auckland apartment sale Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Apartment Specialists

Tag: auckland apartment sale

myth 6 auckland apartment specialist agents get paid

Myth #6: All Auckland Apartment Specialist Agents Get Paid the Same

Posted in Apartment Marketing, Blog, Imageless, Not A Property, Selling, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates.

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 23

Summary:

Is this true – Not all agents get paid the same? Well, we will discuss more about this myth on this podcast.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day. Andrew Murray, Apartment Specialists talking about the Auckland apartment market.

This is an interesting one –  Not all agents get paid the same. That’s quite a myth. You would think real estate agents all get the same – the owner pays a commission, they get their cut. This is actually not the case. A real estate agent is judged by their agency according to how much commission they bring into the company. Not if they get highest prices, not if they do the best job but how much money they bring into the company. What happens is the more money they bring in, they get a higher percentage of that commission. So what happens is, if a vendor pays $10,000 dollars towards an agent. If they are a beginner agent, they’re probably going to get most likely about 50% of the commission. So 50% of $10,000 –  if they list and sell a property goes to the agency – and 50% goes to the agent. Now, as an agent brings in more commission, their percentage will change.

A top agent may get 70% to 80% of their commission. This has quite a few implications because if you go through – if the lead comes through a company – as in the agency – the boss will more likely put that lead to where they’re going to receive the most money. When you think about it, if the agency is going to get $5000 off one deal and $2000 if they direct it to a more experienced agent, they’re going to give it to the least experienced because they’re going to make more money. There’s a bit of a conflict there.

So always, never choose the agency. Choose the agent. Also, when you’re choosing your agent, always ask for the history of the sales and how they stacked up. Because in the Auckland apartment market ,you can’t really tell who’s getting the highest prices unless if you ask them to show you their previous sales and how they stacked up – how they ranked -and the building they were sold in. They’ll tell you if you’re dealing with the agent you want to deal with.

Just a recap – Not all agents get paid the same. So never go through an agency. Call up the agency and go – I’m looking for an agent to represent me – because you’re most likely not going to get directed to the one that’s best for you. You are going to get directed to the one that’s on the lowest cut. I hope that helps.

Next week, I’ll be talking about sole agencies and what happens when you want to get out of one. How is this dealt within the Auckland apartment market? Do they let you out of a sole agency?

Anyway, thank you.

Cheers!

myth 5 agents able close deal auckland apartment sales

Myth #5: All Agents are Able to Sell Apartments in the Auckland Apartment Market

Posted in Apartment Marketing, Blog, Imageless, Not A Property, Property Value, Selling, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates.

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 22

Summary:

In this podcast, we will talk about the common methods used by agents when selling Auckland properties and the policies they follow.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Andrew Murray, Apartment Specialists. Myth: All agents are able to sell your apartment.

Now in the Auckland apartment market, there are over a hundred apartment specialists. Now, unlike the housing market, these specialists represent all different demographics – different cultures, buyers that don’t go to newspapers, don’t go through Trade Me and only buy through particular agents because of relationships – and that I mentioned earlier.

When selling your apartment, an agent will nearly always say, “Yes, I do sales with other agents.” But the simple fact of the matter is, they don’t. You’ve got one of the major agencies – it’s their policy to not let other agents from other agencies actually bring an offer. I have actually called them and sent emails saying, “I will give you a listing price. I’ve got a buyer from overseas who’s going to pay really good money and give you a listing price for your apartment.”

And I get a response back saying, “Sorry. It’s not our policy to sell to other agents or give you a referral fee.” At the end of the day, every agent is out there doing a living. It’s a job for a reason. This is not doing what’s best for the vendor – now that’s an extreme.

Then you have the majority of the agencies in the Auckland apartment market which do conjunctional sales. So they will let another agent from another agency through the apartment. But the thing that they don’t tell you is – they will restrict the commission and that ranges from 20% or 30% or 40%.

So for example – if I have a buyer who’s going to pay top dollar for an apartment that’s been listed by another agency, I’ll ring them up and I’ll go, “Can I take a buyer through and will you do a conjunctional sale? They’ll say yes – they may only give me 30% of the commission.

Now if you ask yourself, if an agent has a really good buyer who’s going to pay top dollar – and that agent is trying to make a living, are they going to direct their buyer to a property where they’re going to get paid less or where they’re going to get paid freely?

So the key question is, when you’re choosing an agent to represent you, ask them not only do they do conjunctional sales – which is very important – but do they share the commission fairly and evenly?

Actually put a clause in that agency agreement saying, “That you, the agent, will share the commission after expenses, 50-50, with another agent from an other agency”. And you actually put that in your ad. What that does is – it means that you’ve got a whole market looking for you – which ensures that you get the highest price for your Auckland apartment.

Now I hope that’s been helpful – quite an insight. It’s hard to know what’s going on in the real estate industry unless you’re in it. Hopefully that’s given you a little bit more.

Next week, I’m going to talk about something that very few people are aware of. All apartment agents get paid differently, even if they’re in the same agency. And there are reasons for that. And that also has implications for you being a vendor.

Anyway, I’ll talk about that next week and talk soon.

Cheers!.

myth 3 rental companies charge auckland apartments

Myth #3: All Rental Companies Charge the Same for Management Services of Auckland Apartments

Posted in Apartment Marketing, Apartment Selling, Blog, Buying, Imageless, Not A Property, Renting, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates.

Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 20

Summary:

In this podcast, we will talk about another myth concerning rental companies. I will divulge their common methods and what you need to know about them!

TRANSCRIPTION:

Andrew Murray, Apartment Specialists. Myth number three on the Auckland apartment market. All rental companies charge the same – complete myth.

Now, what I come across most is basically, rental companies will charge between generally, 7% of your rent and 9% of your rent. That’s what most of the companies charge. The reason why one charges nine, and the other one charges seven in regards of service, I don’t really see any difference at all. Now what I don’t understand is – owners are paying 7-9% of their rent. So if that say $400 a week, that is –  I don’t know – around $36 a week to the rental manager, to look after their apartment. Now you times that by 10, that’s $360. Times it by another five, and that’s a year. So that’s a lot of money you’re paying to a rental manager.

So what I don’t understand is on top of that, a lot of the rental manager’s charge for all these other things. For example –  okay, they’re going to check your apartment. They’ll go and check your tenant. Now they should be checking your tenant in my opinion four times a year because tenants can do all kinds of damage to your apartment. You want that checked to make sure the tenant’s are looking after it. There’s no damage and they’re not having parties. All those kind of things. All the horror stories we hear – and I see quite often. Yet, some only do it twice a year. And then others I’ve come across haven’t even check it at all and have got no idea what is happening. Yet, you’re paying them for doing what? Just sitting there?

Now then, there’s all these other charges some companies will be charging for when they might have to do a call-out. So for example, maybe something needed to be done or fixed in the apartment. So they get called out to the apartment to see it – and they’ll charge the owner a call-out fee. Or when work needs to be done and say a plumber comes in and fixes it and that gets organized and there’s an invoice or whatever. They’ll then put a percentage on top of the invoice that they charge. Now, I just don’t understand the industry really here because it’s not really transparent. What are you paying that 7% or 9% of your rent for? Shouldn’t it be that to manage your apartment? And doesn’t all those responsibilities should come underneath it?

So really it’s finding – Now, I don’t do rental management. I’m not trying to get your business or anything. I’m just trying to educate you and knock out – okay what’s sort of happening here. And then look at the company that’s been going after you. Because, how is an owner supposed to know if they are being looked after? Or what other companies are doing or charging cause there’s some very good ones out there.

And so look at your statement, do you understand it? Is it very transparent? Do you know what you’re being charged? Do you think it’s fair? If you’ve got no idea, it’s no fault of yours. Send an email. Scan in an invoice to andrew@apartmentpecialists.co.nz and I’ll have a look at it and sort of give you an idea of what you’re being charged and what’s normal in the market and what’s above or below that. And obviously this is a service and that kind of thing which only you really know.

But yeah, look into it. See what you’ve been paying because you pay thousand dollars a year for the apartment to be managed. And if it’s not being done properly and you’re getting charged too much for no extra value or service, you’re being taken for a ride.

Anyway, I hope that’s given you some invisibility. Next week myth number four. And we will be talking about agent sharing commission which is conjunctional sales. So the myth is all agents make it easy for other agents to sell your apartment. And if they do, they share the commission equally.

I’ll talk to you next month. I think you’ll find this one quite interesting and have a good week.

Cheers!

agents get paid the in selling auckland apartments

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

Posted in Apartment Marketing, Blog, Imageless, Not A Property, Property Value, Selling, Things To Know About Apartments, Value Updates. 1 Comment

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.