Is this estate agent comm hectic? Your experiences please.

[Ockie]

When I bought the Estate Agent said he is going for 7% if he gets the seller their highest asking price. If someone makes a lower offer he drops his percentage accordingly to make the deal happen. To a certain point I guess.

Czechoslovakians allowed to buy property here now???

 

[Grant]

7.5% is standard but negotiable.
An apartment I bought had been on the market for 1 day. I was the 1st person to view it.
My offer was initially rejected.
Told the agent to drop her commission to 2.5%, given the fact that all she had done at that point was list the property on her company's system & unlocked a door for me.
She was not too happy, but saw my reasoning that it was a quick and painless deal that was of benefit to all.
The deal was signed a few hours later.

 

[ant_man]

Oh I dont know....was it? I think we must ask ant_man if it was TMI

Seems to me most agents now start at the highest price point and want you to go on your knees and show them how much you really want your house to be sold for them to bring their comm down.

Never TMI from Ockie.

 

[The_Mowgs]

The agent we are using for our new home is also studying and is currently working with another agent till she qualifies. She was telling me how much time she devotes to her studies as well.

If I may, which estate agency are you using? Someone in Somerset?

 

[Hosehead]

Rawsons Blauwberg/Parklands told me 7.5% excl VAT. I was just asking out of interest. Not intending to sell yet. Glad I stumbled upon this thread

Hahahahah Go tell then to take a Flying Leap. What drugs are they on? They should be thankful with 4%

 

[noxibox]

In the high commission market, like the one that we have in SA at the moment. Agents only care about the sale. They work on volume not quality. If they sell your place for less than you really wanted, partly because they worked you down, partly because you need to sell and partly because they didn't do the work on the buyer's expectations that they do on the seller's. Then they only get shortchanged by a few thousand according to commission percentages.

In the end they have to work on both to get a deal. It's only assumption that they didn't talk the buyer up. Every deal I've been involved with involved the agent persuading me to go up and the seller down, so that we could come to a mutually agreeable amount. If the seller doesn't like the deal they don't have to take it. If the seller really needs to sell then they are inherently in a position where they have to be more negotiable rather than one where the agent must just keep trying to get the buyer to go higher; they need to be willing to lower what they expect to get out if they want a faster sale.

but it is not fair to take overinflated commissions from 1 house, simply because you couldn't sell the other 10 houses and so worked for free essentially.

In many cases they can't manage to sell a house because the owner has an inflated idea of what they can get and refuses to budge. Pricing of something though is usually based on how many of something can be sold in a particular time period and for how much.

As far as I know, banks do not pre approve anymore. Has anyone here managed to get a pre approval in the last 6 months?

I don't think they're technically allowed to give them, but I recall they simply switched to calling them something else. They're still merely an indication that the bank would offer a loan, but no guarantee they'd do so at a reasonable interest rate.

 

[Milano]

From what I hear, they may only get 1 or 2 sales a month but they spend the month on time-wasters who will never buy.

 

[bassplayer]

After my last experience I never want to deal with an estate agent again. There are a few decent ones, but most are theiving lazy rats.

 

[F1 Fan]

I don't think they're technically allowed to give them, but I recall they simply switched to calling them something else. They're still merely an indication that the bank would offer a loan, but no guarantee they'd do so at a reasonable interest rate.

Which to me is the biggest rip off ever. So you make an OTP, but don't even know what your monthly installment would look like. They could hit you with a crazy interest rate, and you have to take it having already made the offer.

 

[Jehosefat]

Which to me is the biggest rip off ever. So you make an OTP, but don't even know what your monthly installment would look like. They could hit you with a crazy interest rate, and you have to take it having already made the offer.

Easy enough to build the interest rate into the OTP as a condition...

 

[MKFrost]

Czechoslovakians allowed to buy property here now???

Foreigners allowed to buy here but AFAIK needs to put down 50% deposit minimum or that is what I was told when I bought property through an offshore company.

 

[Ockie]

Foreigners allowed to buy here but AFAIK needs to put down 50% deposit minimum or that is what I was told when I bought property through an offshore company.

I do know foreigners are allowed to buy here. My ex had a Clifton flat. Not sure if it was in his name or company or whatever ... but he had one.
I am pulling his leg. I always joke with him ... saying he is Czechoslovakian . His nick makes me think of that.

 

[Skywalker786]

If i'm not mistaken, 7.5 (or 8.5?) is the maximum they can take.

I am mistaken, 7.5% is the usual.

7.5% std rate

 

[Skywalker786]

Fine...but why the hell do they work with 7% here while in the UK they work on 1.5%? Is this just a case of we getting screwed blind and we are happy to bend over for it?

I think 4% is more than fair...maybe 5% if he is a hot hairy hunk and does my open house with his shirt off!

Have you tried selling a house

 

[ant_man]

I do know foreigners are allowed to buy here. My ex had a Clifton flat. Not sure if it was in his name or company or whatever ... but he had one.
I am pulling his leg. I always joke with him ... saying he is Czechoslovakian . His nick makes me think of that.

Flats in Clifton, Germans on Bikes, why do some guys have all the fun.

 

[Skywalker786]

Do you understand marketing (and sales), especially being in Sales?

Security.

+1

 

[noxibox]

From what I hear, they may only get 1 or 2 sales a month but they spend the month on time-wasters who will never buy.

Also buyers may have to look for a long time to find something that is right. You also have sellers who will stubbornly stick to their full asking price even when offer after offer is lower. People like that will often keep their house on the market for 18 months or longer and then be very proud of themselves for eventually getting their asking price (because the market has caught up).

I know some ex-estate agents who were constantly driven crazy by sellers with inflated ideas of their house's value and estate agents that fuel these unrealistic expectations.

Which to me is the biggest rip off ever. So you make an OTP, but don't even know what your monthly installment would look like. They could hit you with a crazy interest rate, and you have to take it having already made the offer.

No, you don't.

 

[Ockie]

Flats in Clifton, Germans on Bikes, why do some guys have all the fun.

Trust me
The ex with the flat in clifton broke.my heart into little pieces. Not once... ut twice. Yes... i know shame on me....but definately no fun

 

[Ockie]

Have you tried selling a house

No i have not. What i do know though is.that these guys are looking to make R105 000.00 on a single sale. Now...i might not be the spark plug that fires first in the engine... but that is a k@k load of.money... half of.which my sister really needs. That is what i know.

 

[ant_man]

Trust me
The ex with the flat in clifton broke.my heart into little pieces. Not once... ut twice. Yes... i know shame on me....but definately no fun

I will scratch the flat off the list, but not Germans on Bikes.