With house prices remaining low in Perth and buyers snapping up great bargains, sellers are still looking for ways to avoid handing over chunks of their profits to traditional agents.
While sell-it-yourself websites and on-the-cheap agents like Purple Bricks haven’t caught on in Australia, an alternative that offers low prices but high support may be the happy medium Aussie sellers are looking for.
The recent upturn in price trends hasn’t made it easier for Perth sellers, not yet anyway. With this added pressure, people are finding themselves needing or wanting to sell, but unwilling to foot real estate agent fees which average at around 2.5% in WA.
‘When prices are high, so are commission fees. And when prices are low, people don’t want to pay them at all,’ says experienced agent Yadi Gibson. ‘But the reality is that less than 3% of homes sell without agents in Australia.’
There have already been a number of alternatives to traditional high-commission agents, none of which have enjoyed much success in Australia. Buy My Place was one of the first home-grown websites to offer vendors a means of selling their properties privately, while providing them with a basic marketing package. The aim was to avoid those high-commission fees, but it came with a red flag.
‘Sell-it-yourself websites offer limited support,’ Yadi explains. ‘Real estate agents actually perform a very important and difficult role. This is not something a seller can do by themselves unless they’re a property expert. Most homes I’ve seen advertised “For sale by Owner” are over-priced and sit on the market for much longer than they should.
Sellers typically find themselves wary of private home sales. There’s so much at stake if something goes wrong, and they know they don’t have the skills and experience needed to negotiate the best price. Most people fear their house will be sitting on the market for months, then going ‘stale’ and turning buyers off completely. There is clearly a need for more support.
British company Purple Bricks was one such company who recognised the need for cost-effective sales with added agent support. Purple Bricks have invested $17million in advertising in Australia, but according to research by Hardman & Co, they are still making a loss on our shores.
‘Purple Bricks had the right idea, but by providing the service at a flat rate, they may not be motivated to sell for the best price, which is what every seller wants.’
So why is this movement to avoid high-commission agents failing in Australia? And are Aussie sellers destined to fork-out pricey agent commissions forever?
‘Perhaps what we need is a happy medium. Something that provides the level of support of a traditional agent, but cuts costs like you would when you sell yourself,’ said Yadi, whose startup, Nesters, provides this happy medium.
Nesters can sell property in Perth with a high level of support from experienced agents, but for a low commission of just 1.5%. The Nesters agent performs the difficult jobs like negotiating prices and writing up contracts and conditions of sale, while the vendor does simple tasks like home opens. We show the sellers how to conduct the home opens by providing scripts and even attending the first couple of opens with them. It’s very simple and made transparent through the Nesters app, so sellers aren’t scratching their heads as to where they’re at in the process, and never find themselves chasing difficult-to-catch agents.
When it comes to the future of real estate in this country, Aussie sellers are looking towards a cost-effective property platform with full-service support.
Nesters Competition
To celebrate their launch, Nesters are offering lucky sellers the chance to sell their home for free. Simply enter the competition and you could have an experienced agent like Yadi help you sell your home with zero commission fee.
This is a sponsored post by Nesters – endorsed by So Perth. We value your feedback so please contact us with any thoughts in regards to our sponsored post. Thank you for supporting So Perth and our sponsors.
