Underquoting: is it still happening?
A recent news report speaks to ongoing underquoting by agents who are finding clever - and at times underhand - ways to underquote.
I think it is fair to say that underquoting is still occurring.
But what is happening elsewhere?
There are increasing reports of agents simply not providing a price guide at all. "The vendor is waiting for feedback from the market before setting a price guide." "We'll provide a price guide a few days prior to the auction once we have a more accurate understanding of market feedback." And so on. This is also a bit underhand, in my opinion, since most (?? all) agents provide a price guide to the vendor when the vendor signs an agency agreement with the agent ... What vendor signs up with an agent who says, "I really have no idea what your home is worth, Ms Smith. How about you spend $8,000 marketing the property and a few days before the auction, I'll let you know what it's worth." It simply doesn't happen. All that buyers want is to know what price the agent and the vendor believe the property will sell for - so that they can adjust their expectations of value and continue to investigate the property - or move on.