By Leanne Spring May 31, 2024

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Why agents underquote property prices and how to beat them at their own game

Property Investment
Why agents underquote property prices and how to beat them at their own game

Ever been to an auction where the property sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars above what the agent had quoted?

I certainly have and I know many disappointed prospective buyers who have missed out at auction by being misled by agents’ quoted price ranges.

Just to make things clear…the practice of underquoting is where agents lure potential purchasers to look at a property (usually for sale by auction) with the suggestion that the property will sell for much less than they believe it will.

By law, property advertising must not be misleading or deceptive.

It is illegal for a seller or agent to misrepresent a property in any way when advertising or marketing that property, whether verbally or in writing and photographs.

However, it’s important to draw a distinction between underquoting (where the quoted price is far below the expected sale price and or auction reserve price) and a situation where competitive bidding results in a sales price way above the vendor’s reserve.

An auction is designed to extract the maximum price for a property by bringing a group of potential purchasers together in a competitive environment.

I’m often surprised how high an emotional buyer pushes up the price of a home in their eagerness for it.

So it’s not unreasonable to expect that agents occasionally get it wrong.

Why do agents underquote?

Years ago a favourite saying of many agents was:

“Quote it low, watch it go, quote it high, watch it die.”

While this may sum up why real estate agents used to underquote, over the last few years I’ve found more and more agents reluctant to underquote, in part not to fall foul of the tougher legislation that’s been introduced.

But this is what happens when agents meet prospective sellers…

An owner is thinking of selling so ask a number of agents to tell them what they think their property is worth.

And of course, vendors are inclined to "go with" the agent that “quotes” them the highest price.

If the agent has been a bit generous in their appraisal, they quote less during their marketing campaign in an effort to generate enough interest in the property to get close to the price the vendor hopes for.

All the while, they also manage the vendor’s price expectation down to an achievable level, quoting market feedback during the selling campaign.

It’s the real estate agent's role to broker a deal between a vendor who naturally wants top dollar for their property and a buyer who doesn’t want to pay too much.

So during an auction campaign, the agent walks a tightrope not being able to disclose the vendor’s “real” reserve price while buyers, understandably, keep their cards close to their chest and do not honestly tell the agent how much they are prepared to pay for the property.

What are Auction Price Guides?

Real estate transactions are a state-based law, but in general selling, agents are prohibited from quoting below the vendor’s reserve price and the agent’s estimated selling range of the property.

Rather than disclosing a price, in some States, the selling agent advertises a price guide or range and sometimes amends this (usually up) during the auction marketing campaign.

In Victoria agents must provide a Statement of Information which includes
- an indicative selling price - this can be a single price or a price range of no more than 10 per cent
- details of the 3 most comparable property sales - including the address, date of sale, and sale price.
- the median house or unit price for the suburb - this can be for a period of between 3 to 12 months, and cannot be more than 6 months old.
In New South Wales, agents have three options for quoting an auction price guide:
1. Quote the exact price that they put on the agency agreement with the vendor
2. Quote a single price
  
  This figure would normally be the bottom of their price range. You can be fairly confident that if an Agent is quoting $900,000, for instance, the range on the Agency Agreement will be $900,000 to $990,000, as the allowable range is 10%. While the selling agent can quote any price within their range, they will usually quote the bottom of the range to encourage buyers to inspect the property.
3. Not quote a price at all
  When agents say, “Sorry. I’m not quoting a price” they will normally provide you with a list of recent comparable sales.
In Queensland, price guides are not allowed to be given for auctions.The Queensland government explains that the value of a property at auction is determined by the market and this can only happen at the auction itself. They suggest offering a price guide to buyers can:
- influence (intentionally or not) the eventual sale price of the property
- be misleading to consumers if the final price is significantly higher.

How should buyers handle price guides?

As a buyer, it’s important to be aware that underquoting takes place. I’m not justifying underquoting, but since it occurs, it makes sense to have a pragmatic approach to it.
Do your own due diligence regarding the property’s value and the maximum you are prepared to pay. Search the Internet, attend auctions, speak with a variety of estate agents, and monitor auction results. See what the final selling price is and how it compared to the quoted price range before the auction.
Be realistic - use the agent's estimated selling price as a guide only, and realize the seller is unlikely to set their auction reserve price (which might be above the advertised price) until the day of the auction. If the agent is quoting significantly less than what you believe the property is worth, ask the agent to justify their advertised price. Maybe this is a good property to make a strong pre-auction offer on.
Level the playing field – consider engaging the services of independent buyer’s agents.
These professionals have access to sales data and are able to analyse and interpret the information correctly.

A good buyer’s agent can also assist in the negotiation process or bid at the auction for you.

They may also be able to use their professional relationship with the selling agent to peek behind the curtain and find out what price the vendor really wants and what other potential purchasers may be prepared to offer.

Buying a property at auction brings out the best and worst of our emotions.

Be prepared and understand what’s going on in order to take part without getting hurt.

About Leanne Spring Leanne is a highly experienced Buyers Agent in the Brisbane Real Estate market. Leanne became a passionate lover of property in 2001. Since then, both professionally and personally, she has been involved in all aspects of property including purchasing, negotiating, renovating, and selling.

10 comments

Heinz Weller 2024-06-01 10:17:22

1 reply

Stephanie 2016-10-06 18:15:42

The story I have to share is that the Office of Fair Trading in NSW appear to only 'educate' agents who break the law and a fine or real penalty is a long way off and appears to be only for repeat offenders. We thought we had engaged a good agent a ...Read full version

1 reply

MICHAEL 2016-06-29 23:50:44

Very informative. I think I was underquoted when I bought our investment property at auction. Fortunately this is in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs and values are still high.

1 reply

Would you like to share your thoughts?

Heinz Weller June 1, 2024

Underquoting is rife in Victoria and has been for a long time particularly for those properties listed for Auction. There were enough complaints for a very reluctant State Government here in Victoria to respond by hiring more staff to oversee its presence. Unfortunately lack of transparency appropriate reporting naming and shaming and non punitive action including revoking licences which the agencies have the power under to Act to evoke have failed to reduce the level. Last year only a small number of fines were issued and unless an agency receives complaints on mass by many affected stakeholders they rarely investigate despite the countless number of agencies in Victoria that deliberately underquote. On the plus side many buyers especially those in the market place for sometime are fully aware of this illegal and deceptive activity and factor this into their buying decisions and budget.

Comparison properties are often totally inappropriate as a guide if a modicum of research is done and id commonplace for the reserve price to be 20 per cent above the high end of the quote range and a property to sell for 30 per cent or more above the high end of the quote range no matter the state of the market. In a rising market the differential is usually higher than when market conditions are less buoyant for sellers for obvious reasons. As agencies who are paid by tax payers to oversee , administer and prosecute offenders in breach of the Act cannot be relied upon which is obvious if you look at the number of agencies fined and the amount of each fine often allowing the agency to keep the commission if the offending property was sold, the public have to take responsibility and do their due diligence to avoid being a victim of underquoting. Sellers have to take more control by ensuring price guarantees are included in the agreement. Agents are less likely to underquote if they know they won’t receive a commission unless an agreed price based on actual market prices and relevant comparative sales are exceeded. Agents are less likely to spend vendors money on deceptive and often meaningless and wasted campaigns particularly auction campaigns that are more expensive when auction fees and other expenses unique to auctions are if the agency has to pay for them. Sellers should seriously look at no sale no fee campaigns which competent agents will happily agree to if the know their market well and want to be more than just a door keeper for 4 weeks which alas most agents tend to be especially those that engage in significant underquoting. Often the market leaders in an area are the worst offenders as they intentionally have vested interest to make things more difficult for their competitors. If an agency has say 30 per cent of the market they will more prone to underquoting as they don’t have the need to achieve the best price available in the market for any property they list and often will charge a cheaper commission as they base their selling model on turnover not quality of outcome. For buyers be very wary of agents who don’t agree to forward your offer particularly if its in the selling range quoted or above the high end of the range which by law if placed in writing they must submit.

Agents who say the vendor is committed to auction are often actually saying they are committed to auction because auctions are easier for the agent to condition the vendor if need be and auctions give agents more opportunity to meet more current sellers and future sellers than a private sale would especially on auction day itself. Competent agents will only recommend auction when absolutely necessary such as quick or forced sale when price is not necessarily the main objective which we always seem to here agents themselves religiously are stressful for all concerned. You can avoid that stress by having your property sold privately and often you will achieve a much better price outcome. In summary do you own research , ask for guarantees to be signed off in the agreement and look seriously at ensuring the agent pays for the advertising for if the agent truly believes that marketing that of course is advantageous for companies like REA whose share price has risen from 20 cents to 190 dollars in some 25 years will benefit the vendor financially as opposed to an off market campaign then they should happily pay for the advertising themselves. These protections won’t of course eliminate the possibility of the agent underquoting intentionally as opposed to misreading the level of interest before listing your property but it will make them think twice and their reaction to your reasonable requests will in part let you know their intention in advance and in some cases ensure they are not the agent you can trust and rely upon to get you a favourable outcome.

1 reply Reply

Michael Yardney June 1, 2024

Thanks for your detailed comment, Heinz. Unfortunately, I don’t agree with you. Any property I’ve sold in the last 20 years has always been at auction because I genuinely believe it gets the best result.

0 replies Reply

Stephanie October 6, 2016

The story I have to share is that the Office of Fair Trading in NSW appear to only ‘educate’ agents who break the law and a fine or real penalty is a long way off and appears to be only for repeat offenders. We thought we had engaged a good agent as he is also the licensee in charge, director, co-owner and trainer. His quote was similar to others and we were very clear on our expectations however during the first week, he came back with figures $300,000 under what we would accept saying this is what the market was telling him – most of these people were investor people from his data base! The next week pricing went up another $100,000 but still $200,000 under etc. We had a heap of private inspections but on the day no one bid and he never gave us the opportunity to withdraw the property. Then we got a promise of an unconditional contract but it was still low and didn’t seem to be coming through – guess the guy wanted to sell his first. Then the promise was updated to a best offer on an unconditional contract but he wouldn’t say what the figure was (same guy – later found out same low price). Throughout the whole campaign, when we wouldn’t do what he wanted, we were bullied, intimidated, manipulated, coerced and subjected to sarcasm. We found out he had positioned our property in a lower bracket on the internet hence the enquiries at a low figure! He advertised it in an editorial at a price under the lowest figure on the agency agreement! He told us one buyer who saw ours, bid at another auction of theirs and it was passed in and so she ‘waited’ the vendor out and ended up buying it for what it was passed in at – this seemed to happen a lot to this agent as we were 1 of 7 failed auctions of his all around the same time. We ended up terminating his services and lodged a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading who seem to be very agent friendly as all he received (to date) was ‘education’ for underquoting. I asked what is involved in ‘education’ and was told it could mean he was verbally quoted the law over the phone and that’s it. I guess he gets his name noted but no fine, no demerit points, no real penalty in our eyes and absolutely no compensation to us for all the stress and horrible behavior we had to put up with. We are absolutely disgusted. And to add salt into the wound, the same agency sold a house in the next block but on the main road a few months later, with only 1 garage, no pool and not as big or as solid as ours for only $40,000 less than what we wanted for ours. People need to complain to the OFT so people like this guy get ‘history’ so they can be dealt with more sternly. This matter is ongoing.

1 reply Reply

Michael Yardney October 6, 2016

Stephanie – sorry to hear of your troubles

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MICHAEL June 29, 2016

Very informative. I think I was underquoted when I bought our investment property at auction.
Fortunately this is in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and values are still high.

1 reply Reply

Michael Yardney June 30, 2016

Michael – I’m glad you bought a great property.

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Rob September 16, 2015

Why don’t the buyers just get their banks to do a valuation on they property they are interested in. I would be intrigued to know how licenced valuers would go if they misquoted the price because the market was hot. Auctions oldest form of selling and gauging value how is it the agents fault if the buyers decide to keep bidding. the best advice to buyers is do your research check past sales and there is the proof don’t blame others if you cannot afford the property. Just my thoughts.

1 reply Reply

George Raptis September 16, 2015

Hi Rob, thank you for your thoughts.

0 replies Reply

PhillD September 16, 2015

Good piece, thank you. Good to see the regulators taking some steps to add more integrity into the process. Buyer’s agents are worth investing in not only for their skill in finding properties and dealing with agents, but also for the sheer amount of time they save the buyer.