Real estate settlement period

[AC DC]

Hi all

We have an interested buyer, they have asked for an extended settlement period, the agent says this is quiet normal and there is nothing to worry about.

Normal settlement is 42 days they are asking for 90 days.

Is there any issues that anyone knows about with this arrangement.

ACDC

[Administration]

Hi ACDC,

Yes if you have a extended period, be careful as the Buyers may be hanging to wait to sell their property to purchase yours.
Also if you are repurchasing then you are going to have to do the same with your contract to buy. If you do not get a Vendor to agree then you will have to move out at settlement and wait.

Try do a sell and a buy 42days.

Agents will tell you anything just to get commission, remember if there is no sale there is no income for either the Agency itself and the listing Agent and the Agent who finds the buyer.

If your property sells quick, haggle with the commisson fee. Its a market thats going down so you are in a very good position to do this. Play their game. They hate it.

Matt

[AC DC]

Thanks

from what i can gather they have alresdy sold their place and are moving o/seas!! so thats the time frame they need.

The extra time will be good for us also to find something to buy, less hurried.

So do you think i can re-negoiate the selling fee at this point?

ACDC

[Tim C]

Can you actually re negoiate the fee after signing the agreement?

Tim C

[once-bitten]

Tim, Yes you can. If the property sells in a reasonable time frame, they will come at you with a offer or a signed contract and put you on the spot. Be careful at this stage as the Agent may start to put your property down, this is called conditioning.

If you act in a manner that you are not too excited, then thats when you say "well at this point I see what you have in offers, Im prepared to sign the contract if your Agency lowers the selling fee"

Make sure you get it in writting, DO not take the Agents word for it.

It may be an idea to try and find what Agents in your area are charging as there is no real set fee among them.

once-bitten

[Tim C]

Thanks for that, Once bitten.

Sounds like a good ploy.

Have you tried it yourself?

Tim C

[once-bitten]

UNfortunately, I had to learn the hard way. Read my postings on this site and you will get the drift.

I have read every book on Real Estate that I could get my hands on, and many consumer web sites too.
If I wrote a book on what happened to me it would be a best seller as the story is just a mind boggler.

once-bitten

[Tim C]

Thanks Once bitten

Maybe you should write a book on your experience.

I do appreciate your help and advise on this site.

If the agent is charging 3 % incl. GST what do you think i should negoiate for as a reduction?

Tim C

[once-bitten]

Tim,

Im not sure what state you are in. Where I am no agent charges any more than 2.2% including GST and all advertising.
Make sure that the Agency Agreement does not have you to pay additional costs on top of the riduculous 3 percent. And for that matter the .3 GST amount.

Is your Agency Agreement a green SA200 form.

once-bitten

[Dom]

We also have a green form! sounds like we paying too much %age also as ours is 2.8% ?

Dom

[once-bitten]

Yes its a green one! The 3 % covers the lot but i might se if i can renegoiate the fees?

Tim C

[robw]

Hi guys, what you will find is that all areas charge slightly different rates. There are quite a few variables to consider here when looking at what you are paying.

As a general rule the closer you are to the city areas the cheaper the fees and as you spread out into the metro areas they seem to get a bit higher. You will find that all the agents in a particular area know what each other charges, there is nothing wrong with that, they are their competition so they should know what they charge, and they will all generally charge within the same ballpark. But it depends how keen they are for your business as to how far they will negotiate. It depends how realistic they feel you are as well in therms of your price and expectations.

With regard to the 'green form' an agency agreement can take many forms depends who prints and distributes them.

Becareful with fees, as the old saying goes, if you pay peanuts you'll get monkeys working for you!

robw

[once-bitten]

Most Agents are worth 2% incl GST.

If your property sells quick then its even more room for going lower.

One Agent in this area will neg right up to the end. AT 1.5%

once-bitten

[Tim C]

Thanks guys

I dont think that i will be able to get to a 1.4% area once bitten. would love to though.

Even the 2.2% may be a stretch in this area!

perhaps i should try for 2.5%, what do you think?

Tim C

[once-bitten]

I dont think its a matter of how close your are to the city with the fees, its how much competition there is in a area.

A lot of Agents will change their standard fee if listings are down on the books, to win the business.

The more listings they have shows to the public that they are popular, not that they sell a lot of houses. Its self advertising. Its also how well they negociated in getting the listing.

READ a book by Terry Ryder. He explains all the tricks and cons that Agents use. And to be quite frank I dont know how they sleep at night.

once-bitten