Getting what you wish for
Lots of noise recently around under quoting in the market. Most of the agents I speak to recently tell me that the relevant agencies that enforce real estate legislation are randomly walking in and checking on them to ensure things are listed correctly. This is leading to quote ranges at auction being very, very close to where the reserves are.
Prime example on the weekend, we were at auction as part of the new auction assist service we now supply www.auctionassist.net.au , for a rundown place in Brunswick listed at Low to mid $700,000. We opened at $700,00 with the intent of dropping $25,000 bombs to see where it actually sat. Imagine my surprise when the auctioneer said we were on the market at under $750,000. Right in the range.
The problem now is that crowds are so conditioned to think the buy price will be so much higher than the quote range, that many come to auction with a bucket load of cash above the quote range because that’s the ways it’s been for so long and the reserve is now a little irrelevant. Just like this one. On the market for near $725,000, it sold for $901,000.
So might I suggest we all stop and take a breath and give the selling agents the benefit of the doubt over the next few weeks. Maybe, just maybe they may be actually listing close enough to what the vendor’s reserves are, and we are the ones driving the prices up at auction? Just a thought. Test it if you will. Let’s see how many are “on the market” in the quote range this week. Happy to hear if it’s happening in your neck of the woods too.
