THE HIGH PRICE OF STUPID
How to spot smarter agents and sell for more by Neil Jenman Reading time: Apx 7.5 mins Most real estate agents have three characteristics: Greedy, Lazy and Stupid. GREEDY Greedy…
Article originally published APRIL 13, 2003 –Reviewed and approved.
By Neil Jenman
A Queensland real estate agent is selling real estate despite being caught behaving dishonestly twice in a year.
Kevin Winn, the owner of The Range Realty at Mapleton, was fined 12 months ago for taking $28,000 that belonged to a client. He had the dishonour of being the first agent prosecuted under Queensland’s Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act (PAMDA), which took effect in mid 2001.
When a buyer was found for a home, Winn banked the buyer’s $39,500 deposit into his own bank account, instead of a trust account. After extracting his commission from the deposit money, he used the balance to reduce his bank loan.
The surprising thing about the court case was the size of the penalty. Sunshine Coast Magistrate Tom Killeen gave Winn a $3,000 fine and did not record a conviction. Killeen said imprisonment was not appropriate because Winn’s actions were due to poor health and financial circumstances.
You can be sure someone would go to jail if they robbed a bank because they were strapped for cash and feeling unwell.
Queensland’s Fair Trading Minister Merri Rose said at the time: “Despite numerous promises by Winn, the vendor has still not seen a cent of the $28,142.50 owed to him.”
Winn, meanwhile, continues to sell real estate. Even after his real estate agent’s licence expired, he carried on with business, pocketing sales commissions to which he was not entitled.
He ended up back in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court where he was fined $6,000.
Winn has now sold his agency, The Range Realty, pocketing a further windfall.
Minister Rose says she wants Winn disqualified from working in the industry. It’s remarkable that this has not happened already.
Where else but Queensland?
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