Real estate agent for selling house?

alicewd said :

I honestly don’t think I have ever met anyone who has had a problem with Independent

I have. When would you like to meet?

Holden Caulfield said :

georgesgenitals said :

Another vote for selling it yourself.

Get a lawyer to do your contract of sale, and put the property on allhomes. Work out a sensible price, and people will be calling you. Save yourself the commission.

Although I’ve never sold a property, I’ve bought privately advertised property, and without an agent it was an easy and positive experience.

That’s interesting feedback and good to hear. I have thought about the private approach for selling, and leveraging off the market penetration offered in Canberra by allhomes. However, I’ve often wondered how buyers would react.

When I bought privately I found the place on allhomes, and spoke with the owner. She arranged with the tenants (it was a rental) for me to have a look though. I called her back, and we agreed a price over the phone. Lawyers did their thing. Tenants stayed on (and are still there). I never physically met the owner.

Honestly, it was the best property purchase experience I ever had. That said, if the seller was an idiot, or had unrealistic expectations, the process probably wouldn’t be so smooth.

Long time reader, first time poster – LJ Hooker Dickson (Stephen Bunday) or First National Gungahlin (Stuart James or Ross Hincksman).

I personally wouldn’t use Independent.

The comment about real estate agents scaring people off rings true for me. I was sniffing around a few months back, and two (Qbn based) totally put me off with their attitude. One mob I swear is not interested in selling anything, had to chase them for 2 weeks just to look at the properties they have listed. Asked to see the contract for one place with a problematical land set up (some of the land is leased) and they never got back to me. That place is still on the market. I WAS a serious buyer at that point.

If I was selling in the ACT, I’d use the folk at LJ Hooker in Manuka, they are excellent and professional and ethical.

georgesgenitals said :

Another vote for selling it yourself.

Get a lawyer to do your contract of sale, and put the property on allhomes. Work out a sensible price, and people will be calling you. Save yourself the commission.

Although I’ve never sold a property, I’ve bought privately advertised property, and without an agent it was an easy and positive experience.

That’s interesting feedback and good to hear. I have thought about the private approach for selling, and leveraging off the market penetration offered in Canberra by allhomes. However, I’ve often wondered how buyers would react.

** apologies for the appalling spelling in that last post!

One of our clients was purchasing through Sam Buchanan from Independent in Belconnen and he did all the lawn care for the vendor to get the sale over the line, and went above and beyond what they expected of him.

I honestly don’t think I have ever met anyone who has had a problem with Independent, and they have won the ACT Real Estate Agency of the Year award fourteen out of the past fifteen years… but everyone has different experiences I guess. I don’t work for them, but I did used to work for a mortgage broking company and we always had good experiences with them.

You definietly shouldn’t chose an agent based on how low their commission is. You should ask to see statistics like how much they have sold properties for in comparison to similar neighbouring properties, and read their testimonails. It’s like picking a lawyer – would you choose the cut price “dennis denuto” style lawyer from The Castle just because he is the cheapest?

Another vote for selling it yourself.

Get a lawyer to do your contract of sale, and put the property on allhomes. Work out a sensible price, and people will be calling you. Save yourself the commission.

Although I’ve never sold a property, I’ve bought privately advertised property, and without an agent it was an easy and positive experience.

Have you purchased a house recently? Most RE agents are clods who can’t negotiate to save themselves and who turn off buyers.

Sell it yourself. We did, got a fantastic price ($95k more than the previous sale of a same-sized apartment in our apartment complex, nine months previously) and saved about $15 grand. It only took about 20 hours of our time, as well.

Ross Hincksman from First National Gungahlin is a nice bloke and has a good reputation on the northside.

Peter Walker from Peter Blackshaw – Belconnen has been in the business for many years and sells many homes in Belconnen. Ph: 6251 9111

Avoid Independent like the plague (they were just pure crap on so many levels). Other than that I think any of the big 3 (LJ, Peter blackshaw, richard luton) are much of a muchness.

An important thing is to shop around for commission, because really once you have a reasonable agent this is going to make the biggest difference to the money in your pocket at the end of the day. Commision is highly negotiable and you will see quite a big range from different agents.

Here is an older link that you might find useful: http://the-riotact.com/beta/10858/10858

I would still recommend Michael and Jenny McReynolds from Richard Luton in Dickson

One of my clients Edge Real Estate has been getting some good results other agents didn’t achieve in selling.