I remember when I first bought my place about 10 yrs ago. I was shit scared of agents. I felt intimidated by agents.
Now after buying a few places and having read Jenmans books – i know what to expect from agents.
Have you ever been to an open for inspection without really being serious about buying and taken the piss out of the agents. (Let me add, there are some I respect).
Its become a bit of a past time for me – even jenman agents.
I say things like –
– why do i need to pay for advertising your business when I want to sell,
– why do i need to sign for 3 months to sell? Tell me why?
– why are they selling?,
– thats too much you’ve overstated the selling price to the vendors,
– gee theres alot of people here looking at the place – any offers? No. Well you better go condition the vendor – they want too much. I love to use the word ‘condition’ – you can see there eyes light up – hey – I learnt that in my latest REIV course.I have even got a few to laugh with the word condition.
Does anyone else like to take the occassional piss out of some estate agents.
it’s time you got out more…. and started thinking about expanding your library to some better quality books.
….those who mock others do so to hide their own deficiencies. [buz2]
I didn’t call it taking th ‘piss out of them’, but I have used Jenmans “expose” on REAs to do a lot of research in my area. It was good to get that info from a book as I soon discovered which REA I would use to sell and which I would stay away from!
His book, I think it is called ‘Real Estate Mistaches’ or something. Got some good questions and pointers on the purchase side (I haven’t read the sales side of the book as yet).
A lot of the questions you mentioned appear in this book, ‘..who set the price….’, ‘…would you pay this much fro this house?…’, etc. Surprising the info you get from a BAD REA!I guess I did.
Cheers
C@34
morning all,
neil jenman has some great ideas and endorses strategies that he has designed to better protect the vendor and buyer during a property transaction.
However i don’t know that all of the ‘bad agent’ publicity has necessarily benefited the public, perhaps it’s made them more aware of the mechanics involved in a sale but I believe it’s main purpose has served to make him a much richer man through book sales.
As for the q’s you ask agents yack, any decent REA worth their salt should be able to answer them on the spot (if they can’t defend their valuation of the property, signage, right to commission or otherwise they’re probably not going to be the best person to protect your biggest asset).
But that’s just my opinion, love him or loathe him Jenman certainly isn’t going anywhere for a while…e x
This is the best post I’ve read in months. There’s nothing better than exercising your new found knowledge in the field, especially on agents. Me and my Dad looked at this crappy unit a while ago and the agent was a walking coma. Stupid, incompetent, would have failed as a crash test dummy. We worked him over good and had a great laugh in the process! Sometimes you just cant help yourself! That was a great afternoon.
Cheers, G7
Totally agree most agents have to be decietfull to earn their living.
I had one try to sell me al lemon $15000 over bank valuation.
That put me off their whole agency. They have lost my buisness permenatly.If my deficiencie were to hide looseing $15,000 in a deal go ahead and mock me.
Dom[biggrin]I agree, the few bad agents out there spoil it for the majority, annoys me almost as bad as people who can not spell simple words.[biggrin]
David J
Licenced Agent/Sales ManagerWould you walk into a shop and make fun of the salesperson? (Even though you generally respect them)
Perhaps the right attitude is not to be intimidated or to make fun of them, but somewhere in the middle.
How about treating them like somebody who deserves respect, even if they might appear hopeless at their job. Tends to work well with most people.
WaySolid
Hi All,
Jenman’s book was great in that it exposed a number of myths and brought to the average Jo’s attention some of the tricks, smoke and mirrors[devil] Agents use to control the sales process.I am no fan of Agents — don’t really like to have any dealings with individuals I don’t trust. Having said that, I also do treat Agents with respect, knowing full well that their “mission” is to get the sale, sometimes “at all costs”.[grrr] If you know what the “side game” is; you complete all necessary research; you understand the market — then really an agent is no match for you.[biggrin]
So I certainly wouldn’t get a high from dumping on Agents. I’d prefer to spend my time in the market looking for my next investment.[rambo2]
Anyway, just my thoughts.
Each to their own.
Helen
I wouldn’t make it a point of going out and taking the piss out of agents yack (they can go the toilet themselves)
as you go outa nd about, you build a relationship with agents in the area. the agent you piss off today may harm you in the future..
In saying that, i have hadan agent say to me, “It’s a great property” and i’ve replied with “why?” and the such, giving them a harder than normal time for two reasons.
1- To get real answers, not just the ‘blurb’ or sales pitch.
2- to let them know i’m serious, i’m not there to waste there time or mine, by the time i’m looking at properties, i’ve researched the area.
REDWING
“Money is a currency, like electricity and it requires momentum to make it Effective”
Count The Currency With This Online Positive Cashflow CalculatorYack,
No, I don’t take the piss out of agents. The primary reason is that to take the piss out of them, means that by default, we are upsetting the vendor. A good RE agent will be protecting the value of the asset for the vendor, and I always think it’s sad if people go into a house for sale and tear it to shreds- it used to be someone’s home. I always have a rule in my head that each time I go to see a place, I feel as if I am buying it from my mother. So I respect everyone’s house and would not be critical of it in public- and that means to a RE agent. If I don’t want the house- then fine. If the house is that tragic that I have to slag it off in a thousand ways, then do I really want it in my portfolio?
One can negotiate on a house price without being super-critical. If a house is over-priced, then it’s easy to walk away. I assume that when I buy houses, the vendor is- rightly or wrongly- just like me… trying to use power over an agent is doing over a vendor too- the agent is just their representative.
A bit of respect goes a long way. Presumably most of us have felt intimidated by RE agents when we didn’t know what we were doing. However, I found that in my early days of purchasing, some RE’s were so nice that it gave me faith in them. Some others weren’t… but I saw that as an individual thing- and I chose not to deal with those ones. As with all professsions, there are decent people and snarly freakish ones.
I kjust see the agent as a middle person between me and the vendor. I am not gonna take out my feelings about agents on vendors who just want to sell their homes.
kay henry
you gotta admit to being tempted to take the piss….what happened to the great aussie passtime of sarcasm? if the agent had any smarts he would realise yr taking the micky and have a laugh with you..
btw you can run a spellcheck on my messages anytime and find numerous mistakes – you boffin…
hehe rogue.. I think you were referring to David, but as I am also a pedant, thought I’d make comment on the spelling thing… if one can spell, one doesn’t need to “run a spell check” on anyone else
)) The spelling mistakes just hit ya in the head when reading them. hehe. Nice use of the word boffin too, rogue!kay henry
kay – goud point abuot good spellesr not neading spell cheques you pedant!! hehe!!
Originally posted by aussierogue:you gotta admit to being tempted to take the piss….what happened to the great aussie passtime of sarcasm? if the investor had any smarts he would realise yr taking the micky and have a laugh with you..
btw you can run a spellcheck on my messages anytime and find numerous mistakes – you boffin…
Read the quote carefully [cap]
Tag your turn [specs]
David J
Licenced Agent/Sales Manager
)) The spelling mistakes just hit ya in the head when reading them. hehe. Nice use of the word boffin too, rogue!You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
