Even More Reasons Why You Might Change Agents, Balancing The Correction & Origin Glory
I’ve lost count of the number of news stories of ‘doom and gloom’ about the property market that I’ve read over the past week.
Every economist with a pulse seems to have a dire prediction…and you’d swear that each have a bet on who can have the most dramatic opinion published.
What I’ve never understood about property peaks and troughs is that many forget the net effect over a certain timeframe.
In other words, there are many that seems to be predicting Brisbane median prices to ‘plummet’ by 20% and there’s plenty that seem to be losing their minds about this.
But when you consider that median property prices in Brisbane have risen by more than 40% over the past 18 months, even if this prediction were to eventuate, we still have a gain of 20% within 2-3 years.
If someone were magically appear in front of us two years ago and promise that we’d experience a 20% rise in prices over the following 24 months, many would have rejoiced.
In my experience (when we analyse property prices virtually anywhere within Australia), any dramatic increase in prices usually provides a ‘slingshot’ effect where we see a correction by a reasonable margin.
One of the reasons that many are losing their minds in Brisbane is that we’ve never seen such a correction…mind you, we’ve never seen a 40% rise in prices over 18 months either.
And as a result, we’re seeing many sellers panic and making dramatic decisions…such as changing agents.
As I shared a few weeks ago, it’s easy to blame the agent for the lack of suitable offers and sometimes it may not be justified…but sometimes there’s good reason to cut your ties and move on.
Today, we’ll return to our topic where I’ll explain when it might be time to consider a change of agent…
- Buyer Response Time – There’s no question that buyers now have less competition and more properties to choose from. As such, it’s really important to reply to a buyer in a timely manner as they have a reasonable list of properties to view and any significant delays by the agent in returning emails, calls or texts might mean that these buyers could prioritise other properties above yours. If buyers don’t hear back from the agent, they’ll often assume that the property must be sold…and this could be the buyers that’s prepared to pay the highest price so you’ll never know how costly this might be for you.
- Fighting For Your Price – When enquiry levels drop and a sales has yet to be produced, an agent can often ‘under-quote’ the asking figure to a buyer in order to attract more interest. This is particularly relevant for properties with an auction. If you’re receiving an unusually low number of poor offers, you are right to question whether this is the market conditions of whether these offers have been influenced by the agent’s price guide provided. Is the agent prepared to stay for the duration and fight for your price or do they seem like they just want to sell it for any figure…just to get their commission and move on. This is why it’s so important to obtain an appraisal from the start. If the agent is bringing you offers that are in line with their appraisal, perhaps you’re not accepting of where your property sits in the market but if the agent is quickly trying to get you to accept offers that are well below what they appraised it for, you have every right to be annoyed.
- Database of Buyers – Every agent will tell you that they have a huge database of buyers that they can introduce to your property should you list with them. But how do you know if this is true? It’s an easy statement for an agent to make but there’s plenty of agents that don’t collect data from every buyer that makes an enquiry. If not, how many qualified buyers might be slipping right through their fingers? Whilst you’d think that every agent would have a very systematic approach to collecting and utilising data and buyer’s details, you’d be very surprised at how poor agents can be in this area. A good friend of mine who is a real estate agent in Morayfield tells me that no other agent in his area actually takes down details of a buyer who enquires on a property that they have for sale…and they certainly don’t follow up all buyers that attend open homes. It’s a pretty basic action to take but if an agent doesn’t do this, you’d wonder what other shortcuts they’re taking in order to secure you a successful sale.
So how do you determine if agent passes these tests above?
The answer is easy – make sure you ‘mystery shop’ them on your property.
Have a friend call, email or text and set yourself up a checklist…
Does the agent respond in a timely manner?
Does the agent provide the information that you’re seeking?
Does the agent fight for your price or do they provide a ‘bait price’ that’s lower that what you’d accept in order to ‘hook’ the buyers in?
Does the agent seem like they’re fighting for your price and justifying why you should pay the asking figure?
Does the agent take down all of your details and promote other properties that they have for sale if they’ve sold the one you’re enquiring about?
Does the agent provide regular updates on any new listings once you’ve made the enquiry?
Does the agent follow you up on the day of the open home?
After you have three friends mystery shop the agent, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how methodical they are in these areas.
Next week, I’ll provide the final reasons why it might be time to consider a change of agent.
On a final note, it might have been a week ago but congratulations to the mighty Queensland Maroons for one of the greatest wins in Origin history.
I was fortunate enough to score a last-minute ticket to the game with Brendan (from our office).
The atmosphere was incredible and it’s hard not to enjoy the Blues sulking after yet another talk of a ‘dynasty’ following last year’s series.
Yes ‘Joey’ Johns…you will have to listen to us for the next twelve months.
Until next week…Happy Listing and Happy Selling.
Feature Property Of The Week
Our ‘Feature Property Of The Week’ is 1 Saiala Court, Bray Park – Offering a generously sized high-set rendered brick home in a wonderfully peaceful pocket of Bray Park, this fabulous residence provides a true ‘dual living’ alternative featuring kitchens, living spaces and full bathrooms over both levels. There’s three bedrooms upstairs and whilst it is not ‘legal height’ downstairs, there’s another two rooms that could each be used as a bedroom. Additionally, there’s a huge in-ground salt water swimming pool surrounded by mature palms, ample grassy areas for kids and fantastic double gate side access…all on your well-proportioned 607m2 block. There’s plenty to like about this one so make sure you act quickly to avoid disappointment.
Say “Ahh’ To Saiala Court – A True ‘Dual Living’ Option, Side Access & A Sparkling Pool
Insights Article…
Here’s an example of the ‘doom and gloom’ that the media websites are publishing right now. Will prices drop by as much as 25% moving forwards? We don’t think that the correction will be anywhere near that figure but that doesn’t stop the media from looking at worse-case scenarios…
Click Here To Read Article
Did You Know?
As Michael mentioned in his blog today, he and Brendan attended the ‘State of Origin’ decider last Wednesday night. Michael mentioned that this was the loudest crowd he’s ever heard at a sporting game. Looks like the boys were right into the spirit of the game based upon this photo…
‘The Michael Spillane Team’ have kept property data of every person they’ve dealt with since 2006. It means that Michael has one of the largest buyer databases of any real estate agent in Brisbane.
