Estate Agent Theft Threat Increasing

OPINION
by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.B
Real Estate Lawyer
Qualified Practising Conveyancer Victoria
Director Lawyers Real Estate Pty Ltd

According to Chris Vedelago, writing for The Age newspaper, "Falling sales levels and the prospect of a weaker market has led more than one in 10 real estate companies to consider selling up...The number of companies looking to move out of real estate has quadrupled...The Real Estate Institute of Victoria says agency revenues have dropped 20%." When things get tough for estate agents consumers must be ever more alert for crooked behaviour.

Times are hard for estate agents

"Softer market has estate companies ready to pack it in" is the title of the article by Chris Vedelago (The Age Wednesday 20 August, 2008 p.9).

According to Vedelago,

"Last month, the Real Estate Institute of victoria said that agency revenues may have fallen by as much as 20% across Melbourne in line with a decline in the number of transactions."

According to the CEO of the REIV, Enzo Raimondo:

"The good ones will survive and get stronger, while the marginal operators will disappear. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either."

What was left unsaid is the likelihood that these "marginal operators" will not leave this normally lucrative industry without a struggle, and there is nothing more dangerous for real estate consumers than desperate estate agents with cash-flow problems.

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