The Weekend Post - Real Estate
Free market keeps the sales moving
THERE are moves afoot for real estate agents to quote the right price or be prosecuted. How ridiculous!
A recent article ( Daily Telegraph, October 6) claimed this terrible modern- day phenomenon should be illegal, home sellers should be stopped in their naughty, misleading tracks and it should be banned, like the practice of the auction dummy bid.
For goodness sake! What else can we find to legislate on next? Maybe how about sellers that fail to clean their windows to a streak-free finish?
Or to hang high those who do not disclose fully, both at the property in the form of a sign with a very large font size and online with banner advertising and an entry in the classifieds with a colour border that maybe, just maybe, there may be a few leaves in the gutters from the last bad storm.
We are becoming a hand-holding, blame-anyone-except-us society and we need to stop this obsession with needless and usually unworkable legislation.
One of the reasons why the Australian housing market has held on and continued to be the envy of many other bigger countries is the fact that we are perceived as a free market. Free markets are complex and sometimes tricky to pin down, but it does allow relatively easy buying and selling.
But claims that we need to legislate to stop price guides is Big Brother (no not the TV one) in action and going too far.
How it can be compared to dummy bidding I cannot comprehend. Dummy bidding was always a quantifiable direct lie, so was clearly bad practice and it made sense to ban it.
Price guides, no price guides, inflated prices, cheap prices – it is up to the seller. And every buyer is usually also a seller. So please allow us all some choice.
Let us consider a vendor who quotes low. He or she may generate excessive buying interest and that could result in heightened demand from buyers and a top-selling price way over this figure being quoted.
Now I said “could” because for every “could do” will be the scenario where this method of marketing just simply fails and falls flat on its face.
The flip side is that buyers just get annoyed and move on. So, quoting low is risky and could result in a very slow sale and a low price being achieved.
Buying and selling on eBay works according to this manner where you can buy anything from jousting sticks to a pre-loved and dribbled on Barbie doll, complete with chewed hair and half a bikini frustrating than no price guide at all. That is a practice I thoroughly dislike, but I don’t want it made illegal with all participants given a damn good thrashing.
The pricing strategy to sell your home requires careful consideration. You and your agent need to discuss, research and analyze your local market and compare your property to others on the market of a similar ilk to get a feel for what you should be asking for it.
You may choose any number of options or even change those options during the sales campaign.
Buyers need to understand that one day the shoe will be on their foot and they too will want choice and
Quoting low is risky and could result in a very slow sale and a low price being achieved.
at increments of 50¢ or lower. Now I realise medieval weaponry and children’s toys are not as important as the sale of the family McMansion; but no one would argue that these items require legislation to prevent disappointment from those who miss out at bidding time.
I do understand a buyer’s frustration at this. But it is no more have all options available to them.
If any legislative changes are needed to the Australian property market, they should be to make residential property law/auction procedures the same across the country because it is the differences between states that is where the real confusion and misunderstandings occur.