A lawyer who lives in the neighbourhood said that if we have any legal dealings or hassles he would sort it out for free.
Husband and wife doctors down the road said don't bother going to the White Cross surgery, they would give free medical advice.
I could go on.
By the way, the above is all untrue.
But, it doesn't stop them from asking things that they want to know.
This morning I was woken by a phone call from someone I had briefly met in the neighbourhood wanting some advise re legalities of real estate contracts. His daughter lives in the U.K. and wants to buy property in the area. My caller wanted to know how binding any arrangements he made with real estate salespeople showing him homes on behalf of his daughter would be if, in the future, she were to negotiate direct with the vendor. This led on to other requests like valuations of property and searching subscription websites to ascertain what the vendors had originally paid for properties. There were some other legal, contractual and fiduciary queries which I helped him out with.
He then had the cheek, when asking what commissions are generally charged by real estate agencies, to suggest that they were usurious and that he and his daughter would look to circumvent agencies by dealing direct with vendors and screw them down on price by at least the level of commission.
Bloody cheek! I wonder how he gets on with doctors, bankers, lawyers and accountants.
6 comments:
Yes,
but doctors, lawers etc. don't charge you according to the size of the house.
How would you fell if a doctor said:
"Hmmm..you've got a cold, that'll be $20"
compared to:
"Hmmm...You've got tuberculosis, much more serious, that'll be $2000"
In Scotland when we sold our last house, valued at £250,000, the lawer, acting as the agent, charged us a fixed fee of £800, which seemed reasonable.
When we sold our first NZ house for $720,000 the rip of merchant charged us $6500 plus advertising and marketing costs.
Which one seems more reasonable to you?
I offer eternal life at a reasonable price - just worship me.
$6500 on a $720,000 house is less than 1% commission. I'd stick with that estate agent if I were you. I would have charged you $23,000 - and charged you about $6,000 extra for advertising and marketing but you would have received a quality marketing programme (plus a free gift like a smoke alarm or something).
I just checked with my beloved and she reminded me that the commision we actually paid $23,500.
Still far too bloody much
There you go. Stick with me next time and I'll save you $500 (and give you a free smoke alarm).
And a bottle of Laphroaig.
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