Having spent 18 months looking for a home to buy within the Illawarra, Jessica* has described the experience as "disastrous".
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"I have a four-year-old and a one-year-old, and mental health-wise you struggle enough with this COVID environment, and with all our family in Victoria and no support," she said.
"You're trying to find a home, a safe place, a backyard for your kids. It's just gut-wrenching each time."
Jessica, 39, rents with her husband in Fairy Meadow.
They have been actively looking for places to buy in Wollongong and surrounding suburbs, and some northern suburbs.
To help their chances of securing a purchase in the Illawarra, they sold their interstate property first to boost their deposit amount.
"And we're on over $180,000 taxable income [between us], and we still can't get anything under a million dollars," she said.
Their experiences have included an agent accepting another offer 90 minutes after Jessica and her partner signed a contract and paid a deposit on a property.
Jessica said adding to their frustration was what she described as the "appallingly deceptive and deceitful behaviour" of some real estate agents.
She claimed a developer increased the price of an off-the-plan house by $150,000 on the day of contract signing, while the real estate agent was allegedly disengaged and unprofessional in the process.
"We did due diligence, even chose the bricks, changed the plan, met with the developer," she said.
"Three days after meeting with the developer, the agent sends an email saying, 'oh, the developer's just decided to increase the price by $150,000'. Even though the agent was the one who priced the deal."
Jessica said other tactics included agents knowingly under-quoting. "For example, if the price guide states $850,000 to $900,000, but then the actual starting negotiation price is $100,000 above that," she said.
"Some agents, every Monday you get the phone call - 'this is your last chance to put in an offer'.
"The pressure is there... The fear of missing out. I'm strong enough to say, 'no, see you later'. But for someone who's really over this process, I can see how people just pay a hundred grand more just to be done with it."
Jessica said she had resorted to also seeking out private sellers via means such as social media, but hadn't enjoyed any luck so far.
Real Estate Institute of NSW CEO Tim McKibbin said the Illawarra market was "on fire".
"And for that reason, it is very difficult for anybody to be able to accurately predict what the price of a property is going to achieve at market.
"The demand is substantially greater than the supply, and in any market where the supply cannot respond to the demand, you are always going to have pressure on prices."
Mr McKibbin said to contact Fair Trading if agents had engaged in illegal activity or misconduct. However, he said within hot markets, data indicated allegations of under-quoting rose substantially.
"I think the reason for that is because predicting what the market is going to do, what a house is going to achieve at sale, is extremely difficult," he said.
"Let's say the estimated selling price of a property is a million dollars, and you turn up and it sells for $1.3 million, $1.5 million. Then you have every right to believe something was wrong there.
"But the reality of it is, in those circumstances, the purchasers in competition push the price up.
"Am I saying that there's no agents out there who are participating in under-quoting? Sadly, there are agents who do it.
"Is it as bad as people might be thinking it is right now? No, it's just a factor of the market that we're in that we are seeing a lot of allegations of under-quoting."
Mr McKibbin also said there were no "gazumping laws" in NSW.
"Until you've got an exchanged contract, you've got nothing," he said. "In fact, there is an obligation on a real estate agent to contact the vendor when they receive any offer.
"Let's say I had a million dollar property [to buy], and I had signed the contract and given my $100,000 cheque to the agent... And after that somebody came along and was prepared to pay $1.1 million, the agent must put that offer to the vendor.
"And if the vendor looks at it and says, 'there's an extra $100,000 in this for me, I'll take that offer', then they can."
Mr McKibbin's advice to prospective buyers was to "dedicate the time to do the work that is going to put you in the best position possible to understand what it is that you're looking for, your wants and your needs".
NSW Fair Trading accepts real estate complaints, click here.
*Name changed and surname withheld by request
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Brendan Crabb
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
I'm a member of ACM's national property team, covering the Illawarra and South Coast. Based in Albion Park, NSW, I write about exciting, interesting or just downright quirky properties that have been listed for sale, major sales, market trends, auctions and more. One of my favourite aspects of being a journalist is I believe everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?
