sqbr | How not to sell a house

I hope you remembered to point out the fact that you're an important doctor!

Sophie for 11! Sophie for 11!

$30/hour consultation fee for a Dr is as discounted as a rugs-a-million rug! Did you miss a 0?

It's the useless sort of doctorate. :P

Not to the person requiring your help it isn't...

Thanks to Lee I'm much nastier when it comes to helping with computers. I saw the Harvey Norman charges board the other day and considered copying the charges and then knocking 10% off, just cos I'm 'nice'. I no longer will look at someone else's machine without it being on the clock unless they're nice to me and don't do it often and it isn't complex.

This was before I got my Phd, and was just about undergrad stuff. I probably could have charged more, but since noone took up my offer the point is moot :D

Though come to think of it, the few times random strangers asked me about thesis related stuff I helped them for free out of fellow feeling :)

*thinks "Lee? Which Lee"*
*remembers you play poker*

Heh. Yeah, good plan :)

Cam needs one of these:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/unisex/frustrations/388b/?cpg=ab

DO YOU HAVE A REALESTATE AGENT? you may be all "we don't need a stinking real estate agent" but you PROBABLY DO.

I wasn't a doctor then :)

YOR JUST JELUSS COS U DONT HAVE ONE!!1!!1!!

:D But I'm not sure I have the energy for all the running...

He totally does. Like I need this icon :D

Not currently. I take it they're useful? We've been mainly taking advice on this stuff from Cam's parents.

Yeah. I mean, you can get by without an agent, but a good agent can take care of all the things you might not know, and can often sort of tell if the house you want to look at is a dud (so you don't need to go see it), and can help you not get disadvantaged in the process. And it doesn't cost you (the buyer) any extra money, contrary to popular belief. A good agent can also help you accurately read the selling agent, in order to guess the exact minimum amount you can offer and still be accepted.

I realise this explanation is a bit all around the place, so an example: my mum has a client who comes to my mum for all her real estate needs (this client buys and sells a lot). My mum had to go to Malaysia but the client couldn't wait, and went ahead and bought a place (even though mum had told her to wait). The client, in this instance acting as a person with no agent, got screwed by the selling agent. Not in any illegal way, obviously, but she just didn't read the offer properly and was severely inconvenienced.

The flip is that sometimes you're fine without an agent. Msh + Susie seemed to go just fine, but having an agent when we bought our place (in this instance, yes, my mum) saved us at least $20 000.

I don't mean to talk so much about my mum! She's just who I learnt all about real estate off. And she's very successful and has repeat clients, so I believe her. :o)

I can recommend a good mortgage broker to take away all of the pain (well most of it).

email me at karen at difference com au if you like

I helped them for free out of fellow feeling

Fellow feeling is the scourge of the proletariat! Or the glue. Oh bother, I can't remember.

I do find it remarkable that people just ask for free computer help. I mean, would they just call up a chef acquaintance and ask for a meal?! Bizzare!

OTOH I find it as remarkable that the IT help people at workplaces in academia or government I've been at have been held as a world apart re: being humoured in their failure to met basic norms of conduct for tech or customer service staff.

Fellow feeling is the scourge of the proletariat! Or the glue. Oh bother, I can't remember.

I think it depends on whether or not it's with right thinking fellow comrades.

It's not just IT: A friend of mine is a doctor, and she gets a lot of requests for free medical advice :)

HMM.

So, apart from just ringing up your mum, how does one obtain such an agent? My google-fu failed me.

(And thankyou for your advice)

Well, you have a look at the local papers, see who is selling interesting looking places, and pick an agency. Which agent (person) you get is usually the luck of the draw. And if you get bad vibes/feel uncomfortable/whatever, you believe those vibes, walk out the door and into the next one.

Or you can ask your friends/family who have bought places if they recommend the agents with whom they dealt.

Or I can give you my mum's details, if you're looking in the Bayswater/Bassendean/Morley/that Midlandish area. At least you know I can vouch for her.

Oh, thankyou. We like the woman from Aussie so will probably stick with her, but if that falls through for some reason will definitely give you a holler.