Myth #1: Agents Get Paid the Same However they Sell Auckland Apartments

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 18

Summary:

In this podcast, I'll be talking about myths that you will commonly encounter in the Auckland apartment market and the whole real estate market in New Zealand.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Andrew Murray, Apartment Specialists. Today we're going to be talking about myths. What you do not know about what happens in the Auckland apartment market, as well as the real estate market through the whole of New Zealand.

Now myth number one's quite an interesting one. I would be very surprised if many people are aware of this. But the myth is, real estate agents get paid the same amount whether they sell Auckland apartments via auction or by price or by tender. Now that's a myth. That's not the case.

Agents get paid more to auction your property. What happens is an agency gives them 70% of the commission on offer to the listing agent. And then they only offer 30% to the agent who finds the buyer. That's because an agency wants as many auctions. And I'll be talking about that in the next podcast, the reasons why an agency wants more auctions.

Now specifically what does that mean? A listing agent gets paid more if they list a property by auction than with a price? Now, that's actually a bit of conflict of interest because it means there's an incentive to sell an open apartment or house by auction. Now to me it doesn't swing. You've got to ask yourself - three years ago in the housing market, why there was still auctions when we all know that was the worst way to sale? There was no demand. And in the apartment market, why are there so many auctions? Auctions for leasehold properties when there are no buyers? And then it is just passed in again and again. And if there was a good buyer, they'll only have to pay just above the other buyer who was most likely a trader or somebody who was just speculating.

Why does it have this effect? So what happens is, the listing agent gets paid more when they list it and they're going to get 30% when they find a buyer. So what happens is, other agents who have a really good buyer - it's all about paying the bills. That's what agents do. You've got to think about it as your own job.

If you're going to have a good buyer that's going to buy property, are you going to direct it towards a property that you're going to get 30% of the commission? Or are you going to direct it towards a property where you're going to get more commission, or paid more? I mean that answers the question itself. And because of this, the IRA just come up with a new legislation to make sure that every agent - when they auction - actually declare that to the owner. Now whether that's happening or not, I don't know. That's myth number one. A bit of a biggy and something you need to be aware of. And actually ask your agent who's representing you, if they haven't already told you that. Because they're supposed to. Thank you.

Next week, we're going to be talking about myth number two, and that is why do agencies want auctions?

Cool. Thanks.