R's ex workmate is a delightful person. That he keeps in touch with her says something. They are going for lunch later this month. I very much like her too. She invited us to attend the auction.
Her conscience troubled her and she mentioned to the agent selling her house about the discrepancy between what it was be advertised for, the suggested price, and what they actually wanted for the house.
$600,000 to $660,000 was in the agent's advertising and mentioned at the auction. They wanted $720,000. No matter what laws are imposed, it seems impossible to stop real estate agents giving a falsely low price to buyers, and a falsely high price to sellers.
It was an odd auction. There were many distractions, including the 765 bus being unable to get up the street because of a car badly parked by an auction attendee.
The overseas Chinese born battled it out long and hard and R's friend later told us it was a long settlement period as they had to get their money out of China. We felt a bit sorry for the naive Aussie born potential buyers who dropped out early in the auction circus.
A couple of days after the auction, I was telling my Thai born workmate about it and he too attended an auction close to his home in East Malvern, formerly Chadstone. He said it went for well above the agent's suggested price and two Chinese couples and an Indian couple battled it out. The Indian couple won and set a record for the location.
There is enacted legislation to deal with under quoting by real estate agents, but I know of only one prosecution. It is rife.
So how much did R's ex workmate get for house with a value suggested by the real estate agent of $600,000 to $660,000? Remember they wanted $720,000. It sold for $825,000. They have down sized and bought a smaller and cheaper place, so the difference is cash in their hand. They are over the moon.
In the not too distant future, our Brother Friends will auction their house in Box Hill South before they move to Thailand. It will be interesting to see the result.
Given the above, and our own house buying and selling experiences, I fell it is safe to say real estate agents are crooks.
Always better to add a photo to a post to make it more appealing. As an inducement to attend R's ex workmate's auction, he said, I'll buy you breakfast. And he did before the auction, here in the pleasant enough Brentwood Square shopping centre. The lady who served us who I think was the owner of the business was an older well dressed and made up European born. I said to R after we ordered and were seated at our outdoor table, I'll bet she calls us darlings. She brought our food out and I was tense with anticipation.
She said nothing as she presented our modest breakfast, but then as she left HOORAY. "Sank you darlinks. Do come again". I am used to that in inner Melbourne but not in the outer eastern 'burbs.
However, pilled track suit pants rather dominated in the generally older and not particularly poor Brentwood Square demographic.