We have a block of land in Kalkallo VIC. We gave it to a RE to sell it on 30/07/2018. The real estate agent had it for sale for over 6 months but always got us offers that were lower than the range on the sale authority. At the time the range was $345000 to $365000 and the offers we were given were between $290000 to 300,000. As we did not live in the area we trusted the real estate agent as he insisted that even though the contract says the price range but the market is going down. As we were not in a hurry to sell we kept saying no to the low offers they presented.
We decided to wait until the market picked up as we did not need to sell at that time. In February 2020 one of the agents from the same RE started calling us again repeatedly saying he has a buyer for us who is happy to pay what we expect. We had doubts but he somehow convinced us again to give them another chance. He told us that he cannot legally show anyone the property until he had exclusive authority to sell. We were very reluctant to sign anything after the previous experience with them but he somehow convinced us to sign for just 30 days so he could legally sell the property for us. He sent an exclusive authority and I signed it even without reading it(completely my fault).
We discussed very clearly that the price range we are looking at is $300000 to $330000. After signing the authority he started calling me with offers at $270,000. He would call and try to convince me that the market had dropped and that is what the block of land is worth and I should not be greedy. He said that I have paid only $200000 for the land and making a profit so it should not really matter to me. At this point I got suspicious and knew that he was not acting in my favour. The sales pitch and convincing was making me uncomfortable. I advised the RE at the time that from here on I would only entertain offers in writing and within the range.
Even after this he called me again and passed on a verbal offer of $283000. The same conversation happened again with him trying to convince me to sell as the market is going down due to COVID and may not recover for a year. Me and my partner both lost our jobs due to Covid and were very desperate to sell at this point as we were facing financial hardship. We are going through IVF treatment as well which added to our stress. RE knew our circumstances and I felt that he was trying to take advantage and not acting in our best interests.
On 01/05/20, 02/05/20, 04/05/20, 05/05/20 and again on 06/05/2020 I called RE to discuss my concerns and asked to terminate his services. He advised me then that the authority is for 120 days and 30 days continuing after that. He said he is happy to waive off his commision if I decide to change agents but I will have to speak to his boss about the rest. Finally I wrote an email to him on 06/05/20 and advised that I am not happy with his services and would like to terminate his services. RE called me and said he understands and will speak to his boss and work out something and I should not stress.
After this assurance I contacted another real estate agent that I had used before and asked him he has a buyer for our property as we are desperate to sell. We were not able to pay the rates, water, clearing illegal dumping from the land.
This agent advised that he has a serious buyer and can help us. He had a thorough discussion with us about his commision and advised we will not need any marketing(photos, brochures) and was very honest about everything. We proceeded to sign a contract with him (Mann Agency) and within days sold our block of land for $310000.
I called the previous RE myself to advise that I have sold my property for $310000 and I was not happy with the way they treated me. I wanted to make sure that they don't do it to anyone else. It is a hard time for everyone and the last thing people want is to undersell their homes. Once I raised my concern with him the owner called me on threatening to make me bankrupt if I did not pay their commision. He was extremely unprofessional and intimidating. He did not acknowledge the financial loss we have incurred due to their poor service over 2 years. At the time I signed the contract with them the first time my land was worth over $330000. I told him that they want to charge me $1200 for marketing including photos, flyers, brochures, board even though they had not even taken one photo of the land. The neighbours advised that they have never seen any boards displayed and did not even know the land was on sale. They did not even know about the huge illegal dumping that happened on our block even though they claimed to show it to prospective clients during that time!
I am going through tremendous stress at the momemt and would please ask someone to help me.
I have explained everything to the best of my knowledge and understand that I have made a mistake of signing a contract with the RE. I am worried about the money to pay two commissions but mainly concerned that there are a lot of immigrants in the area who are very vulnerable and I want to make sure that I leave a review for the RE to make everyone aware but do it in a way that they don’t make it something against me again.
We decided to wait until the market picked up as we did not need to sell at that time. In February 2020 one of the agents from the same RE started calling us again repeatedly saying he has a buyer for us who is happy to pay what we expect. We had doubts but he somehow convinced us again to give them another chance. He told us that he cannot legally show anyone the property until he had exclusive authority to sell. We were very reluctant to sign anything after the previous experience with them but he somehow convinced us to sign for just 30 days so he could legally sell the property for us. He sent an exclusive authority and I signed it even without reading it(completely my fault).
We discussed very clearly that the price range we are looking at is $300000 to $330000. After signing the authority he started calling me with offers at $270,000. He would call and try to convince me that the market had dropped and that is what the block of land is worth and I should not be greedy. He said that I have paid only $200000 for the land and making a profit so it should not really matter to me. At this point I got suspicious and knew that he was not acting in my favour. The sales pitch and convincing was making me uncomfortable. I advised the RE at the time that from here on I would only entertain offers in writing and within the range.
Even after this he called me again and passed on a verbal offer of $283000. The same conversation happened again with him trying to convince me to sell as the market is going down due to COVID and may not recover for a year. Me and my partner both lost our jobs due to Covid and were very desperate to sell at this point as we were facing financial hardship. We are going through IVF treatment as well which added to our stress. RE knew our circumstances and I felt that he was trying to take advantage and not acting in our best interests.
On 01/05/20, 02/05/20, 04/05/20, 05/05/20 and again on 06/05/2020 I called RE to discuss my concerns and asked to terminate his services. He advised me then that the authority is for 120 days and 30 days continuing after that. He said he is happy to waive off his commision if I decide to change agents but I will have to speak to his boss about the rest. Finally I wrote an email to him on 06/05/20 and advised that I am not happy with his services and would like to terminate his services. RE called me and said he understands and will speak to his boss and work out something and I should not stress.
After this assurance I contacted another real estate agent that I had used before and asked him he has a buyer for our property as we are desperate to sell. We were not able to pay the rates, water, clearing illegal dumping from the land.
This agent advised that he has a serious buyer and can help us. He had a thorough discussion with us about his commision and advised we will not need any marketing(photos, brochures) and was very honest about everything. We proceeded to sign a contract with him (Mann Agency) and within days sold our block of land for $310000.
I called the previous RE myself to advise that I have sold my property for $310000 and I was not happy with the way they treated me. I wanted to make sure that they don't do it to anyone else. It is a hard time for everyone and the last thing people want is to undersell their homes. Once I raised my concern with him the owner called me on threatening to make me bankrupt if I did not pay their commision. He was extremely unprofessional and intimidating. He did not acknowledge the financial loss we have incurred due to their poor service over 2 years. At the time I signed the contract with them the first time my land was worth over $330000. I told him that they want to charge me $1200 for marketing including photos, flyers, brochures, board even though they had not even taken one photo of the land. The neighbours advised that they have never seen any boards displayed and did not even know the land was on sale. They did not even know about the huge illegal dumping that happened on our block even though they claimed to show it to prospective clients during that time!
I am going through tremendous stress at the momemt and would please ask someone to help me.
I have explained everything to the best of my knowledge and understand that I have made a mistake of signing a contract with the RE. I am worried about the money to pay two commissions but mainly concerned that there are a lot of immigrants in the area who are very vulnerable and I want to make sure that I leave a review for the RE to make everyone aware but do it in a way that they don’t make it something against me again.
