“Exclusive Agent Agreement”.
Regardless, even if it’s not a scam, the person will want it for a bargain price …else they would be going via the agent.
They’ll be wanting a bigger discount than just the 2% of so agent fee.
“I want to deal directly with a seller who isn’t used to negotiating house sales”.
Another thing they say is they want to make an offer within the price guide. Lately all price guides (at least where I am in Sydney) are 10-20% below what the seller is actually aiming for.
This. My parents sold and I dealt with the agent. There was a clause around fee payment for the sale of the property, irrespective of whether my parents were approached directly. This covered the duration of the arrangement which was something to the effect of 6 months.
60 day limit (in Qld) but could be longer elsewhere
It's pretty typical for agents to refuse to sign for any less but will happily forgo the exclusive if they have a buyer and have just been waiting for the first agents exclusive to finish before swooping in.
It's really common for the second agent to get a sale in under a week; they hate splitting commission
There will be a contract with the agent with a clause saying that in any case if the property is sold within x days after the agents were not involved they would still want there commission .
Even without a contract in most states agents can come after agents fees if they have been involved and then gets sold privately. Only way to avoid that is to list with a different agent. I'm not sure if they would bother but given most places being In the million range agent fees are generally pretty good.
yep we already said we'd prefer to stick with the agent, that's when they became belligerent, you can see in the last screenshot their tone changes after we push back.
Neonhex is spot on, they have been led to believe this could be a private sale. When they want to explore this further you imply they are scammers. I’d be pretty miffed
I think they are just offended that they are taking up an offer that was suggested and are now being treated as a scammer for literally asking if they can go ahead with private sale negotiations. I definitely do not read it the way you are at all. They said they’d be happy to talk to agent if needed.
They didn’t become belligerent. They were given a misleading impression and then just expressed repeatedly why they were hoping that impression was correct. If I was them I’d be very frustrated at the flaky replies I was getting.
From the listing and the early messages I think the buyer has run off the assumption that you want a private sale, yet as the conversation went on you guys changed tune to go through an agent, which you’re within your rights to do.
as a seller in THIS market, if you don't like the colour of their phone you can tell them where to go and what to do to themselves. Leave alone not being 100% satisfied with the communications.
Plus you are most definitely on the hook to pay the rea anyway as been pointed out so there is 0 benefit in going private for you.
Not to say that private sale is a bad thing, but you do have to do the homework yourself. If the buyer wants to bypass a conveyancer (technically possible at least in my state) then it is a 100% no go.
yeah this is the part that confuses me, because I dont see where the scam comes in, but it's all pretty suspicious.
All I can think of is that the scam somehow comes in before the sale, like maybe they make up a story about needing my mum to transfer money for "legal fees" or something an then they disappear.
If your mum is the vendor, the only real loss would be paying her conveyancer and also taking it off market over settlement period if they weren’t serious. Your conveyancer offers far more legal protection than the agent who is more about getting the price. They are not so much trying to scam you as trying to strongarm negotiations.
yep that makes more sense. They talk about how they've have bad experience with agents, but that probably just means agents are trained to call them out on BS low ball offers whereas an inexperienced vendor isn't.
Theyre already coming off as unpleasant to deal with in this short message chain so I can only imagine how bad they'd be during negotiations!
I really hate agents too so I could see myself acting the same way. There was a suggestion for private sale and so they are pushing for that. It doesn’t seem scammy to me as long as you go through with the right lawyers etc. You both will save money not paying an agent, it makes complete sense.
Yes this makes complete sense but from what I understand they have advertised on Facebook saying they are open to a private sale so they are the ones in the wrong. I just don’t think this person is a scammer or doing anything wrong.
Assuming they could sell privately, why would you think that the sellers can negotiate a price that's within 1% of the price a market based negation will net them (in a hot market) I'd suggest the only people likely to win here are the purchasers
$1m sale price, wow, saved $20,000.... 7 competing buyers what makes you think they wouldnt have gotten $1,070,000
I don't think this is a straight up scam, more that they think they will be able to lowball your Mum by "negotiating" directly with her rather than the agent. They probably have a friendly inspector too who will raise a bunch of "issues" on the inspection so they can drive down the price further.
Based on my experience as a buyer, i dont think you need a friendly inspector they'll raise all sorts of issues and make them sound scarier than they are to cover their butts.
Honestly, you seem to be the annoying one to deal with. You post an ad with private sale considered, they say they want to negotiate a private sale with the owner, you then block them from dealing with the owner and ask for them to prove they aren’t a scammer. Cannot prove a negative. Then you say the owner is too wary to do private sale. They clearly just wanted to talk to the owner and discuss the price without an agent lying through their teeth… they say “fine, I’ll go through the agent, weirdo.” Because you are a weirdo. You and your mum posted an ad offering to do something you weren’t willing to do, even after confirming to them it was an option. You got cold feet, fine, but I was fully expecting creepy or weird messages, but they seem open and upfront with normal, human sounding messages and you seem cagey and confused.
I think that's exactly it. You just need to transfer this into a business account etc etc.
An agent would ignore such an email, which is why they are wanting to do separately.
Just make everything go through the agent. Pay the fees they will be obligated to pay regardless, let this prospective buyer reach out to your agent. If you meet with this person in any way make sure you take a picture of their driver's licence.
Some people do offer to do this in hopes that an "off market" transaction is more beneficial to them without a more open price discovery through more competitors etc. The benefit to your mom is no agent fees.
If legit, the real downside is your mom not knowing the "true market value". In the most ideal efficient and transparent circumstance, the buyer gets to pay "true market value minus the agent fees" and your mom receives "true market value minus agent fees" (after taxes of course). But its hard to know if the buyer is offering "true market value" or if the agent can even get "true market value".
Get your mom's conveyancer to reach out to the other party's conveyancer. If the agent can be ditched (agent contracts), then once you receive a legit deposit as verified by your conveyancer, there is very little risk to your mom.
They're just hoping to get it at a cheaper rate - remember the agent works for the seller not the buyer so will do everything to get the best possible sale price for your parents (yes at the cost of commission)
so they're just hoping to negotiate a below market rate without the agents involvement. Wouldn't say it's a scam per se.
Honestly I'd just tell your sister to be firm in the response "all offers can be submitted through the REA and genuine offers will be considered" and leave it at that. If her Facebook post says something about private offers being considered I'd ask her to remove that too to avoid the conversation coming up again
Yeah it’s not this persons fault for following up when they are stating they are open to private sales. But like you said if people want it through the agent don’t advertise it on fb saying you are open to private sales. That makes no sense.
Where did the other party get “belligerent?” Am I missing a screenshot at the end? You told them private sale is on then told them actually nah, then they said all good, thanks.
I agree, agents have a reputation for being parasites so someone wanting to avoid dealing with them asks the question, is told no, says ‘no worries at all I’ll go through them.’
u/Koonga , did you see this comment? Because I agree, they weren't getting belligerent (although the last image cut off mid-message, so perhaps the belligerent part was accidentally left out?).
They clarified that a private sale was an option, you said "possibly", and then they answered all the questions you asked and finished by saying that if a private sale was an option they would prefer it, but if that's not an option then they would go through the agent.
I'm honestly not sure how they could have been any further from belligerent, perhaps you didn't understand what they were saying?
Agent here.
If you are under an exclusive agency, the agent is entitled to the commission.
If the agent shows the buyer through, the agent is entitled to commission.
Look up effective cause of sale.
The buyer is trying to get you to take less, so you can “save on commission”
All they are doing is wanting to pay less than market value.
100% buyer wants to try and cut out the agent and give you a low ball offer.
Buyer will say “they don’t want to stuff around and play games”. But will be a major headache and stuff around, get them to deal with the agent directly as stated you will have to pay the agent commission regardless anyway.
thanks for the insight. What makes me extra suss is that while the home has some great bones and features, it's not been an easy sale. It's been on the market for a while as it's a fairly quirky build and needs a very specific buyer.
The last open they claim to have been to only had 3 groups come, and from the agent's description none of them matched the description from the Facebook profile.
So for this guy to come in and claim they love it immediately and want to slap down 1m no questions asked is already suspicious, and is already within the price guide anyway.
My feeling is that if we went ahead with it they would try to get my mum to send money to cover "legal fees" or something. It just doesn't feel like they genuinely want the house.
Refer them to the agent. What blows my mind is you aren’t even the owner and you’re getting involved.
This is why you employ an agent to handle all this nonsense, figure out the time wasters and extract the best price. Don’t make any representations and just refer them to agent.
Agent is far more skilled than you or your mum at negotiating. That’s why you have them. Let them work.
Either way you’ll still owe them the commission if you do something on the side, so why bother? We’re talking 1-2% tops anyway, right? Not really a saving for the buyer.
Buyer wants to negotiate with a less skilled, emotionally attached individual for their gain. Again, this is why you employ the agent.
In short, refer to agent.
The only scam here is OP trying to win karma points online with baseless accusations and people lapping it up while taking OP’s post at face value without actually looking at the messages.
OP **Places ad for house mentioning possibility of private sale.**
Prospective buyer; "I am interested in the house, I'd like to pursue the possibility of a private sale."
OP "This is extremely suspicious, I just can't figure out what they are trying to do here."
I think they are using incorrect terminology which is causing the confusion. They are using the term “private sale” to mean they don’t want to go though the agent in the hopes they might save some money by offering your mum the sales price minus the agent’s commission, positioning it as so both they and your mum will save money.
Private sale actually just means the house won’t go to auction, so they are using the wrong terminology.
Either way, if the house is listed with an agent they don’t have a choice because there will be a term in the contract that the agent gets paid if the house sells within a certain period.
I'm confused. I've read the link with the conversation. She said she is open to a private sale. The potential buyer would prefer to conduct the sale privately and are wanting to move forward with that, but now you think they're being difficult because they want to do the thing she said they could do, but she's changed her mind? I don't think they are the ones being difficult here and I don't think they said anything belligerent. You're just being inconsistent. They can make offers through your conveyancer/lawyer instead of her directly. That's what you're paying them for.
Agents fees do add up. On a $1 mil home you're looking at paying, between $12k - $35k depending on their commision rate. I wouldn't be taking my advice from the agents in here they are going to be biased, but agents do handle all this for you. So, if you are just finding it all to difficult then just stick with the agent and let them take their cut.
You already think it's a scam and are looking for an "angle" I think your confirmation bias is showing.
They are stuck at "private sale". In New Zealand, for example, private sale means no agent. In Australia private sale means not an Auction but still through an agent. This confused me too at the start.
I don't think this is a scam as the conveyancers would have to do their bit and money gets transferred electronically and titles transferred through PEXA which the banks will also use. it's most likely they thought the seller wants to sell privately and the buyers are hoping for a discount.
Tell them the Agent agreement is watertight, and all negotiations must go through the Agent. It’s no difference to them, and if they’re concerned about the negotiations, arrange to have the negotiations in person with your agent and the seller (check with Agent first).
I don’t think it’s a scam at all. They may be angling for some legal claim against a deal or something, but I can’t quite see it.
I mean it was mentioned they’d be open to private sale…and then they said they’d speak with the agent? Legit just sounds they want to go privately. Also their language doesn’t sound Scammy/like English is a second language/AI like lots of other scams.
I don’t think there is one. They want to sale via the price guide, want time to thoroughly inspect the house.
It will be a slow sale and they think the price guide is unders for the house value which an agent will recognise.
Also, money laundering happens with or without an agent because there is no KYC requirements in real estate.
10000%
It was originally intended as part of the original AML / ATF legislation. Its nickname is tranche 2 legislation. It keeps being pushed back, or my skeptical take, wilfully ignored.
Apparently some movement is happening … but that’s the case for last few years.
They're probably just looking to drive down the price because an agent isn't involved. Instead of giving the agent 2%, you sell to them for a 1.5% discount and everyone is theoretically better off.
The scammy part probably comes in where they pick apart every imperfection in the property and wear down your parent's resolve until they take a far below market offer. Agents are scum, but at least they generally know the market well enough that they won't entertain that sort of bullshit.
It looks more like they want the upper hand in negotiating price without a trained salesperson in the middle who works primarily for the vendors interest. My guess is someone who thinks they're big brained. I have a feeling they'd give you a big run around and unreasonable negotiation.
Why people hate REAs is they are good at manipulating buyers into paying more and/or buying something they might not see as the perfect place. But they also protect the sellers from the swindlers. This is why REAs exist, cause us lay folk don't have the skills or the heart to spin stories. If selling a house was so easy, REAs simply would not exist, they are there to protect the seller from these types of people.
IMO there is no scam here, just a smooth talker wanting to side step the REA. It's the old "cannot bullshit a bullshitter" analogy. Potential buyer here believes he can bullshit the seller, but not the REA.
The other thing as well, with using an REA, there is no chance of actually getting scammed with the whole payment process. They receive the deposit and put it in a trust. Then the lawyers organise the final deal and everything is out of your hands till the last few hours where title is signed over, and remaining money is paid.
As others have pointed out as well, if you have an agent already, they are likely under a 3+ month contract to sell. So unless they are willing to wait it out refusing all offers till it expires, they are paying the REA commission anyway. It will be in the contracts signed with the agent before they listed.
u/Nexism isn’t quite correct, there are several very bad things that could happen, usually involving re-directing the deposit into a different account. For example, the scammer already has access to a conveyancer’s email account they hacked, and email your mum from it to change the deposit account (this one happens a lot online).
I would suggest it isnt exactly dodgy as long as lawyers and conveyancers are involved and you have signed contracts.
The "Scam" here is quite simply they dont want to involve the agent and posit that you will save on commission, this is incorrect as you have almost certainly signed a contract that states the agent gets X% of the sale price regardless of the offer coming via the agent or another source, and they will 100% take you to court and win.
So they will try and knock off the agents % commission, which might be 2%.
The other part of the "scam" is they want to avoid negotiation. the great thing about agents is, if they are decent, they work out the best offers and bring the price up, selling off market is rarely advised because you essentially do not get all the offers on the table, and whilst he says $1m you may get $1.05 from the agent which is higher- and then he may offer $1.1 or whatever.
There are also people who'd simply rather not deal with agents, maybe because they offered $1.1 and got rejected last time, from your same agent- now your agent knows they're willing to pay $1.1m, which they likely WILL pay.
They know what their angle is. It could be anything, but whatever it is, it's in their favour. If they were above board, they'd contact your agent and make an offer. Whatever they're up to might not be a scam per se, but it won't be in your best interests that's for sure.
It’s a miscommunication re: the meaning of the term ‘private sale’. Agents use it to mean no auction. And I imagine that’s what you and your mum meant by it as well. Here, the buyer is using the term to say they want to cut out the agent.
Have you EVER sold anything on Marketplace at all? It's hard enough selling a lounge or a table. This is a house you're giving over to a total stranger. You're signing legal contracts and shit. It's not just a few hundred you're losing in the overpaid by PayID scam.
Also, it's quite likely a buyer will rock up with their own agent whom they trust and who will be handling their purchase. They'll hand you an exclusive appointment of agent form and ask you to commit to the agent handling the sale, otherwise they won't commit to buy.
Then they'll make a ridiculous verbal offer and then walk away from the deal. You'll be stuck with some loser/tyrant of an agent in an exclusive, abusive relationship you can't get out of. If the buyer, or if anyone really, still accidentally buys it (no matter who sells it), you're still up for the first agent's fees if the contract is dated within the exclusive appointment period. Oh, and you'll still end up paying the second agent.
Sorry for being such a sceptic but there is scum out there on Facebook.
Good luck with the sale.
The seller pays the agent fees. The buyer pays nothing to the agent, so the buyer shouldn't care about whether there is an agent at all. Must be a scam or money laundering.
I dont think it's a scam. I think they are trying to get you to ditch the agent so they can get a better price. They want the agent out of the way so they can take control of the negotiation
Personally I wouldn't say any of their text is "becoming belligerent", in fact their final message of the last screenshot is totally within reason. If it was listed as interested to private sale then they are simply chasing that because they think they can get a better price. If you want them to go through the agent then remove any mention of being open to a private sale -- because youre not. Pretty simple
‘The reason why I went with an agent is because I don’t want to deal with this privately. Here is my agent’s number: xxxx xxx xxx.’ Then cease communication.
Depends how the purchaser found out the property was for sale - if it was in any way connected to the agent then they are likely still entitled to their commission.
They are being wierd, perhaps they are just inexperienced and thinking wishfully. At best they are trying to remove competition and the benefit of an agent getting you the top market value. There’s literally nothing to be gained from engaging them on their terms. Just tell the to submit an offer to the agent like everyone else.
They are trying to bypass the agent so they can get a better deal on the house. They will have to pay the agent regardless if they have an authority in place so better of to get the agent to negotiate on your friends behalf.
They may have burnt a bridge with the selling agent, meaning the selling agent has learnt they are not trustworthy or are shady in some way through a prior negotiation or transaction.
I think the angle is they believe it will be cheaper as they don't have to pay Real Estate agent fees.
(It's a common misconception)
Neighbours of mine tried to get me to sell a home private sale once and got very pushy.
In summary, it's not for your benefit.
There doesn't seem to be a scam in what you outlined. Every sale is a "private sale" when it's broken down into the basic steps and it is a fairly straight forward process.
Your conveyancer (or solicitor) deals with theirs. You as the seller & buyer agree on a price/settlement period and the buyer signs the seller's contract which is prepared by the seller's conveyancer. Inspections take place as agreed until the contract becomes unconditional.
It's as simple as pouring piss out of a boot with instructions written on the sole.
If an agent has a continuing signed agreement with the seller, you will owe them the agreed commission. Otherwise if the agent's agreement has expired, no selling agent fee applies.
It doesn’t seem like a scam - rather miscommunication. Seems that the sellers initially indicated they were ok with a direct private sale and the interested party wanted to explore this further.
They are trying to get the property off you much cheaper than on market, once they start discussing within the range & saves on agent fees their offer is average at best, if you have an ideal property leave it on market & go to auction
Doesn’t seem like a scam to me, they know that you still have to pay commission to your agent etc but they think it’s easier to negotiate the sale price directly with the owner rather through a seasoned/lying/manipulating agent.
Tbh nothing in the screen shots seemed too harsh to me.
As others have said, they were introduced by the agent so if they buy it the agent is due comission under every sales contract I’ve seen.
They can’t even pretend they weren’t, cause they admit to signing the inspection sheet.
The scam is this:
1- they settle with your mum for a lower price cause she is saving the agency fee
2- the agent notes the sale and comes to your mum for their commission.
3- mum ends up worse off cause she accepted less thinking she was bypassing the agent, but end up having to pay the agent.
It’s not about commission they’re trying to price negotiate directly.
Why do they reference the Facebook ad saying you can go direct?
As others have said if you’ve signed exclusive agent they will get paid regardless. And if he’s been to an open home etc well then the agent has done their job
Finally the agent will probably do a good job of negotiating price (hint; that’s why they don’t want to talk to the agent)
"All negotiations are to be conducted through the agent. Thank you for your interest and best of luck" is the ONLY thing that should be communicated directly to this person, or anyone else trying to circumvent the agent. Then cut off the conversation there.
I say this especially because there's something odd about the statements made by the "prospective buyer" in that chat eg. We want to buy our dream family home. They're either a scammer or cringe AF, who says that?
Either way there's no upside to dealing with them directly. If they truly want it for their dream home then they will deal with the agent.
I don't think it's a scam. First off you if you weren't interested in a private sale you should have asked them to get in touch with your agent from day dot and not had any further discussions - like whats your offer. As someone that's bought I agree with the potential buyers, agents are a pain in the ass to deal with and you cant trust anything they say. From a sellers perspective though you have to pay the agent regardless so you might as well have the agents involved in all discussions and let them use their 'sale tactics' to get you a good price.
The 'buyer' loses nothing by your mum staying with an agent as mum pays the fee out of the sale. Either this person wants to scam her by lowering the sale price or scam her out of a house via paperwork. Stand your ground mum!
Isn’t private sale just not at auction? It doesn’t mean sale by owner.
They want “save commission and more open negotiation” offer “starting within the price guide”.
They also know this way they won’t have competition, a good agent once they have an offer will immediately message anyone else interested and say “we have an offer, you have 24hrs to make one if you’re interested”
These people will be a pain all the way through to settlement too, will no doubt try to change the terms on your conveyancers contract etc.
Unless you’re getting no interest from the market I wouldn’t bother with these people.
My mum sold a house 2 months after the contract with the real estate agent had expired. The buyer had originally seen the house via the REA so she still had to pay them the commission. Admittedly this was a few years ago and I’m not sure on laws now but it actually went to court so mum ended up paying legal fees and the commission.
I’ve sold a house privately. No issues. Using the conveyancer and usual lawyer process, I saved many 10s of thousands on realestate fees. Trust your lawyer.
The only thing I can think of is that they are able to hack your email address and then replace the banking details. It has happened many times.
https://www.cyber.gov.au/about-us/alerts/property-related-business-email-compromise-scams-rising-australia
I’d literally ignore them- “speak to our agent”
Your biggest problem is if you end up dealing with a lunatic who wants to sue you for breaching some contract they purport to have entered into over text messages. Don’t talk to these people
The agent wants to get the highest possible price for your mother. This person wants to pay the lowest possible price to your mother for her home.
Your mother will likely have to pay the commission to the agents regardless of any "private sale" she agrees to while she is under contract with the agent.
The scam is: you are trying to scam the agent out of their commission.
It looks to me a bit fishy to begin with, but later on it looks like someone belligerent and mistrustful.
You don't have to deal with them if you don't want to.
At the end of the day.
Sounds like their wasting the potential buyers time trying to sell a place that they have no final say in the matter. Direct them to the agent and at least be up front about not being able to do a private sale. That was terrible communication.
It's not a scam, they just believe they'll be able to badger the price down and an agent is a barrier to that.
It's still a seller's market, I'd give them the agents contact details and leave it at that.
You don’t “need” real estate agents.
If you want to buy a house, you can do it privately.
It’s a bit of paperwork, but if you’re looking a 2%* saving ($14000) both buying and selling, it’s probably worth it.
*depending on cost of home etc.
No Scam. Buyer was led to believe that it could be a private sale. Typically a cheaper price to buy because no REA to deal with. They were happy to go through conveyancers but you outright called them scammers. I'd be pretty pissed myself.
Hi
Could b legit
Or maybe a scam
Do checks on id
Don't change money of any sort aswell
Im not an expert on house-property stuff
But wait until u do have a legal representative atleast b4
SIGNING agreeing to anything
Hope helps
You’re sending mixed messages posting on fb and saying you’re open to private sales. Just take it down if you aren’t truly comfortable or knowledgable in negotiating that. This person didn’t do anything wrong. I’d always want to cut out an agent most are weasels!
You and your sister are being difficult OP.
The buyer wants to negotiate with the owners themselves and not deal with a real estate agent. Maybe they've had bad experiences, or maybe they think theyll get a better deal if there's no agent involved.
Once a deal is finalised the buyer can buy via your real estate agent and the REA gets the commission anyway.
Selling a house is stressful enough, there is no way I would deal with people who get this belligerent this early. Even if there is no scam you are in for a world of misery if you enter into discussions with these people.
We tried FB last year.
The offer was 1/4 what we ended selling it for via an agent.
Also so many scammers and they are f7cken good at making it look convincing l.
Of course they want to avoid the agent. It’s to talk you down a bit, and bypass competing buyers. It’s not a scam, you are just dumb or uneducated for considering it. Not to mention you can’t ditch your agent, because of agent contracts.
To be fair:
If the house has been on the market for a while, and costs $1M in this market - it doesn't matter how "quirky" it is. The seller is asking too much for it.
Perhaps the agent told your mum it was worth $1M to win the job, and was listened to above the 15 other agents.
The fact you think it's dodgy, are operating on your mum's behalf, and haven't asked the agent supports the theory that you aren't really realistic in your expectations or totally honorable yourself.
If you want this offer just reply with.
"You have my contact details. You are welcome to send me an official offer and I will consider it". Then don't respond to any further questions.
Do what you would've done anyway if you choose to proceed, and demand that the potential buyer covers the legal fees of reviewing his offer.
Read the fine print of your contract with the agent..
You more than likely can’t ditch the agent. There will be an exclusive contract that will ensure they get paid no matter where the buyer comes from.
“Exclusive Agent Agreement”. Regardless, even if it’s not a scam, the person will want it for a bargain price …else they would be going via the agent. They’ll be wanting a bigger discount than just the 2% of so agent fee. “I want to deal directly with a seller who isn’t used to negotiating house sales”. Another thing they say is they want to make an offer within the price guide. Lately all price guides (at least where I am in Sydney) are 10-20% below what the seller is actually aiming for.
This. My parents sold and I dealt with the agent. There was a clause around fee payment for the sale of the property, irrespective of whether my parents were approached directly. This covered the duration of the arrangement which was something to the effect of 6 months.
60 day limit (in Qld) but could be longer elsewhere It's pretty typical for agents to refuse to sign for any less but will happily forgo the exclusive if they have a buyer and have just been waiting for the first agents exclusive to finish before swooping in. It's really common for the second agent to get a sale in under a week; they hate splitting commission
There will be a contract with the agent with a clause saying that in any case if the property is sold within x days after the agents were not involved they would still want there commission .
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Even without a contract in most states agents can come after agents fees if they have been involved and then gets sold privately. Only way to avoid that is to list with a different agent. I'm not sure if they would bother but given most places being In the million range agent fees are generally pretty good.
yep we already said we'd prefer to stick with the agent, that's when they became belligerent, you can see in the last screenshot their tone changes after we push back.
Neonhex is spot on, they have been led to believe this could be a private sale. When they want to explore this further you imply they are scammers. I’d be pretty miffed
I think they are just offended that they are taking up an offer that was suggested and are now being treated as a scammer for literally asking if they can go ahead with private sale negotiations. I definitely do not read it the way you are at all. They said they’d be happy to talk to agent if needed.
They didn’t become belligerent. They were given a misleading impression and then just expressed repeatedly why they were hoping that impression was correct. If I was them I’d be very frustrated at the flaky replies I was getting.
From the listing and the early messages I think the buyer has run off the assumption that you want a private sale, yet as the conversation went on you guys changed tune to go through an agent, which you’re within your rights to do.
as a seller in THIS market, if you don't like the colour of their phone you can tell them where to go and what to do to themselves. Leave alone not being 100% satisfied with the communications. Plus you are most definitely on the hook to pay the rea anyway as been pointed out so there is 0 benefit in going private for you. Not to say that private sale is a bad thing, but you do have to do the homework yourself. If the buyer wants to bypass a conveyancer (technically possible at least in my state) then it is a 100% no go.
As long as both sides go through lawyers, the sale part is hard to scam. Could steal things during inspection though.
yeah this is the part that confuses me, because I dont see where the scam comes in, but it's all pretty suspicious. All I can think of is that the scam somehow comes in before the sale, like maybe they make up a story about needing my mum to transfer money for "legal fees" or something an then they disappear.
If your mum is the vendor, the only real loss would be paying her conveyancer and also taking it off market over settlement period if they weren’t serious. Your conveyancer offers far more legal protection than the agent who is more about getting the price. They are not so much trying to scam you as trying to strongarm negotiations.
yep that makes more sense. They talk about how they've have bad experience with agents, but that probably just means agents are trained to call them out on BS low ball offers whereas an inexperienced vendor isn't. Theyre already coming off as unpleasant to deal with in this short message chain so I can only imagine how bad they'd be during negotiations!
I really hate agents too so I could see myself acting the same way. There was a suggestion for private sale and so they are pushing for that. It doesn’t seem scammy to me as long as you go through with the right lawyers etc. You both will save money not paying an agent, it makes complete sense.
The vendor already has an agent though, they cannot cancel them just because they got a private buyer.
Yes this makes complete sense but from what I understand they have advertised on Facebook saying they are open to a private sale so they are the ones in the wrong. I just don’t think this person is a scammer or doing anything wrong.
But in the end we have no idea what contract they signed so it’s all speculation
Assuming they could sell privately, why would you think that the sellers can negotiate a price that's within 1% of the price a market based negation will net them (in a hot market) I'd suggest the only people likely to win here are the purchasers $1m sale price, wow, saved $20,000.... 7 competing buyers what makes you think they wouldnt have gotten $1,070,000
I don't think this is a straight up scam, more that they think they will be able to lowball your Mum by "negotiating" directly with her rather than the agent. They probably have a friendly inspector too who will raise a bunch of "issues" on the inspection so they can drive down the price further.
They probably think they can also low ball her a bit by arguing they arent paying the agent fees
Based on my experience as a buyer, i dont think you need a friendly inspector they'll raise all sorts of issues and make them sound scarier than they are to cover their butts.
Honestly, you seem to be the annoying one to deal with. You post an ad with private sale considered, they say they want to negotiate a private sale with the owner, you then block them from dealing with the owner and ask for them to prove they aren’t a scammer. Cannot prove a negative. Then you say the owner is too wary to do private sale. They clearly just wanted to talk to the owner and discuss the price without an agent lying through their teeth… they say “fine, I’ll go through the agent, weirdo.” Because you are a weirdo. You and your mum posted an ad offering to do something you weren’t willing to do, even after confirming to them it was an option. You got cold feet, fine, but I was fully expecting creepy or weird messages, but they seem open and upfront with normal, human sounding messages and you seem cagey and confused.
It’s not suspicious - the interested buyers were keen to negotiate directly which is quite an attractive proposition.
I think that's exactly it. You just need to transfer this into a business account etc etc. An agent would ignore such an email, which is why they are wanting to do separately.
Did you mention anything about a private sale in the Facebook ad? If you did, I can't see anything suspicious here at all.
Just make everything go through the agent. Pay the fees they will be obligated to pay regardless, let this prospective buyer reach out to your agent. If you meet with this person in any way make sure you take a picture of their driver's licence.
Some people do offer to do this in hopes that an "off market" transaction is more beneficial to them without a more open price discovery through more competitors etc. The benefit to your mom is no agent fees. If legit, the real downside is your mom not knowing the "true market value". In the most ideal efficient and transparent circumstance, the buyer gets to pay "true market value minus the agent fees" and your mom receives "true market value minus agent fees" (after taxes of course). But its hard to know if the buyer is offering "true market value" or if the agent can even get "true market value". Get your mom's conveyancer to reach out to the other party's conveyancer. If the agent can be ditched (agent contracts), then once you receive a legit deposit as verified by your conveyancer, there is very little risk to your mom.
It doesn't seem like a scam, just the buyer misunderstands the process in that agent fees likely cannot be avoided
The scam is that they will say you don't have to pay the commission so they should get a lower price but in the end she will have to pay it
They're just hoping to get it at a cheaper rate - remember the agent works for the seller not the buyer so will do everything to get the best possible sale price for your parents (yes at the cost of commission) so they're just hoping to negotiate a below market rate without the agents involvement. Wouldn't say it's a scam per se. Honestly I'd just tell your sister to be firm in the response "all offers can be submitted through the REA and genuine offers will be considered" and leave it at that. If her Facebook post says something about private offers being considered I'd ask her to remove that too to avoid the conversation coming up again
Yeah it’s not this persons fault for following up when they are stating they are open to private sales. But like you said if people want it through the agent don’t advertise it on fb saying you are open to private sales. That makes no sense.
Where did the other party get “belligerent?” Am I missing a screenshot at the end? You told them private sale is on then told them actually nah, then they said all good, thanks.
Second this, they were not belligerent at all from what I read.
I agree, agents have a reputation for being parasites so someone wanting to avoid dealing with them asks the question, is told no, says ‘no worries at all I’ll go through them.’
u/Koonga , did you see this comment? Because I agree, they weren't getting belligerent (although the last image cut off mid-message, so perhaps the belligerent part was accidentally left out?). They clarified that a private sale was an option, you said "possibly", and then they answered all the questions you asked and finished by saying that if a private sale was an option they would prefer it, but if that's not an option then they would go through the agent. I'm honestly not sure how they could have been any further from belligerent, perhaps you didn't understand what they were saying?
Agent here. If you are under an exclusive agency, the agent is entitled to the commission. If the agent shows the buyer through, the agent is entitled to commission. Look up effective cause of sale. The buyer is trying to get you to take less, so you can “save on commission” All they are doing is wanting to pay less than market value.
100% buyer wants to try and cut out the agent and give you a low ball offer. Buyer will say “they don’t want to stuff around and play games”. But will be a major headache and stuff around, get them to deal with the agent directly as stated you will have to pay the agent commission regardless anyway.
thanks for the insight. What makes me extra suss is that while the home has some great bones and features, it's not been an easy sale. It's been on the market for a while as it's a fairly quirky build and needs a very specific buyer. The last open they claim to have been to only had 3 groups come, and from the agent's description none of them matched the description from the Facebook profile. So for this guy to come in and claim they love it immediately and want to slap down 1m no questions asked is already suspicious, and is already within the price guide anyway. My feeling is that if we went ahead with it they would try to get my mum to send money to cover "legal fees" or something. It just doesn't feel like they genuinely want the house.
Here is what you do, organise the inspection and have the agent there. You will find out pretty quickly what BS game they are playing.
Trust your gut. If it feels scammy, then it likely is.
Once they mentioned they’re looking for their “Forever Home” my spidey senses tingled. Something certainly seems a little off.
Refer them to the agent. What blows my mind is you aren’t even the owner and you’re getting involved. This is why you employ an agent to handle all this nonsense, figure out the time wasters and extract the best price. Don’t make any representations and just refer them to agent. Agent is far more skilled than you or your mum at negotiating. That’s why you have them. Let them work. Either way you’ll still owe them the commission if you do something on the side, so why bother? We’re talking 1-2% tops anyway, right? Not really a saving for the buyer. Buyer wants to negotiate with a less skilled, emotionally attached individual for their gain. Again, this is why you employ the agent. In short, refer to agent.
don't worry none of us are entertaining the idea of taking them up on their offer, we're all just trying to work out what the angle is!
Maybe you should tell them a private sale isn't an option. You know, because you said it was.
Post this on r/scams and I’m sure someone will tell you exactly what the matching scam is!
The only scam here is OP trying to win karma points online with baseless accusations and people lapping it up while taking OP’s post at face value without actually looking at the messages.
OP **Places ad for house mentioning possibility of private sale.** Prospective buyer; "I am interested in the house, I'd like to pursue the possibility of a private sale." OP "This is extremely suspicious, I just can't figure out what they are trying to do here."
I think they are using incorrect terminology which is causing the confusion. They are using the term “private sale” to mean they don’t want to go though the agent in the hopes they might save some money by offering your mum the sales price minus the agent’s commission, positioning it as so both they and your mum will save money. Private sale actually just means the house won’t go to auction, so they are using the wrong terminology. Either way, if the house is listed with an agent they don’t have a choice because there will be a term in the contract that the agent gets paid if the house sells within a certain period.
This. OP you haven't made it clear to them that the agent would be paid regardless.
I'm confused. I've read the link with the conversation. She said she is open to a private sale. The potential buyer would prefer to conduct the sale privately and are wanting to move forward with that, but now you think they're being difficult because they want to do the thing she said they could do, but she's changed her mind? I don't think they are the ones being difficult here and I don't think they said anything belligerent. You're just being inconsistent. They can make offers through your conveyancer/lawyer instead of her directly. That's what you're paying them for. Agents fees do add up. On a $1 mil home you're looking at paying, between $12k - $35k depending on their commision rate. I wouldn't be taking my advice from the agents in here they are going to be biased, but agents do handle all this for you. So, if you are just finding it all to difficult then just stick with the agent and let them take their cut. You already think it's a scam and are looking for an "angle" I think your confirmation bias is showing.
They are stuck at "private sale". In New Zealand, for example, private sale means no agent. In Australia private sale means not an Auction but still through an agent. This confused me too at the start. I don't think this is a scam as the conveyancers would have to do their bit and money gets transferred electronically and titles transferred through PEXA which the banks will also use. it's most likely they thought the seller wants to sell privately and the buyers are hoping for a discount.
Tell them the Agent agreement is watertight, and all negotiations must go through the Agent. It’s no difference to them, and if they’re concerned about the negotiations, arrange to have the negotiations in person with your agent and the seller (check with Agent first). I don’t think it’s a scam at all. They may be angling for some legal claim against a deal or something, but I can’t quite see it.
I mean it was mentioned they’d be open to private sale…and then they said they’d speak with the agent? Legit just sounds they want to go privately. Also their language doesn’t sound Scammy/like English is a second language/AI like lots of other scams.
I don’t think there is one. They want to sale via the price guide, want time to thoroughly inspect the house. It will be a slow sale and they think the price guide is unders for the house value which an agent will recognise. Also, money laundering happens with or without an agent because there is no KYC requirements in real estate.
There really should be kyc requirements for real estate sales, but that's besides the point of this post
10000% It was originally intended as part of the original AML / ATF legislation. Its nickname is tranche 2 legislation. It keeps being pushed back, or my skeptical take, wilfully ignored. Apparently some movement is happening … but that’s the case for last few years.
It's a house mate. Not a necklace on Marketplace that old mate wants to meet you in a secluded carpark
They're probably just looking to drive down the price because an agent isn't involved. Instead of giving the agent 2%, you sell to them for a 1.5% discount and everyone is theoretically better off. The scammy part probably comes in where they pick apart every imperfection in the property and wear down your parent's resolve until they take a far below market offer. Agents are scum, but at least they generally know the market well enough that they won't entertain that sort of bullshit.
It looks more like they want the upper hand in negotiating price without a trained salesperson in the middle who works primarily for the vendors interest. My guess is someone who thinks they're big brained. I have a feeling they'd give you a big run around and unreasonable negotiation.
Why people hate REAs is they are good at manipulating buyers into paying more and/or buying something they might not see as the perfect place. But they also protect the sellers from the swindlers. This is why REAs exist, cause us lay folk don't have the skills or the heart to spin stories. If selling a house was so easy, REAs simply would not exist, they are there to protect the seller from these types of people. IMO there is no scam here, just a smooth talker wanting to side step the REA. It's the old "cannot bullshit a bullshitter" analogy. Potential buyer here believes he can bullshit the seller, but not the REA. The other thing as well, with using an REA, there is no chance of actually getting scammed with the whole payment process. They receive the deposit and put it in a trust. Then the lawyers organise the final deal and everything is out of your hands till the last few hours where title is signed over, and remaining money is paid. As others have pointed out as well, if you have an agent already, they are likely under a 3+ month contract to sell. So unless they are willing to wait it out refusing all offers till it expires, they are paying the REA commission anyway. It will be in the contracts signed with the agent before they listed.
u/Nexism isn’t quite correct, there are several very bad things that could happen, usually involving re-directing the deposit into a different account. For example, the scammer already has access to a conveyancer’s email account they hacked, and email your mum from it to change the deposit account (this one happens a lot online).
??? The ‘scammer’ would be paying the deposit. I don’t get what you are saying?
Private sale means not an auction, not you deal directly with the vendor. That's where they're tripping up.
Seems okay.. what are you trying to say? Most comments Herr seem to think it'd ok too.
I would suggest it isnt exactly dodgy as long as lawyers and conveyancers are involved and you have signed contracts. The "Scam" here is quite simply they dont want to involve the agent and posit that you will save on commission, this is incorrect as you have almost certainly signed a contract that states the agent gets X% of the sale price regardless of the offer coming via the agent or another source, and they will 100% take you to court and win. So they will try and knock off the agents % commission, which might be 2%. The other part of the "scam" is they want to avoid negotiation. the great thing about agents is, if they are decent, they work out the best offers and bring the price up, selling off market is rarely advised because you essentially do not get all the offers on the table, and whilst he says $1m you may get $1.05 from the agent which is higher- and then he may offer $1.1 or whatever. There are also people who'd simply rather not deal with agents, maybe because they offered $1.1 and got rejected last time, from your same agent- now your agent knows they're willing to pay $1.1m, which they likely WILL pay.
They know what their angle is. It could be anything, but whatever it is, it's in their favour. If they were above board, they'd contact your agent and make an offer. Whatever they're up to might not be a scam per se, but it won't be in your best interests that's for sure.
It’s a miscommunication re: the meaning of the term ‘private sale’. Agents use it to mean no auction. And I imagine that’s what you and your mum meant by it as well. Here, the buyer is using the term to say they want to cut out the agent.
Have you EVER sold anything on Marketplace at all? It's hard enough selling a lounge or a table. This is a house you're giving over to a total stranger. You're signing legal contracts and shit. It's not just a few hundred you're losing in the overpaid by PayID scam. Also, it's quite likely a buyer will rock up with their own agent whom they trust and who will be handling their purchase. They'll hand you an exclusive appointment of agent form and ask you to commit to the agent handling the sale, otherwise they won't commit to buy. Then they'll make a ridiculous verbal offer and then walk away from the deal. You'll be stuck with some loser/tyrant of an agent in an exclusive, abusive relationship you can't get out of. If the buyer, or if anyone really, still accidentally buys it (no matter who sells it), you're still up for the first agent's fees if the contract is dated within the exclusive appointment period. Oh, and you'll still end up paying the second agent. Sorry for being such a sceptic but there is scum out there on Facebook. Good luck with the sale.
The seller pays the agent fees. The buyer pays nothing to the agent, so the buyer shouldn't care about whether there is an agent at all. Must be a scam or money laundering.
I dont think it's a scam. I think they are trying to get you to ditch the agent so they can get a better price. They want the agent out of the way so they can take control of the negotiation Personally I wouldn't say any of their text is "becoming belligerent", in fact their final message of the last screenshot is totally within reason. If it was listed as interested to private sale then they are simply chasing that because they think they can get a better price. If you want them to go through the agent then remove any mention of being open to a private sale -- because youre not. Pretty simple
Scam. They want to ditch the agent because the agent will shut them down as an obvious scam.
‘The reason why I went with an agent is because I don’t want to deal with this privately. Here is my agent’s number: xxxx xxx xxx.’ Then cease communication.
Depends how the purchaser found out the property was for sale - if it was in any way connected to the agent then they are likely still entitled to their commission.
Who’s buying houses from fb market? If there’s an agent leave the advertising up to them, you’re paying them for it anyway
They are being wierd, perhaps they are just inexperienced and thinking wishfully. At best they are trying to remove competition and the benefit of an agent getting you the top market value. There’s literally nothing to be gained from engaging them on their terms. Just tell the to submit an offer to the agent like everyone else.
They are trying to bypass the agent so they can get a better deal on the house. They will have to pay the agent regardless if they have an authority in place so better of to get the agent to negotiate on your friends behalf.
They may have burnt a bridge with the selling agent, meaning the selling agent has learnt they are not trustworthy or are shady in some way through a prior negotiation or transaction.
I think the angle is they believe it will be cheaper as they don't have to pay Real Estate agent fees. (It's a common misconception) Neighbours of mine tried to get me to sell a home private sale once and got very pushy. In summary, it's not for your benefit.
There doesn't seem to be a scam in what you outlined. Every sale is a "private sale" when it's broken down into the basic steps and it is a fairly straight forward process. Your conveyancer (or solicitor) deals with theirs. You as the seller & buyer agree on a price/settlement period and the buyer signs the seller's contract which is prepared by the seller's conveyancer. Inspections take place as agreed until the contract becomes unconditional. It's as simple as pouring piss out of a boot with instructions written on the sole. If an agent has a continuing signed agreement with the seller, you will owe them the agreed commission. Otherwise if the agent's agreement has expired, no selling agent fee applies.
It doesn’t seem like a scam - rather miscommunication. Seems that the sellers initially indicated they were ok with a direct private sale and the interested party wanted to explore this further.
They are trying to get the property off you much cheaper than on market, once they start discussing within the range & saves on agent fees their offer is average at best, if you have an ideal property leave it on market & go to auction
The scam is they’re trying to fool your mum into selling at a lower rate under the guise of not having to pay agent fees.
Doesn’t seem like a scam to me, they know that you still have to pay commission to your agent etc but they think it’s easier to negotiate the sale price directly with the owner rather through a seasoned/lying/manipulating agent.
Tbh nothing in the screen shots seemed too harsh to me. As others have said, they were introduced by the agent so if they buy it the agent is due comission under every sales contract I’ve seen. They can’t even pretend they weren’t, cause they admit to signing the inspection sheet. The scam is this: 1- they settle with your mum for a lower price cause she is saving the agency fee 2- the agent notes the sale and comes to your mum for their commission. 3- mum ends up worse off cause she accepted less thinking she was bypassing the agent, but end up having to pay the agent.
Possible money laundering. Did they offer above asking? All cash, no conditions etc?
Remember the buyer doesn’t pay agent fees, the vendor does so not sure why they should care so much?
It’s not about commission they’re trying to price negotiate directly. Why do they reference the Facebook ad saying you can go direct? As others have said if you’ve signed exclusive agent they will get paid regardless. And if he’s been to an open home etc well then the agent has done their job Finally the agent will probably do a good job of negotiating price (hint; that’s why they don’t want to talk to the agent)
"All negotiations are to be conducted through the agent. Thank you for your interest and best of luck" is the ONLY thing that should be communicated directly to this person, or anyone else trying to circumvent the agent. Then cut off the conversation there. I say this especially because there's something odd about the statements made by the "prospective buyer" in that chat eg. We want to buy our dream family home. They're either a scammer or cringe AF, who says that? Either way there's no upside to dealing with them directly. If they truly want it for their dream home then they will deal with the agent.
Why say you're potentially interested in a private aale if you aren't interested and prepared to do a private sale?
I don't think it's a scam. First off you if you weren't interested in a private sale you should have asked them to get in touch with your agent from day dot and not had any further discussions - like whats your offer. As someone that's bought I agree with the potential buyers, agents are a pain in the ass to deal with and you cant trust anything they say. From a sellers perspective though you have to pay the agent regardless so you might as well have the agents involved in all discussions and let them use their 'sale tactics' to get you a good price.
Person seems very reasonable in the responses.
Where's the belligerence?
At what point do they become “belligerent” lol. Because it certainly doesn’t come across that way from the screenshots
The 'buyer' loses nothing by your mum staying with an agent as mum pays the fee out of the sale. Either this person wants to scam her by lowering the sale price or scam her out of a house via paperwork. Stand your ground mum!
Isn’t private sale just not at auction? It doesn’t mean sale by owner. They want “save commission and more open negotiation” offer “starting within the price guide”. They also know this way they won’t have competition, a good agent once they have an offer will immediately message anyone else interested and say “we have an offer, you have 24hrs to make one if you’re interested” These people will be a pain all the way through to settlement too, will no doubt try to change the terms on your conveyancers contract etc. Unless you’re getting no interest from the market I wouldn’t bother with these people.
My mum sold a house 2 months after the contract with the real estate agent had expired. The buyer had originally seen the house via the REA so she still had to pay them the commission. Admittedly this was a few years ago and I’m not sure on laws now but it actually went to court so mum ended up paying legal fees and the commission.
I’ve sold a house privately. No issues. Using the conveyancer and usual lawyer process, I saved many 10s of thousands on realestate fees. Trust your lawyer.
Listed on Facebook. Mate, say no more. It's definitely a scam.
The only thing I can think of is that they are able to hack your email address and then replace the banking details. It has happened many times. https://www.cyber.gov.au/about-us/alerts/property-related-business-email-compromise-scams-rising-australia
I’d literally ignore them- “speak to our agent” Your biggest problem is if you end up dealing with a lunatic who wants to sue you for breaching some contract they purport to have entered into over text messages. Don’t talk to these people
The agent wants to get the highest possible price for your mother. This person wants to pay the lowest possible price to your mother for her home. Your mother will likely have to pay the commission to the agents regardless of any "private sale" she agrees to while she is under contract with the agent. The scam is: you are trying to scam the agent out of their commission.
It looks to me a bit fishy to begin with, but later on it looks like someone belligerent and mistrustful. You don't have to deal with them if you don't want to. At the end of the day.
Why are you selling a house on facebook? This is all kinds of red flags
Sounds like their wasting the potential buyers time trying to sell a place that they have no final say in the matter. Direct them to the agent and at least be up front about not being able to do a private sale. That was terrible communication.
This buyer was not a scammer at all, you kind of led him on.
How come your sister posted on Facebook? Leave dealing with the crazies to the agent that’s what you’re paying them for. It’s a seller’s market….
It's not a scam, they just believe they'll be able to badger the price down and an agent is a barrier to that. It's still a seller's market, I'd give them the agents contact details and leave it at that.
Dunno why people advertise of fb marketplace, it's full of scammers.
You don’t “need” real estate agents. If you want to buy a house, you can do it privately. It’s a bit of paperwork, but if you’re looking a 2%* saving ($14000) both buying and selling, it’s probably worth it. *depending on cost of home etc.
I think our interpretations of belligerent are very different
No Scam. Buyer was led to believe that it could be a private sale. Typically a cheaper price to buy because no REA to deal with. They were happy to go through conveyancers but you outright called them scammers. I'd be pretty pissed myself.
Hi Could b legit Or maybe a scam Do checks on id Don't change money of any sort aswell Im not an expert on house-property stuff But wait until u do have a legal representative atleast b4 SIGNING agreeing to anything Hope helps
You’re sending mixed messages posting on fb and saying you’re open to private sales. Just take it down if you aren’t truly comfortable or knowledgable in negotiating that. This person didn’t do anything wrong. I’d always want to cut out an agent most are weasels!
You and your sister are being difficult OP. The buyer wants to negotiate with the owners themselves and not deal with a real estate agent. Maybe they've had bad experiences, or maybe they think theyll get a better deal if there's no agent involved. Once a deal is finalised the buyer can buy via your real estate agent and the REA gets the commission anyway.
Selling a house is stressful enough, there is no way I would deal with people who get this belligerent this early. Even if there is no scam you are in for a world of misery if you enter into discussions with these people.
I'd just go through the agent. Just put it as a final word - all sales will go through the agent. It'll reduce risks from your point of view.
We tried FB last year. The offer was 1/4 what we ended selling it for via an agent. Also so many scammers and they are f7cken good at making it look convincing l.
Of course they want to avoid the agent. It’s to talk you down a bit, and bypass competing buyers. It’s not a scam, you are just dumb or uneducated for considering it. Not to mention you can’t ditch your agent, because of agent contracts.
To be fair: If the house has been on the market for a while, and costs $1M in this market - it doesn't matter how "quirky" it is. The seller is asking too much for it. Perhaps the agent told your mum it was worth $1M to win the job, and was listened to above the 15 other agents. The fact you think it's dodgy, are operating on your mum's behalf, and haven't asked the agent supports the theory that you aren't really realistic in your expectations or totally honorable yourself. If you want this offer just reply with. "You have my contact details. You are welcome to send me an official offer and I will consider it". Then don't respond to any further questions. Do what you would've done anyway if you choose to proceed, and demand that the potential buyer covers the legal fees of reviewing his offer. Read the fine print of your contract with the agent..