An angry homebuyer has hit out at estate agents who put low price guides on properties with no intention of selling them at that price.
Chris Sassine and his partner have been looking to buy property in Sydney and have been frustrated by dishonest real estate agents.
“If anyone follows me, it’s a real estate agent,” Sassine said in a TikTok video before spitting at the camera.
‘What do you think about that?’
Mr Sassine explained that the price guide for countless properties had been undervalued by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Don’t put a price tag of $800,000 if it’s going to sell for $1.3 million or $1.4 million, bro. Put it at a price tag of $1.2 million to $1.3 million,” he said.
He admitted that the estimates were not always going to be accurate and that there was some room for manoeuvre between the indicative price and the final price of the home.
“If it’s $900,000-$950,000… if it sells for a million… that’s fine, whatever,” he said.
TikToker Chris Sassine (pictured) has hit out at estate agents who underestimate property price guides
‘When is it selling for $16 million? It only has one bathroom!’
Mr Sassine explained that he went to six auctions in a single day and that each property sold well above the guide price.
“Each auction sold for more than $300,000, according to the online guide,” he said.
‘Why? Why? That’s a lie!’
He then spoke about the emotional impact that fake price guides have on him and his wife.
“Not only are you wasting my time, but you’re also wasting my wife’s time, who then gets angry and takes it out on me,” he said.
‘Because?’
Agents routinely offer a lower advertised sales price than they intend to accept in order to get more people to see it and hope that buyers will spend more than they had budgeted.
Many TikTok users agreed with Sassine and revealed that they had experienced the same problem.
“This is an absolute joke, honestly,” wrote one.
“As an agent, I totally agree with you. Underpricing is a huge problem in our industry. It’s very frustrating,” wrote another.
Mr. Sassine replied: “I appreciate your honesty, my friend.”
“It should be 100 percent illegal for all these agents to undercut prices,” wrote another TikTok user.
Mr Sassine said he went to six auctions in one day and the sale price at each of them was $300,000 above the reference price (file image)
Another added: ‘100 percent bro… buyers guide $1 million… sold for $1.4 million… you fooling us bro.’
However, some commentators disagreed with Mr Sassine and argued that estate agents should not be blamed.
‘How is it the agents’ fault if people are fighting to buy it and want to pay more to get it?’ wrote one.
Mr Sassine replied: “It is the guide that is very bad.”
Real estate agent Veronica Morgan said Good deeds Some may deliberately underprice a property to attract a wider group of buyers.
“But if the price is too high, buyers will not react well and will not generate the interest needed to conduct a competitive auction,” he said.
In July, real estate guru Andrew Winter said: realestate.com.au It was the “Great Australian Swindle”.
Some states have laws requiring agents to accept any auction offer that is within a certain percentage of the advertised price, but Winter said it was difficult to understand the conflicting rules that apply across the country.
“The path to a fairer and more transparent real estate market is simple,” he wrote.
“All we need to do is allow sellers to ask whatever price they want and buyers to make sure that price suits them.”