1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:02,240
Speaker 1: Ever do for ze Ellen.

2
00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:05,720
Speaker 2: Now there are calls for a regulatory crackdown on property flippers.

3
00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:07,680
Speaker 2: These are people who lock in a house under contract

4
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:10,399
Speaker 2: or a property under contract, but have a long lead

5
00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,160
Speaker 2: into settlement, and in that intervening period they then line

6
00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:16,000
Speaker 2: up another buyer and they settle on the same day

7
00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,120
Speaker 2: contemporaneously and then pocket the difference. The number of these

8
00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:21,640
Speaker 2: deals almost doubled last year. The levels are now even

9
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,720
Speaker 2: higher than the COVID boom. In fact, it's got so

10
00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:25,520
Speaker 2: bad that a complaint has been lodged with the Real

11
00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,479
Speaker 2: Estate Authority. Marie Tassel is the owner of I Find

12
00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:30,480
Speaker 2: Property and a real estate agent, and with USh Mari

13
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:35,040
Speaker 2: Hi Never What is the complaint, Well, the.

14
00:00:35,040 --> 00:00:39,080
Speaker 1: Complaint is that I believe consumers have the right to

15
00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:41,680
Speaker 1: know that if someone puts an offer on their property,

16
00:00:41,760 --> 00:00:44,520
Speaker 1: whether they intend to buy it. You know, if John

17
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,680
Speaker 1: Smith has a contract on a property, I think that

18
00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,239
Speaker 1: I would want to know that John Smith is buying it,

19
00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,360
Speaker 1: not that John Smith is pretending to buy it and

20
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 1: bringing a whole lot of other people through and trying

21
00:00:56,800 --> 00:00:59,520
Speaker 1: to onsell it without telling anybody for a whole lot

22
00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 1: more money.

23
00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,840
Speaker 2: Oh, because there is an element of deception to this

24
00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,080
Speaker 2: in some cases, isn't that where they say that they're

25
00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,039
Speaker 2: getting builders through to come and inspect it, but in

26
00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,200
Speaker 2: fact they're buying. They're bringing through potential buyers.

27
00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 1: That's correct. So what is often happening, and this has

28
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,640
Speaker 1: been happening. I mean, I've been around in the property

29
00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,680
Speaker 1: industry for a long time, and twenty years ago there

30
00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:20,600
Speaker 1: was a lot of this and then it basically dried

31
00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,640
Speaker 1: up overnight when the real estate agent's authority came in

32
00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,120
Speaker 1: and said it was illegal. But the last few years

33
00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,039
Speaker 1: we've seen a proliferation of it again, and so there

34
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:32,039
Speaker 1: is a lot of deception. A lot of the time,

35
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,920
Speaker 1: people will come in and they will just have usually

36
00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,759
Speaker 1: a simple due diligence contract, which just means I want

37
00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,520
Speaker 1: to do my homework, but they very frequently have no

38
00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:45,959
Speaker 1: intention of buying that property. And then there are people

39
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,240
Speaker 1: that have got these data bases that they send I'm

40
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:51,880
Speaker 1: going to call it a deal. They send the deal

41
00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,400
Speaker 1: out and say here's the property. They provide a whole

42
00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,400
Speaker 1: lot of information about the property like a real estate

43
00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,640
Speaker 1: agent would, and then they to on sell the property

44
00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:06,760
Speaker 1: for a much larger fee. Very often the vendor has

45
00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:10,840
Speaker 1: no idea, this is happening until after settlement, when they suddenly, well,

46
00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:13,399
Speaker 1: there's two ways they'll find out it's happened after settlement,

47
00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:16,280
Speaker 1: when suddenly they realized they sold the property to John

48
00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,120
Speaker 1: Smith for a million and then John Smith on sold

49
00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,640
Speaker 1: off one point two million and nobody told him. Or

50
00:02:23,360 --> 00:02:25,799
Speaker 1: when they've had their property tied up for twenty days

51
00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,560
Speaker 1: and suddenly it falls over and they discover that person

52
00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:31,760
Speaker 1: had no intention of purchasing the property, they were just

53
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 1: trying to sell it for more. Is it illegal? I

54
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,480
Speaker 1: believe it is. What I feel about it, what's illegal

55
00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,080
Speaker 1: or legal? About what's illegal? What's illegal is that the

56
00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:47,919
Speaker 1: Real Estate Agency at two thousand and eight defines quite

57
00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:52,200
Speaker 1: clearly that anyone that's involved in trade and I making

58
00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,359
Speaker 1: money from providing information or selling properties to help people

59
00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,960
Speaker 1: sell or buy property, are acting as a real estate agent.

60
00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:03,640
Speaker 1: So they should be licensed. They should. That means that

61
00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,440
Speaker 1: they should be governed by a regulatory body, and that

62
00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,520
Speaker 1: any consumer that's interacting with them, whether that's a vendor

63
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,280
Speaker 1: or a purchaser, also is protected and they can make

64
00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:16,400
Speaker 1: a complaint if that person behaves in a way that

65
00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:17,240
Speaker 1: that's marine.

66
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 2: Is it a matter of interpretation, because you could also

67
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,120
Speaker 2: interpret them as the new vendor, couldn't you.

68
00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,519
Speaker 1: It is a matter of interpretation. I think yes and no.

69
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,080
Speaker 1: But it was made very clear to me when the

70
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,440
Speaker 1: real estate agent's authority first came into being back in

71
00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,720
Speaker 1: two thousand, when the Act came in in two thousand

72
00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,280
Speaker 1: and nine, because I used to do this, although I

73
00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,760
Speaker 1: did not do it for an undisclosed fee. I was

74
00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:42,800
Speaker 1: what you would call a property trader, and I was

75
00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:45,840
Speaker 1: getting properties and non selling them, although I would always

76
00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,080
Speaker 1: disclose the difference. And at that time I then had

77
00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:54,640
Speaker 1: real estate agent investigators breathing down my neck constantly and

78
00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:56,680
Speaker 1: telling me that I was breaking the laure I even

79
00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:58,560
Speaker 1: flew down to the area to meet with the then

80
00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:02,000
Speaker 1: legal counsel to to thrash it out with him, and

81
00:04:02,040 --> 00:04:05,200
Speaker 1: I was told in no uncertain terms that I was

82
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,440
Speaker 1: breaking the law, that they wanted to see licensed by

83
00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:10,760
Speaker 1: his agents operating in New Zealand, which is what I

84
00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,360
Speaker 1: now do, and that if I didn't do that, they'd

85
00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:17,240
Speaker 1: see me in court. So and at that time they

86
00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:22,479
Speaker 1: were quite proactive about investigating people, and there was a

87
00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,640
Speaker 1: case at the time of a woman who was prosecuted

88
00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,880
Speaker 1: and then what happened here. That is, basically overnight, all

89
00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:30,120
Speaker 1: of the people doing this dried up because they got

90
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,719
Speaker 1: too scared to do it. But now they're all back

91
00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,000
Speaker 1: out there, and there's a lot of people out there

92
00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 1: that are selling courses. They call themselves gurus or mentors

93
00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,680
Speaker 1: or whatever you want to call it. Property in real

94
00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,919
Speaker 1: estates always seem to have attracted you know, sharks or

95
00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:55,719
Speaker 1: snake oil salesmen who well, a lot of times people

96
00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 1: who are quite gullible, don't know a lot about property.

97
00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,880
Speaker 1: They'll pay a whole lot of money for a course

98
00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,080
Speaker 1: to learn how to make what they call no money

99
00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,680
Speaker 1: down deals, which sounds very fun, sounds very easy, but

100
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,480
Speaker 1: there's I think it's very unethical most of what's happening.

101
00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,640
Speaker 1: And my reason for the complaint to the area was

102
00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,880
Speaker 1: because I've spoken to quite a few purchasers who've dealt

103
00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:22,000
Speaker 1: with some of these people and had bad experiences. And

104
00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,760
Speaker 1: I've also spoken to quite a few vendors agents who

105
00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,039
Speaker 1: have contacted me upset when they've found out after the

106
00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:30,880
Speaker 1: fat that's somebody that they thought was acting as a

107
00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:35,080
Speaker 1: purchaser wasn't the true purchaser. Then they're embarrassed and they

108
00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,320
Speaker 1: because then their vendor finds out and these agents didn't know.

109
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:42,320
Speaker 1: So because I'm a buyer's agent, they will come and

110
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,159
Speaker 1: talk to me about this. So I've spoken to a

111
00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,039
Speaker 1: lot of vendors' agents out there who aren't happy about

112
00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:48,560
Speaker 1: the lack of disclosure as well.

113
00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,839
Speaker 2: Thank you Marie for running us through. It's absolutely fascinating.

114
00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,360
Speaker 2: Marie tassel I find Property co founder and real estate agent,

115
00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:55,039
Speaker 2: will keep an eye on how that complaint goes with

116
00:05:55,080 --> 00:06:00,920
Speaker 2: the ARIA. For more from Heather Duplessy Elandro listen live

117
00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:03,919
Speaker 2: to news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or

118
00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:06,040
Speaker 2: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio