Reporter: David Richardson Broadcast Date: August 11, 2009
Real estate agent turned consumer advocate Neil Jenman is backing a new tool which is aimed at making sales more transparent than ever before.
"I think you will find buyers across Australia saving millions of dollars through this, I really do, because people rush in so often and buy with their hearts when they could be saving something with their wallet," he said.
"It will revolutionise the way buyers look for properties.
"In all my years in real estate I would say this is one of the best ideas I have seen for buyers."
If information is power, then when it comes to real estate most people buy blind.
All we usually know is the asking price, which makes bargain hunting impossible unless you have inside information.
Information is now available that has never been made public before. If you want to know anything you have to ask the real estate agent and hope to get the truth.
Louis Christopher from SQM Research has devised the "Home Discounts Report", an internet tool that tracks houses that have been on the market for 60 days or more.
It is normally after 60 days that vendors start to panic if their properties have not been sold and they follow advice to lower their prices.
That means bargain time for astute buyers.
There are 175,000 properties on the market right now. The home discounts report identifies 105,000 as potential bargains because they have been on sale for more than 60 days.
In Sydney, one home at Dural was going to auction from $1.1 million but in October it was $200,000 dearer at $1.395 million.
A small house at Auburn, at $335,000 is one of Louis Christopher's bargain homes because late last year it was priced at $450,000.
In Melbourne, the discount homes report found yet more bargains. At Carrum, one house is on the market for $369,000; it started at $450,000.
At Point Cook a four bedroom, three bathroom home has an offer of $650,000 lodged, $149,000 cheaper than the original asking price 10 months ago.
In Brisbane the hot buys are all in working class to middle class suburbs so far. A classic Queenslander on a large block in Pinkenba is on for $420,000, it has dropped $125,000 since it went on in January.
A five-bedroom home in Springwood with views of the mountains is asking for offers from $570,000, in May the owners wanted $725,000.
Neil has spent years exposing shonky real estate practices, so when he endorses one, people pay attention.
"What the buyers care about is the price and the price is something so often concealed from them," he said.
"The past price, the present price, all sorts of prices; now the clouds have been blown out of the way and suddenly we can see it."
