How many of us, when sourcing property for ourselves, include those properties without any price tag or range on their ad? (Think "Call Office for more information", "Express Sale", "Expressions of Interest" etc) Just curious to know, as it annoys me no end, especially when there's nothing terribly unique or outstanding about a particular property.
I tend not to bother when I see that. I can appreciate 'expressions of interest' when we're hitting $7 million, but for your standard $600 000 house, I don't get it.
The theory behind this sales technique is the old "bait" theory, in that sales agents believe that once they generate interest in a property, even if the price range doesn't suit the buyer contacting you, you now have their attention (so to speak) and can then hopefully assist them in a sale. This may also include other listings on their books However, from my experience, most buyers simply hate ambiguous price tags (even price ranges that vary widely) and avoid them altogether. I will enquire on them, especially if they meet all the specific criteria I'm after, but usually find that they're out of the price bracket anyway! *Grumble Grumble* Yet another wasted phone call!
Jacque, Yep, they annoy the hell outta me. I never A on a POA, I just skip straight on by. And, if I see a range such as $530K to $570K I just assume this means "$530K and we're negotiable"! I always assume the bottom stated figure as the current actual asking price... I always specify a price range in realestate.com.au of $10,000 to whatever too. I figure this should get rid of all the unspecified prices for me, but somehow they still slip through sometimes. Cheers, Michael.
On realestate.com the reason you get properties out of the price range you specify is because of the way REA's can enter the criteria from their end. It really is a site geared more towards agents, rather than buyers. My other pet hate are properties advertised as "Offers from $xxx", as it gives you little leeway and a false impression of what the property is actually worth. That's why it's so much easier to do your own research and use comparable sales, amongst other factors, to "educate" the REA (and, indirectly, the vendor) about the true " market value" of the property. In particular, the new section of RPData "On the market" allows one to do this far more accurately and easier than ever before.
Hi Jacque, My wife and I tend to put those without a price to the bottom of the priorities list. We come back to them last if need be. I sypathise with your frustration, but I can add to the list of what really annoys me... 1. Agents who, particularly on realestate.com.au, write war and peace on the unique beauties of a house but don't actually identify the number of bedrooms, bathrooms or car places - or their text doesn't match the symbols on the ad. 2. Not telling you the land size, which is pretty fundamental in working out value and relation to possible development approvals, etc. 3. Telling you that it's a wonderful investment opportunity because it is rented but not stating the rent (and obviously not having a clue of what "wonderful" is) . 4. ... and finally, not telling you the property address. When looking on the internet I've alway got the street directory out and Google Earth running in another window. Ok, I've settled down now. Good luck as a buyer's agent - there's definately a need. Dave
Are there any contrarians among us? I love these properties for all the reasons you guys listed above....not one of you would take the time to enquire, research, it.....if four in five is doing this....then there cannot be too many inspections, and fewer offers.....no offers....seller becomes desperate to sell.....negotiate negotiate negotiate Stuff the advertising - you are here to buy property...if you are interested ask the question My last 2 properties have been bought this way at substantial discount to market and resulted in massive capital gains Your call!!! What's that saying about covers and books???? ....ah doesn't matter probably an expensive book anyway....... OSS
Good point OSS. I must admit to overlooking Auctions for the same reason. In these days of low clearance rates perhaps I am doing myself a disservice. Cheers,
Not quite true, as you would have read already, OSS, if the property meets all my criteria, I will always enquire on it However, I have genuinely found that, despite my enquiries, the majority of these properties turn out to be not within the required price range. I understand your logic, however, but not everyone has as much time (or tolerance) to follow up on such properties with direct REA contact.
My apologies for missing your points you raised Jacque. It was late when i was reading this To restate my messege, I have found in my experience, most people do overlook them, might ask a couple of questions but not really treat them with the same seriousness as others listed with a set price. If a property is listed for sale then someone wants to sell it. Some only sell it if it hits an undefined price point, others need to sell and use this method as bait. My strategy here is to ask all the questions as usual, confirm other sales in the area and offer a low written offer, putting my case forward justifying this figure. If they say no, a few days later i get my partner to do the same (as a non related party interested in buying) and her written offer is lower than mine...not making mine look so bad (good cop bad cop i guess) Quite a few times the offers don't go any further... but every now and then you find desparate seller. (2 out of about 20). OSS
I love the bad cop/good cop routine Have any agents cottoned onto the fact that you're partners yet?!
Not yet. I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Maybe it is a case of me putting an offer in, along with other properties and forgetting to inform my partner about which place it was or she found the same property a few days later and put her own offer in. Cheeky i know but if you buy a property then doesnt really matter. I can't say we do this all the time just on selected properties OSS
HiYa I have to admit, I don't spend a lot of time on these properties. However, I still make enquiries and have fun conversing with the agent. They usually come back saying "What's your price range?". Then I get into a conversation about what's there's, do you actually KNOW what the market value is because if you don't I can help you blah blah blah. It's so much fun pretending that I think they don't know what it's market value is.
OSS, good points and obviously you've had more success with these properties than my wife and I. When we have asked the questions (in the past) the properties have inevitably been well overpriced. It almost seems like the vendor is unrealistic or prepared to wait for the market to rise up to meet them. The property then becomes bait for the agent to tell us all about their other properties for sale, often ones we've already considered and dismissed. I get more interested in these if they've been listed for a long time (eg bottom of the realestate.com.au list). If the vendor was going to hold out for a bunny to offer them too much but it hasn't come, then it might be worth a look after reality sets in. Cheers, Dave
I simply loathe having to waste my time in the first place enquiring on these types of properties. When are agents going to realise that they're missing out a large proportion of buyers by not attaching prices?
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