According to The Age reports, real estate agents could be fined up to $1m dollars for fake bids, under quoting, air brushing of photos and deceptive conduct.
This sounds like a good move, and will like put small real estate agents who do not conform to laws out of business. However, the article doesn’t go into the process of finding them guilty. The real estate market is extremely difficult to prove wrong, as I experienced with First National (a particular person – I am not saying the whole real estate company is a fraud). I found it very difficult to prove my case, and when I consulted REIV website, it basically states I needed to confront the estate agent first up and “sort out issues”.
You would expect something special from a restaurant situated on Docklands waterfront precinct, but I was rather disappointed with Man Mo.
The food
The presentation of the food is admirable, however the taste was quite bland. I ordered the Singapore Noodles, and despite asking not to have egg in it, it was brought out full of egg. I did not make a complaint, or request a re-do.
My peers also felt the same way with some of their dishes. The timely serving of the food was appreciated.
The ambience
There is no doubt the restaurant is impeccable, and it has to be if situated at Docklands New Quay. The tables were well dressed, the staff wore nice uniforms, and were well kempt. This is something I would have expected from a restaurant of this caliber.
The price
Surprisingly the cost of food was competitive. I was expecting an average main to cost $30.00, (although some did), but the overall bill for 4 people came to around $120, which is fair and reasonable.
The service
Something to be desired for. I felt the staff wanted us out of the restaurant as quick as we came in. No smile, no explanation of what they were serving, but the bill came promptly. Good for us, as we promptly left the place to have dessert at St Elsewhere.
Summary – Rating (5.5/10)
It’s not a bad place, however not what I expected from a restaurant of it’s calibre (or supposed calibre). The service really let it down!!
Today’s Age Newspaper has a very good article on some of the tricks used by real estate agents. I also am aware of these tricks, and have experienced them first hand.
The Age Article: The Favourite Tricks of Real Estate Agents. Marika mentions a few additional things that I have not come across particularly from the vendor’s aspect. It’s good reading.
If you missed my earlier posts about real estate agents, you can read them here: Part 1, and Part 2.
A Current Affair presented a story about poor customer service today on their nightly show. I couldn’t agree more. I am no avid fan of ACA (although I like some of their stories for its comical nature), however they have a point. This is exactly whyMr Feedback was started.
Often big businesses are not aware of poor customer service in their stores. For e.g.: Myer. So it is Mr Feedback’s job to tell them, and do so in a constructive way.
ACA think customer service has taken a serious dive over the last few years. I disagree. I think it has become slowly worse over the past 10 years. Part of the problem was the economic boom times. Businesses did not need to maintain high standards of customer service at that time, because they knew customers had disposable income to spend anyway, however I am still amazed at the lack of any service in the recent economic climate. One would think businesses will jostle to get customer’s attention, but this is not so in many Australian businesses.
Of course, small business owners provide much more personalized service when compared to big corporations which is understandable but not excusably on the part of big companies.
If you have a poor customer service story, contact Mr Feedback or post a comment.
Houspect Cost: $550 (building and pest inspections) Rating: 9.5/10
After purchasing my home subject to building & pest inspections, I came across Houspect. Houspect specialise in various inspections, depreciation schedules for investment properties and some commercial options as well.
The service
I had to organise an inspection within 5 business days. That was part of the contract. In hindsight, I would have liked more time. My major concern was not being able to get hold of a reputable inspector. The person I talked to on the phone was remarkably helpful. He went through the total cost, what to expect in the report, and liaised with the estate agent to organise suitable times.
The inspection was done the following day, when I rang on Monday afternoon. Incredibly quick.
Once the inspection had been done, I received a phone call detailing a brief summary to put my mind at ease, and then within 24 hours I received a detailed report by email. This included several page reports, and recommendations.
The follow up call
A few days down the track I received a follow up call from Houspect. I thought this was excellent, and wasn’t expecting it.
The report
I received 2 pdf files within 24 hours detailing the building and pest inspection results including brief summaries. The industry is quick conservative when it comes to recommendations, so don’t get too fussed about all the detail. Note that it is best to get an inspection on an empty property, but this is not always possible so you have to take it with a grain of salt.
Summary
For the money I paid, which was around a few hundred bucks, I was impressed with the service rendered. When you buy your first property, you quickly come up with a list of trusted services whom you can rely on next time. It’s important to have this list, and build a business relationship with them. Well done Houspect!
VIP Consulting – David Melatti 43 Wakefield Street
Kensington VIC 3031
Tel: 1300 736 638
What is a buyer’s agent?
* they are licensed professionals who help in searching, evaluating, and negotiating the purchase of property on behalf of the buyer.
* they work exclusively for the vendor
* are usually ex-real estate agents themselves and know how the system works
* are becoming more and more common in Australia. In the US, > 50% of buyers use them
* usually work on a commission fee structure
* often have access to properties which are never put on the public market
* are professional negotiators, which means the “emotion” is out of the picture
* generally can save you time, money and most of all – the hassle.
You can search for buyer’s agents in your specific area as well.
Why did I choose a Buyer’s agent?
If you haven’t read my experiences of trying to buy property myself, then do so. It will give you a sample of what is potentially heading your way if you plan to do it yourself. I had nor the time, patience, or expertise to tackle the process. Besides, I had failed a few times already and that time was lost.
The VIP experience.
Having lost a few bids, and getting confused with the whole process I enlisted VIP Consulting to do the work for me. I met with David Melatti who explained the process. The key for me, was the emotional disconnect. When using a buyer’s agent, all you have to do is let them know which property and they do the work for you. With my property purchase, I informed David on a Sunday morning of my interest, and he created a 10+ page PDF document by the afternoon, detailing the:
* latest sales surrounding the property
* latest sales in nearby suburbs
* the price range of the property in question
* suburb summary, and median price range over a number of years
David has access to wealth of information through his agent’s database which sources these details. He also advised me on a property in Melbourne’s East to stay away from due to a cluster title issue, which I hadn’t realized.
My situation was simple: it was my first home, I wanted potential capital growth, and wouldn’t mind a bit of renovation here and there.
After going through the PDF file, I set my maximum price (which need not be the buyer’s agent’s maximum price on the range!) and he negotiated the deal for me. Be sure to inform your agent the conditions of sale. For example: subject to finance (even include the bank if you want!), building, and/or pest inspections. David rang me back a couple of times, and even inspected the property (although I am not sure if this is routine from other buyer’s agents). Unfortunately the offer fell through. After a couple of weeks, David called back informing me the accepted offer from another party fell through and I was allowed to renegotiate. He used this to our advantage and negotiated a cheaper purchase price.
As David would say, its all about timing. You need to time your offer, time your inspection, and time your interest. Way too much work for me, so I was glad to have acquired the property through VIP Consulting. They do offer a first home buyers discount from their final percentage cut.
Was it worth it?
In my case, yes because the cost of VIP Consulting was offset by the savings I made by negotiating a cheaper price. So essentially, I lost nothing, but gained less stress and effort. I would definitely use a buyer’s agent again, and judging from my experience from VIP Consulting I can’t see why they won’t be my agents next time as well.
Few things…
* Be frank with your agent on their fee structure (i.e.: how much is engagement fee, and will it be deducted from the final price. In my case it was, so I couldn’t lose really!)
* Ask them questions about how the process works. For example, once David negotiated a deal for me, then I met with the estate agent (for the first time!) and finished all signing of documents. Sometimes the agents will do so on your behalf but you will need a power of attorney
* Ask them if they have preferred lawyers, building and pest inspectors. They may offer discounts!
* Ask them about their levels of service. If you are happy to search for properties like I was, then you can save on fees.
Coming soon:Houspect and their building and pest inspection service.
If you haven’t already heard, Woolworths and Qantas have teamed up for the first time through the Everyday Rewards program. If you into rewards programs, you will love this offer.
From June 22nd, every dollar you spend above $30 at any Woolworths store (Tasmania excluded) you will earn 1 point on your Qantas frequent flyer program.
To maximise this offer, you should pay using your credit card, so you will obtain rewards through that program also. Therefore you can double dip!
This has started from June 22nd.
I have just linked by Everyday Rewards program card to Qantas FF program (took me less than a minute!). I joined Qantas when they were offered free memberships way back, and then forgot about it. Finally it comes in handy.
If you do not have an existing Qantas FF membership, don’t worry as you can now join for free. But hurry, this offer won’t last long!
Example One – “You only get once chance” When a property is up for sale, the current trend is for the buyer to get only one chance to make an offer. Unfortunately, this is stemmed from the demand for properties however I am not so sure if this “rule” will stick around if the property market slumps. The idea is, a group of buyers make their offer and terms of sale and these are put forward to the vendor who picks the best deal.
Now, I never understood why it’s the best option for the vendor. I would have thought the more buyers, and more chances they get the better the price obtained.
I got done by an estate agent who offered me one chance only at buying an apartment at Kensington. It’s a up and coming suburb in Melbourne’s North West, close to the city center. The disappointing thing was, the property sold for $338K, and my offer was $332K. Had it come back to me, then I would have offered $340K and closed the deal. So in this particular case, the vendor lost.
Example 2 – “You might find a few thousand more under your couch” This is a classic example of how a real estate agent can waste your time. My offer for a townhouse in Blackburn stood firm at $435k. The agent states: “You might find a few thousand more under your couch”. So I thought, I must be close and make an offer of $440K. Done deal I thought. What a waste of time!
The agent was playing my deal against another buyer, and had obtained a price of $458k which it sold for. Now, my maximum for that property was $450K, so in this case the vendor cashed in. Don’t ever fall for this trick, which brings me to an important concept in property. The walkaway price! This is the price you will turn your back on the property, and walk away from the deal no matter how close you are to securing the deal. I found out about this concept quite late in my buying venture. Never let emotions get in the way. Emotions could cost you thousands of dollars.
For example: I attended an auction for a property in Box Hill North for a burnt out house. The auction was hot, and the buyer lost control and bought it for $419K. Turns out, he couldn’t afford it, the bank turned it down, so the property came back on the market.
Example 3 – “It has to be unconditional” This is the biggest bulldong ever. Never ever make an unconditional offer. Having a pre-approval for a loan DOES NOT mean you have got the loan fully approved. The normal process is: you get a pre-approval, make a purchase, inform the bank, the bank makes a valuation (if deposit is < 20% although in the current economic climate the deposit required might be more), and then approves the loan if the valuation meets your purchase price. If it does not, then you are liable for the difference.
When a real estate agent says he has received an unconditional offer for a property, then it means: 1) The buyer is extremely rich, or is playing with his equity in an existing property, 2) The buyer is not very bright, or the more likely option is that the estate agent is completely bulldonging you. I almost got sucked into making an unconditional offer, but retracted at the last minute because of the huge risk.
I inspected a property in the Eastern suburbs of Mebourne, where the estate agent (who still rings me about properties) boldly stated he has received an unconditional offer of $380K, and I must make an offer by 6pm that day to be considered. I knew he was lying, however it turns out he wasn’t and the property sold for that amount. The buyer was an investor with plenty of money in the form of equity, so I simply could not match an unconditional offer. Sometimes you lose!
Example 4 – How an estate agent “cheated” me out of a sale. This was just classic case of screwing the buyer over. I had made an good offer for a property in the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Days passed, and after repeatedly calling the agent I received no response. The offer was on the table. One Sunday I drove to the house to show my brother, and I saw the estate agent getting out of his car with a folder. Immediately, I knew what was happening.
It turns out the agent behind my back sold the property to another buyer for a lower price. That’s right, a lower price! The agent had decided to pick and choose who he would sell it to.
After investigating the rules of engagement on REIV website, the process just wasn’t worth pursuing further.
In my next post, I will talk a bit more about buyer’s agents and how VIP Consulting helped me with my purchase.
My first home….
Over the past few weeks I have managed to secure a property in Melbourne. To buy a home was always the plan this year, however I never imagined it to be as difficult as it was. Having never been exposed to the property market, I found it a steep learning curve, however there are some tips I can instill to you if you are thinking about making the biggest purchase of your life.
The open inspection
You really need to plan your open inspections and contact the real estate agent prior to the inspection to ask some basic questions. Due to the government grants, there are plenty of people out there looking to buy their first home so competition is tough. However don’t let that get to your head, as it did for me at times.
Pay little attention to the property description, except for the plain facts. The descriptions posted on estate agent’s websites are fanciful, however they have factual information which you is your evidence for what to expect in the property. False advertising is a problem, so pay close attention to the facts but discard the fanciful statements.
For example: during our inspection of a property we noted that it was advertised as having a dishwasher, but it did not have one. We pointed it out to the estate agent, who made it look like it was a simple error. Watch out!
Money Manager is a good website which has inspection tips for home buyers, including a guide about what to look for in each property (for example: proximity to schools, public transport, shopping centres etc). Ensure you inspect the property during different times of the day: morning, afternoon and night time. For example: we inspected a house on a Saturday. The house’s proximity to the freeway was a selling point, however we noted one morning that the entrance to the freeway has heavy traffic on a weekday morning, completely blocking the driveway to the house, making entrance and exit to the property extremely difficult.
The Section 32
Every property must have a section 32 available. The latest trend is to have the property available for inspection while the Section 32 is still pending. This is really annoying, because often you may waste your time inspecting a property and then find something in the Section 32 which is totally not what you were expecting. A classic example is when I inspected a property in Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The property was brilliant, absolutely stunning and about 1 week later I received the Section 32 by email. After close inspection, I noted that the property was built on a subdivision of a larger land and that there was a SHARED water meter. The water bills will be split in half no matter what each household spent. The buyer had to spend money (pending approval from the other home owner) to install a new water meter and connect it to its own water supply. To me that spelt out possible major problems, so I promptly withdrew my interest for that property.
You must ask the estate agent some basic questions
The estate agent is representing the vendor, make no doubt about it. They will say whatever they want, whenever they want, and choose to deal with whichever buyer they want. Note also the price range the property is advertised for. The trend these days is to quote a price range, or “use the + sign” (foe example: 400K+). Add 10% to the property price, because this is the realistic value. I found it really frustrating to inspect properties advertised at a price which I could afford, but then find out it was underquoted to attract the audience.
The estate agent will take down your names and number, and then present it to the vendor to explain the “massive interest we have received in the property”.
The basic questions you must ask are: 1) Have you got any offers on board, and is it in writing, 2) What are the overheads: council rates, water rates, owner’s corporation rates (if the agent does not know this, then pay close attention to what they say), 3) Can you show me the offers (they cannot do so officially, but some agents break the rules) 4) What is the settlement terms, and deposit terms (make sure you set the terms).
Never ever make an offer straight away for the property, and sound very interested in the property. This can be achieved via the phone. You will find that other home buyers will make statements like: “I want to make an offer”, “I am really interested”. Now you don’t know if they are genuine buyers or just the next door neighbour who is playing a helping hand. Pay close attention to other home buyers who are apparently inspecting as sometimes you might catch them walk along the street into their homes, therefore playing a helping hand to the vendors to make up the numbers.
I think I have said enough for today, in my next post I will talk about my personal experience with estate agents by providing examples.
Digiworld 224 La Trobe St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9663 6699
Fax: (03) 9663 6696
I had been on the hunt for a new computer for quite a while, and finally had the opportunity to purchase it. I was looking for either a Dell, or Asus. Ausus is a good brand, but a little bit expensive but they are a quality manufacturer, and they offer 2 years international warranty on all their laptops. Here are the specs I wanted:
* Pentium Dual Core
* 4G Ram
* Windows Vista
* Wireless card
* At least 250G hard drive
* At least a 15.1″ screen
Pretty basic specs really. I found a computer at Digiworld after doing considerable research. I didn’t know about this shop until I scoured La Trobe Street, which is where Landmark Computers was – my initial shopping place.
Friday the 13th
I was up for almost 20 hours since I began my night shift at work, and heard about Harvey Norman’s Friday the 13th sale. “Millions of dollars off all electrical items” the radio screamed at me on my way home from work. Anyway, ignoring the radio’s advice (I listen to TV more!), I visited Landmark Computers in La Trobe street. I was greeted by an Indian chap, seemed to be the boss of the store. He showed off his arrogant characteristic during his explanation of the sale.
I know a reasonable amount when it comes to computers, and have a few buddies who are in the industry. However, it’s always nice to pretend “basic customer”, and I was taken for a ride. The guy at Landmark Computers basically told me I was not going to get the specs for the budget of $1300, and that I was free to look around. He diverted me to an Asus with poorer specs that I had wanted, but threw in a free laptop bag to get my attention.
I left the store, and told him I will come back if I don’t see anything better.
Digiworld My next stop was Digiworld located opposite Melbourne Central. They did not have a range of laptops but had the one I wanted. It was an Asus, with a full spec keyboard along with 16.1″ display, but only a 250Gig HD and 2 Gig RAM. You see, I am a greedy person (aren’t we all – LOL) so I wanted to see how much I can squeeze out of the sales person. Over the course of the past year, I have made reasonably big purchases, so knew a thing or not about bargaining. However, rather than try and get a better price, I generally try and get a better product for the same price. There is a difference.
I told the sales person that I am really interested in the laptop, and that I wanted to buy it today by 4pm and pay straight cash for the purchase. That got his attention, but I also made it clear the offer must be better than the displayed price. My eBay search revealed the same laptop for around $1300 with similar specs. The advertised price was: $1370.
I told him, I am going to Harvey Norman as they are having a “massive sale”, and if I found something similar with better value then I will not come back to Digiworld. It frightened him a little, however I felt he kept his calm and allowed me to leave the store.
Harvey Norman I made my way to Harvey Norman. Let’s face it, Harvey Norman for electricals is a bit of a rip off in my opinion and there is no bargaining power in major department stores. I saw many computers in Harvey Norman, but couldn’t find anything close to the price being offered at Digiworld with similar specs. Harvey Norman was at least $300-$500 more expensive on comparable products.
The Strategy I walked back into Digiworld, and told the guy: “Okay, I found an excellent deal at Harvey Norman, a bit more expensive but much better specs. So I would like the following: Price: $1300, Specs improvement: 4 Gig RAM upgrade, 320Gig HD upgrade, free 17″ laptop bag”.
His first response was, “You must be kidding me”. I had asked for a better laptop, for lesser money, and a free laptop bag. At that stage I was thinking perhaps I had pushed it “too far” this time, but let’s see what happened. After about 20 minutes with the sales person going back and forth to speak to his manager, the price slowly dropped: $1350, $1330, then bingo: $1300. He promptly accepted the sale and I was on my way.
If the sales person who remembers this sale is reading this, sorry mate – it’s business, nothing personal!
The VIP experience.
Friday the 13th
Digiworld
Harvey Norman