The Super Duper RUDE Real Estate Agent ~~

Over the past week me and Pete have been emailing each other real estate adverts of places we might consider buying. And we came across one that was a newly renovated one bedroom apartment in a good location selling at a ridiculously low price. The price was so absurd that we both thought there must be something wrong with this apartment.

• a) Previous owner/tenants were gruesomely murdered (e.g. like the Sef Gonzales murder case)
• b) It's a shoebox apartment (i.e. its super duper small !)
• c) There was a typo in the advert

Pete was thinking the (B) was a huge possiblity since it only is a one bedroom. I agreed, but since I have a limited amount to invest with.. I wasn't exactly looking for a luxury pad!

Nevertheless, Pete called up the agent and arranged an appointment for Saturday. When Pete called me back to confirm, he said the agent seemed to be steering him away from the one bedroom and wanted to show us a few other two bedroom apartments which were available.

two bedroom?!?! What the heck.... didn't we just ask to look a the one bedroom one ?? Could this guy not understand english ??

I knew I couldn't really afford a two bedroom in those areas of Sydney .. but then I knew Pete was looking for something as well.. so I told him.. sure thing.. so long we get to see the one bedroom too.

Boy.. was this guy RUDE ~~!! After about 5 mins in from meeting this guy.. Pete already wanted to get up and leave. I actually had to put my hand on his knee to keep him seated and under control ! I couldn't believe I could actually do that .. as this guy was actually rude to me. The lines of our conversation went something like this....

Agent: Ok .. to get straight to the point. There are a couple of questions I need to ask you both first before I show you the apartment. This is so that I wont waste my time ... and your time and so I can show you the apartments which are right for you.

Me: (thinking) uh ? you already thinking we are wasting your time ??

Pete: Sure .. we understand

Agent: ok .. peter.. what is your absolute maximum you are willing to pay for an apartment. If you were to buy today?

Me: (thinking) god.. you really get straight to the point !

Pete: 360~k

Agent: alice?

Me: 280~k

Agent: (laughs) 280k ? ho ho ho... you wont get anything in this inner west area. What did you say you were looking for ? 1 bedroom ? 2 bedroom? 280k can get nothing.. nothing.

Me: wasn't the 1 bedroom advertised at 190k?!?

Agent: ah.. but that one.. you wont like that one..

Me: umm.. We haven't even seen it yet

Agent: but trust me.. that one is small.. very small.. not right for you. Now the one I want to show you Peter is very nice.. good quiet location.. facing north.. (blah blah blah...).

At this point, my mind had already switched off. He obviously did not think I had the ability to buy something and had already diverted all his attention to Pete. I understand why agents need to 'suss you out' ..to separate the potential serious buyers from just the window shoppers. But this was really getting a bit ridiculous.

Does that mean I am a 'Window Shopper'?!?

I went there with FULL INTENTION of looking at and buying the $190k apartment. How can this idiot judge me like that?? Wasting his time... my foot !

Anyway, we ended up going to take a look at the two bedroom apartment he mentioned (which had an asking price of 369k). It was soooooo small. Pete just kept on shaking his head everytime he looked at me.. with the 'I'm-so-sorry-I-took-you-to-the-agent-from-hell' look in his eyes. Cause the guy never stopped talking. He also had one of those really annoying accents.

He also kept on going off about how people should offer 'fair' prices. Meaning that if this apartment was asking for $369k then to offer $350k would not be considered to be a fair offer. (I don't think any investers or 1st home owner buyers would of ever agreed to just the asking price and not submitted a slightly lower offer).

I think the highlight of the day was when he tried to justify 'a quiet street'. The idiot actually asked us... 'Do you know how the quiet streets are identified by road maps?... (we shook our heads)... its shown in a white colour and all the semi busy and busy main streets and represented in yellow'. He then proceeded to pull out the UBD road map from the glove box and asked Pete to open up to the street the apartment was located to confirm that the street shown was indeed in white colour.

To my knowledge all inner suburban streets in road maps are always shown in white. So what was he trying to get at ??!? Does he really think we are idiots too ??

I actually think that the 190k one bedroom apartment advert is a scam. Just so that the agent can get you to call up to enquire about that apartment and show you other ones instead.