In response, Rich Harvey, a Sydney buyer's agent, responded that Mendel did this only to promote his website. In fact, an excellent buyer intermediary can save buyers a lot of time and provide them with good strategies and suggestions. Harvey currently runs a house purchasing agency, and he is also the head of the Australian Real Estate Buyers' Agency Association.
Paul Osborne, who works for a buyer's agency in Melbourne, said Mendel's perspective came from a real estate supplier who only sells faster houses.
Mendel did this because he watched the popular reality show "The Block" recently, in which many buyers' agents were competing with each other, which pushed up the house price invisibly.
In this reality show, there is indeed a buyer's agent whose license was revoked for six months because of his dishonest and irregular work in an apartment real estate transaction in Melbourne.
Question: Does the buyer's agent charge more commission by raising the house price?
Mendel did point out some situations in the current buyer's intermediary market, and most buyer's intermediaries will charge a certain percentage of service fees according to the final house price. There are indeed greedy people who push up housing prices and get more commission.
"The service fee of the buyer's agent is between 0.5% and 2% of the final selling price of the house, so their commission is directly related to the house price. In other words, the lower the house price, the less money the buyer's intermediary gets. " Mendel said.
He believes that the buyer's intermediary can really help those guests who have precious time to find a house, but generally speaking, the cost spent by the buyer will be far greater than the service received.
David Morrell, a buyer's agent who has worked for white-collar buyers in Melbourne for 40 years, believes that the commission mode is the best proof that they win the market through professional services.
"95% of our business comes from the recommendation of guests, which is largely based on the word-of-mouth of the intermediary and the trading feelings of the guests." Morrell believes that a good buyer's intermediary can at least master the following points: it can distinguish good houses from bad houses; Know when to bid and when to stop; You can find the scarce real estate with the right price and buy a better house for buyers at a more affordable price.
In terms of commission, some buyers charge service fees according to a fixed model, while others negotiate fees according to customer needs. For example, the service fee for assisting buyers to bid at the auction site is about several hundred Australian dollars; If the buyer needs an intermediary to help him find a house, evaluate and bargain, the service fee is about tens of thousands of Australian dollars.
Buyer's agent: only for the buyer.
Buyers need to understand one thing. When the house price is getting more and more expensive, you also need to prepare 10 thousand pieces of stamp duty, lawyer's fee, construction report and mortgage fee.
But if you decide to hire a buyer's agent, they can do all these things on behalf of the buyer. However, before choosing a buyer's agent, you must know their background and make sure that he/she has the relevant license.
Miriam Sandkuhler, a buyer's agent from Property Mavens, said that a truly licensed buyer's agent will only consider the problem from the customer's point of view, and they will never accept discounts or commissions from seller's agents or developers. "In the process of real estate transaction, it is illegal for the buyer's intermediary to collect money from the buyer and the seller."
Sandkulle believes that the word "buyer intermediary" has been abused by many real estate project marketers, who like to approach buyers by pretending to be "buyer intermediary".
In June+10 this year, Liam Morris, a real estate investor, bought a two-bedroom apartment in Mooney through Sandkuhler's company, and the transaction price was A $605,000. Morris started looking for a house from 20 10. Due to the limited time, he has not chosen a suitable property.
"I met miriam by chance, and then called her to consult her. In fact, I have been to many lectures on real estate investment, but most of them didn't impress me. But miriam gave me a lot of useful information. I think she knows the real estate market I am looking for better than myself. " Morris said.
Later, the company provided Morris with a series of properties suitable for him, which all met his required rental income. Together, they comprehensively compared the advantages and disadvantages of various properties, and finally bought this unit through auction. Property experts charged him 1. 1 ten thousand Australian dollars for this service process.
"The area we finally chose was not the place I first saw. But now I am quite satisfied with this investment house. " Morris said.
In the forum of simplyaskit website, the feedback from buyers is almost always good. However, Paul Ryan, the founder of the website, said that he felt "a little uneasy" in the process of seeking a buyer's agent to help him buy a house.
"I don't like the real estate they offer, but I still feel very stressed because it is related to their income. So I can't fully guarantee that they will consider this matter from my own perspective or their own perspective. "
Buyer's suggestion: both parties negotiate the compensation method.
Neil Jenman, a consumer advocate, agrees that buyers' intermediaries can save unnecessary waste for buyers, but only if buyers know how to control them. At the same time, Jenman agrees with Mendel that the business model of charging commission is "wrong and meaningless".
"I consulted a buyer's agent twice when I bought a house. Deposited 200,000 Australian dollars for the first time, with a commission of 7,000 Australian dollars; I saved 50,000 Australian dollars for the second time, and the handling fee was 1500 Australian dollars. "
He suggested that the buyer and the buyer's agent negotiate a compensation model, which includes the cost of finding a house (he suggested that it is 5,000 Australian dollars), followed by a separate service fee, and the price depends on the money saved by the buyer's agent for the buyer. Jenman suggested compensation of 25% of the money saved.
"So if the buyer says that the psychological price of buying a house is 654.38 Australian dollars+08,000, then the buyer's agent bought them a property of 654.38 Australian dollars+07,000. Buyers should pay an extra 25,000 Australian dollars to the buyer's agent. "
Jenman estimates that only 2.5% of properties in Australia are sold through buyers' agents, compared with 50% in Los Angeles and the United States. "Buyer intermediaries will become more and more common in Australia. If they protect the interests of customers as much as sellers' intermediaries, the prospects of this industry should not be underestimated. "