Two businesses that advertise homes on popular real estate websites for private sellers say they have seen a 25 to 30 per cent increase in inquiries over the past year.The Real Estate Institute of Queensland says, despite it being a seller's market, the expertise of agents is still needed.When Nicholas Gray decided to sell his home in regional Queensland, a real estate agent asked him for about $11,000 in commission fees and valued the property much lower than he expected.
It also ended up selling for $40,000 more than the agent's estimate and Mr Gray saved about $11,000 on commission fees. Dr Fotheringham credited that to the increased popularity of third-party businesses that charge a flat rate to list homes on real estate portals, such as realestate.com or Domain. Wendy Baxter and her family have spent the past year renovating their investment property in Rockhampton in central Queensland.
"It remains incredibly uncommon for property owners to sell their own homes and with good reason," she said.