AMA VICDOC Autumn 2024 - Magazine - Page 85
GREED. This is the vendor who wants
too much for their property, regardless of
market conditions. They can’t recognise
when they have secured a great deal and
are always wanting another 5 to 10% more
than they are going to get. Invariably,
negotiations break down and they
eventually agree to a similar (or worse)
offer several weeks or even months later.
AS WELL AS THESE FOUR CLASSIC SINS,
HERE ARE THREE MORE MODERN ONES:
DETACHMENT. It’s the vendor who isn’t
SLOTH. This actually covers a couple of
poor behaviours. It’s the procrastination
when key, time-sensitive decisions need to
be made. It’s also being too lazy to present
the property as well as possible when it is
open for inspection.
truly engaged in the process. Their
behaviour suggests they don’t really
care if they sell or not. Putting aside the
money they could be wasting and the
sheer inconsideration of not respecting
the efforts of others, it often turns out that
the detachment is more short-sightedness
than insouciance. When self-inflicted failure
finally occurs these aloof sinners are often
jolted out of their fog of indifference and
become quite upset.
PRIDE. An overly-proud vendor is one
UNTRUSTING. We’ve all developed a
who treasures their privacy more than
obtaining an optimal sales outcome. They
want to dictate unreasonable terms such
as only allowing a property to be open
for inspection when it suits them, trying
to exclude sticky-beak neighbours from
attending opens, and selecting a suboptimal method of sale because it doesn’t
suit their lifestyle. They jeopardise a
promising offer by refusing early access
to the property for the putative owner to
allow prospective tenants through or by
being inflexible on the settlement period.
healthy scepticism when interviewing
potential candidates to undertake
important work for us, and that includes
engaging an estate agent. It’s naturally
right to test those claims and promises
pitched to us in an interview and to
thoroughly check credentials before hiring.
What isn’t healthy is to remain eternally
mistrustful. A successful sales campaign
requires a vendor to empower their agent
to do the best job. Vendors who don’t listen
to their advisers often fail.
WRATH. This isn’t so much about
trust one’s advisers, it is incumbent on
a vendor to have a reasonable grasp of
the specific property market they are
planning to engage with. Without this
knowledge one can’t establish a healthy
partnership with the advising estate agent.
It won’t be possible to ask the intelligent
questions that will help the agent to shape
the best campaign. In the most extreme
circumstances, wilful ignorance risks being
shafted by an unscrupulous operator.
In this day and age it isn’t hard to become
enlightened. At a minimum, keep track
of recent sales of similar properties in
your locale.
vendors who fly into incandescent rage at
the drop of a hat — though we’ve all met
them! It’s more a lack of dispassion in their
dealings. It’s the vendor who takes every
piece of candid advice from an adviser
about their property as a personal affront.
Rather than respecting the honesty and
expertise of the professional, they become
offended and obstructive. They end up
being represented by the obsequious and
mediocre, which rarely ends well.
WILFUL IGNORANCE. Whilst one should
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