sound?

What kind of home seller would pay an agent $30,000 for absolutely nothing?

Silly? Naïve?

How about “totally out-of-their-mind”.

Yes, that’s better.

You’d have to be near crazy to pay an agent thousands of dollars for nothing.

Wouldn’t you?

Really?

Well, brace yourself…

MOST SELLERS ALLOW AGENTS TO DO NOTHING AND GET PAID!

Thousands of home sellers give agents permission to be paid for nothing. Yes, that’s right, when any seller signs an “Exclusive Selling Agency Agreement” they give the agent the right to be paid for nothing.

If the sellers later realise the horrific unfairness of what they did – and say to the agent: “Hang on mate, you did nothing, therefore you’ll get nothing,” – look out.

The agents will drag the sellers into court, force them to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees, and create stress on the sellers that reduces them to quivering wrecks.

Don’t think this doesn’t happen. Even the fact that it can happen – to nearly every seller who signs up with every agent – is enough to give all sellers sleepless nights. So it should.

Imagine agreeing to sell your family home to, say, one of your children. And then an agent with whom you signed an “exclusive agreement” demands $30,000 (or more). In addition, the agent places a caveat on your home. A caveat stops you selling your home to anyone until you pay the agent who had nothing to do with selling your home.

All because you signed an exclusive selling agency agreement.

DANGER DANGER DANGER

Here is what happens to 99 per cent of home sellers:

They give the agent total control over the sale of their home.
No matter how much (or how little) work is done by the agent, one thing is 100% certain – when the home sells, the agent gets full commission.
You, as owners, can no longer sell your home to anyone without paying agents their full commission. None of your relatives can buy your home without you paying tens of thousands of dollars to the agent.

But surely, you may think: This is so unfair.

Get real please. Real estate is not based upon what is fair, right, or ethical. It’s based on what is legal.

Yes, L-E-G-A-L, that’s all that matters.

SOLE AGENCY IS YOUR SOLE PROTECTION!

Let’s keep you safe.

Instead of signing an “Exclusive Selling Agency Agreement” you should sign a “Sole Agency Agreement”.

A sole agency means exactly what it says – you give your home to one agent only. Now, that’s probably what you intended when you signed an “Exclusive Selling Agency Agreement”. But, by giving an agent the “exclusive rights” to sell your home, you remove your own rights.

Is that what you intended?

Did you intend to pay an agent if a relative or a friend bought your home – and the agent did nothing? Surely not.

But that’s what almost all sellers do these days.

An “exclusive” agreement should be called an “EXCLUDED Agreement” – because you, as the owners, are forced to pay full commission no matter who buys your home. Thousands of dollars.

If you ask most sellers: “What’s the difference between an Exclusive Agency Agreement and a Sole Agency Agreement?” they won’t know the answer.

Indeed, many sellers think an Exclusive Agency and a Sole Agency are the same. They think it means they are hiring one agent and excluding other agents.

And that’s true.

Except that, with an Exclusive Agreement, as well as excluding other agents, the sellers are also excluded.

And that is NOT what most sellers intended to do.

Most sellers do not want to give up all their rights – especially to an agent they hardly know – and be forced to pay thousands of dollars no matter what. Even if the agents are rude, hard to contact, never give proper feedback, the sellers must put up with it. There’s nothing sellers can do once they sign an exclusive agreement – other than hope the agent turns out okay.

But why take a dangerous risk?

WHO DO YOU TRUST MORE – YOURSELF OR THE AGENT?

If you feel that you and your family are more trustworthy than the agent, do not give all control to the agent. Do not give up your own rights. Do not exclude yourself from being able to sell your own home.

No one knows the future. You might meet someone at a bus stop. You might strike up a conversation with a stranger. Next thing they want to buy your home. They are sure buyers. But something else is sure: You can’t sell your home to them as you have signed-away your rights. You must pay the agent. For doing nothing.

It gets worse.

Most agents have buyers known to them. These buyers do regular business with the agents. They are close to one other. This means agents favour certain buyers – all based on the quid-pro-quo of what buyers do for agents later, probably as sellers. Most agents do what’s best for agents.

So, do not give up all your rights. Do not ‘bench’ yourself.

THAT DREADFUL WORD – “EXCLUSIVE”

The danger for sellers is the word “Exclusive”.

To keep themselves safe, sellers must reject the “Exclusive Selling Agreement”. Instead, they should sign a Sole Agency Agreement. Or an Open Agreement (another topic).

Unlike an Exclusive Agency, a Sole Agency allows sellers to keep important rights. Such as the right to sell to someone known to them – a relative or friend, perhaps – without paying an agent who has done nothing.

NOW YOU CAN EASILY SPOT GOOD OR BAD AGENTS!

Good agents will have no issues with a Sole Agency. But bad agents want total control over you. They’ll make such laughable statements as: “But what if the sellers cheat us?”

Cheats are people who expect the world to act like them. “I cheat so therefore you must cheat too. Who has the blackest heart? The darkest thoughts?”

If an agent won’t agree to a Sole Agency instead of an Exclusive Selling Agency, then such agent is not worth considering. Almost certainly a crook.

Any decent agent should be proud to be chosen as the Sole Agent for a home. Agents who truly places the interests of sellers first will be honoured. Only crooks will complain.

So, there it is – an ever-so simple, but powerful way of protecting yourself when selling your home. A sole agency gives you security denied to most sellers.

It’s what should happen with all sellers.

DON’T SIGN UNLESS YOU’RE SAFE. PLEASE. FOR YOUR SAKE!

Be careful with the one thing over which you have complete control – your signature. Don’t sign anything until you are sure that you are safe.

With you keeping your fundamental rights, you stand the best chance of getting the best result when selling your home.

As a bonus, you’ll feel less stressed. You see, almost all stress is caused by people being in positions where they feel they have no control.

An Exclusive Agency gives control to agents. That’s why agents call these listings “controlled listings”.

A Sole Agency gives most control to sellers. Where it belongs.

So, if you are a home seller, ask yourself one question: In whom do I have the most trust to do the fair and ethical thing – the agent or myself?

If you are more trustworthy than the agent, never sign an Exclusive Selling Agency.

Insist on a Sole Agency.

If not, then remember three words: Don’t Sign Anything!

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