Yahoo Finance Aussies saving thousands by bypassing real estate agents
You can buy a pair of shoes, takeaway pizza, plane tickets and now even houses online.
Australians have begun bypassing traditional real estate agents, choosing instead to list their properties directly on marketplaces like WorkApp and Gumtree.
While there were only a few houses for sale on WorkApp this time last year, today the listings are climbing daily, founder Shane Wallace told Yahoo Finance.
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And on Gumtree, a search for ‘house for sale’ shows hundreds of listings.
Sellers are potentially saving thousands of dollars, Wallace said.
Agents can charge as much as 3 per cent in commission, which on the median Sydney price of $970,355 would come to $29,111.
Wallace said that as the Australian property market continues strengthening, sellers are realising they don’t need as much help to sell their property.
For every new listing coming onto the market, there is more than one sale occurring, CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless noted.
“This rapid rate of absorption is keeping advertised inventory levels extremely low, despite the rise in new listings,” Lawless said.
“As a consequence, vendors remain in a strong selling position.”
Katrina Wilks is one of those sellers.
She chose to list her northern beaches, Sydney property on WorkApp at the beginning of May after a friend of hers successfully sold her property online. She hopes to sell it and then buy her dream home in the Byron Bay hinterland.
“I thought I’d give it a go,” she said.
She’s hoping to get $1.6 million for the three bedroom townhouse with water views.
Buyers have already sent in five serious offers, but Wilks is happy to wait to see if she can get more.
“The market is just going up so much. I’m pretty confident.”
She said the process of listing her property online was as easy as “selling shoes on eBay”.
And she feels secure in her decision as she knows she will use a conveyancer to legalise the sale when she does find a buyer.
She also makes sure she has someone else at home with her when potential buyers come to visit.
“The main thing [people ask] is if it’s legal, if it’s going to be safe, because it’s a lot of money. But that’s why I’ve got the solicitor,” she said.
“I just think that the world is changing and there’s a lot of different ways to save money.
