Project Rebellion

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The twitterverse is buzzing after the front page article in today’s Financial Review (see it here) entitled “Real Estate Agents Revolt”. Agent dissatisfaction with REA Group isn’t a new thing, but perhaps we haven’t seen it expressed so publicly with such a united front. Still, should REA Group really be worried? Simon Baker doesn’t seem to think so in his response and the thoughts on business2.com.au have been mixed. From an agent’s point of view it would be fantastic to have a real alternative to domain.com.au and realestate.com.au, especially one that was created by and for agents and wasn’t simply about extracting profit from them. From a vendor’s point of view, I would want my property to get the maximum exposure and I think for most vendors that still means a listing on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au (at least in our part of the world). For the moment I think it would be a brave (or foolish) agent who pitches a marketing appraisal without including realestate.com.au, but with the right portal design and the support of the major franchises Project Rebellion might just take hold.

-Josh

When is a valuation not a valuation…?

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Interesting article from The Australian Property Institute here in response to RPData releasing their facebook property valuation app (check it out here). Philip Western makes some good points and I think these ‘valuations’ can be a bit of fun reading for both buyers and sellers, but should always be taken with a big grain of salt especially when dealing with property in areas like the Upper North Shore where every house and block in a street is usually slightly different. I have just run the RPData facebook app on a local property and it gave me a Current Estimate and a Current Estimated Range (which wasn’t that useful as it was about $500,000 on a property worth in the high $1M’s) along with a Confidence Level and some general stats. Unfortunately it didn’t give me any of the comparable sales it used to come up with the estimates – I guess this is where RPData want to charge for some of their more detailed reports… For a free app this is a bit of fun, but for a real idea of your home’s value you are far better off looking at what similar properties are currently on the market in the local area and making up your own mind or giving your local agent a call for a free appraisal.

- Josh