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Welcome, welcome all and sundry!
Back for another edition of The Frugal Samurai? :)
Mmm you smell that? The warm weather, the sun shining, the birds and the bees…why SPRING IS HERE BOYS AND GIRLS.
AIN’T IT GLORIOUS – a great time to be alive!
There’s something about Spring which always gets me excited, it puts you in an AWESOME mood doesn’t it?
Which is helpful, because of what I’m about to tell you guys…
Before we start, I have to get something off me chest.
Um, no – not quite to that extreme level.
No, it’s to please don’t take MrsFrugalSamurai to a home open.
Especially if you’re the only group at that home open.
And MORE especially, if you’re the only group at that home open because you are the SELLERS of that property.
Yes, that’s right. We are selling.
Or rather – MrsFrugalSamurai is selling on behalf of family, and yours truly was enlisted (drafted more like) to assist with the sale.
“Not just a pretty face” is not what MrsFrugalSamurai said when she propositioned me.
“Oi YOU, time to get off your fat, lazy arse and be useful for a change” is the watered down version.
I think she bit off more than she could chew when she volunteered her services, but then realized that she has an amazing, supportive and oh so knowledgeable husband to bail her out of this situation.
It’s what I do people, it’s just what I do.
Anyway, last week we had a meeting on-site with the sales agent for the first time.
All was going swimmingly, and we got to the point where we were discussing numbers with the agent.
More like, I was trying to probe some numbers out of the agent to see what his price expectations were (I already had a rough idea you see, cos I was prepared – contrary to one-who-shall-not-be-named, who wasn’t).
“What do you think this would go for?”
“Oh, you never know – but this one down the road (gestures in the general direction of North-West) sold for $X, and that one (spins around and points to what appears to be a tree stump) sold for $Y, so I’m expecting something similar.”
(Rubbing chin in thought) “Hmmm so what do you th…”
“HEY (pips a squeaky, feminine voice), do you think it would sell for $X – $200k??”
Both the agent and myself looked at the owner of the squeaky voice in confusion.
(What the poncy fuck, was my immediate thought, quick QUICK, rescue this BASKET CASE and pray the dullard STOPS TALKING).
“Oh nah (a strong, masculine voice quickly interjected), she got this confused with something else”.
Sigh.
I’m not entirely sure the rescue operation succeeded, but we managed to limp towards the finish line.
Will you be renovating the property? Yes.
When do you think you will list it? Asap.
Are you going to be selling it through us? We shall see, yada yada and so forth.
Back in the privacy of our car, suffice to say, words were calmly spoken between MrsFrugalSamurai and myself.
Choice words. Careful words. Loving words.
But a cardinal sin was committed.
DO NOT DISCLOSE YOUR NUMBERS WITH THE AGENT.
Just like buying a home, where you would try to keep your budget close to your chest, selling a home is no different.
I know in mainstream media and on a lot of other channels – you hear people say that you need to share what your budget is with the agent, “so they can look for the right property for you”.
Yeah that might work if your budget is $10m+ i.e. uppity capitalist – cos at that level, it’s all cash purchases and off-market deals.
But if your budget is more in line with the rest of us plebs, you don’t need to share diddly squat with the agent.
Oh they’ll do their best to prise it out of you, but remember:
A REAL ESTATE AGENT DOES NOT WORK FOR THE BUYER OR THE SELLER – THE AGENT WORKS FOR THE DEAL.
For us, as sellers, if you disclose what your sales price expectation is, an agent knows that he/she only needs to reach that figure, and a deal should be well, a done deal.
They may not work as hard to squeeze every last drop out of the buyer pool, if the price achieved has already exceeded your expectations.
Besides, any agent worth their salt already has a rough idea of what a property is worth because they would have sold similar ones in the local area.
You don’t need to disclose what your expectation is – just let them do the talking. If they ask, just give a rough ball-park.
DO NOT UNDERSHOOT IT BY $200k PLUS YA SILLY #^$&@%@
Double sigh.
I would even go so far as say TRIPLE SIGH.
But I guess the only saving grace, is that the agent has to go through The Frugal Samurai to get a deal done, not The Frugal Samurai’s witless wife – so that’s something to look forward to.
The things we do for love aye?
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P.S. Every post is the personal opinion of yours truly, please seek your own personal financial advice regarding your own personal circumstances.
