WHY AGENTS LIE TO HOME BUYERS
by Neil Jenman Reading time: Apx 6 minutes When home-buyers attempt to buy a home, one of their greatest shocks is the crooked element of the real estate industry.…
by Neil Jenman
Reading time: Apx 10 mins
Let’s have an end of year ‘chat’ about real estate, especially for 2026.
In some way, real estate touches all Australians. And yet, without knowing it, most Australians could do better in their real estate lives. It doesn’t matter whether you are renting, investing, buying a family home or selling any real estate in any area at any time, there’s one common fact that you may not realise: You can do better.
Therefore, if you are at all interested in improving your real estate situation in the year ahead, this article is written to help you.
For convenience, I will list the different situations under their own headings. So, for example, if you are only thinking about investing, then skip to that section.
The sections are:
Although I am sure I could write another book on each and all these topics combined, I will tighten the information so that you can read it in minutes instead of hours.
Of course, if you wish to know more about any of the points in any of these topics, please be sure to check out our other articles, acquire one of the many publications we produce or contact us for a personal chat. As far as humanly possible, we will always be available for you in a reasonable time. As always happens we will give you as much time as you need.
And please remember, we will never ask you for money for our support; we will never ask you to sign anything and, finally, we will always focus on protecting your interests. Sure, we do appreciate it when you buy our books or use our services to find a good agent (again, at no charge to you) as this helps us to fund our consumer support services.
Personally – and usually among my friends and family – I enjoy making real estate predictions. And without seeming immodest, I do have an excellent record. So many times, over so many years I have suggested that people buy property in certain locations. And in almost all instances I have been right. But then, as I often say, you could have stuck a pin in a map almost anywhere in Australia back in 2020 and called it a good place to buy – and you’d have been right too.
But do you know why I rarely make predictions outside my person reference group?
I can’t stand the abuse.
Or, as my wife is so quick to tell me, “You can’t win. If you get it right, you usually have to tolerate unjust criticism about your choice of area. If you get it wrong, you face severe backlash.
I do have a few golden rules that I have often written about – and I will repeat some of those shortly. A couple of years ago, however, I not only mentioned those rules, but I also thought I’d give some instances (in other words, name some locations) to show where those rules could be applied. So, I mentioned four states – the Eastern ones, from Tassie to Queensland – and I found a city (or large town) in each state that I thought might be a good place to invest.
And to make these places memorable, I made sure they all started with B.
From memory, I began with Burnie in Tasmania, then Ballarat in Victoria followed by Bathurst in New South Wales and, finally, Bundaberg in Queensland.
Well, it was Bundaberg about which I received the most abuse.
I was told that Bundaberg was known as Blunderberg. That it was the ice capital of Queensland and also the state’s domestic violence capital.
One reader said he had lost faith in me as I had clearly not been to Bundaberg recently (I had actually) and seen the many vacant shops.
Fast forward a mere two years and all those areas had grown spectacularly.
But there was one standout – Bundaberg. It was the fastest growing city for increasing property values in the previous 12 months.
There is another reason I don’t like to publicly suggest areas. I would feel terrible if I was wrong and people lost money. Too much of my life has been spent witnessing (and sharing) the misery of many people who’ve bought property and lost money.
All the people who lose money have one thing in common: They bought from (or through) one of those investment advisory companies. They fell for the slick lines such as “leave emotion out of the formula” – which is how spruikers and their companies convince naïve investors to buy properties they don’t like. Revolting, repulsive properties that would be outcast to seasoned investors.
My son, Alec Jenman, is a bright young man. He loves real estate and spends hours each day studying the industry. He often discovers facts that surprise me. And he’s always nailing down what he calls the safety truths of real estate. Like me, Alec believes that the most important factor when buying property is to stay safe. Which is similar to the two rules often mentioned by the man known as the world’s greatest investor, Warren Buffett.
Buffet’s two rules are: Rule One – don’t lose money. Rule Two – Always remember Rule One.
Alec’s two rules are as simple – and certainly as safe:
Rule One: Always buy property from a normal real estate agent. Ideally, a family home (rarely an apartment) in a nice neighbourhood.
Rule Two: Be sure that the seller of the property is a member of the public – a family or someone who’s lived in the home. Stay away from expert investment companies.
Now, some rules for selecting real estate.
When investing in real estate, it’s important to always buy nice homes. It doesn’t matter what the numbers are, if a home is awful and falling apart, it will only bring you trouble.
Nice properties attract nice tenants which make your life as an investor that much easier. Remember this; don’t buy an investment property you wouldn’t live in yourself. If you wouldn’t live there, it’ll be a challenge to find a tenant who will want to live there.
My favourite real estate investment rule is: Buy in gloom, sell in boom. Those six words have looked after me and my family for decades.
At the turn of the century, things were so gloomy in Adelaide. The city’s main newspaper had a headline that said something like: Thousands leaving Adelaide. The sub-heading was that the city’s population was likely to fall below a million people.
Today, 25 years later, the population of Adelaide is nearing 1.5 million. And those who bought in the gloom saw their properties increase in value by as much as eight to ten times.
More recently – in the mid twenty-tens (around 2015) – I thought that Gladstone and Rockhampton were great places to buy. They have since boomed.
Take Perth as another example. For years, I watched people struggle in Perth. The agents were bemoaning the fact that, ten years after people bought homes, they were selling them for less than they originally paid.
Negative equity – the predicament of owing more on a property than the property’s value – was common in Perth as little as five years ago.
When I told despairing agents and owners that the gloom would one day end and the market would boom, again I was criticised. I was told that my theories from the east didn’t apply on the west coast.
Since then, the prices in Perth have almost doubled. The median price is now nudging $1 million. The boom is well under way.
Does that mean sell now – based on the “Buy in gloom, sell in boom”, theory. Well, of course. But then if it keeps going up – as it well might – and you sell now, some sellers are likely to blame me.
But as a wise man once told me: “You’ll never go broke making a profit.”
And yet I have seen plenty of people go broke (or lose large amounts of money) because they didn’t take their profits when they had a chance.
Brisbane is currently one of the big boom cities in Australia. Incredibly, the median price in Brisbane is now higher than the median price in Melbourne. To my knowledge, that has never happened before.
My wife and I recently sold an investment home in Brisbane. It increased in value massively since we bought it (in the gloom). Despite all the hype over the Olympics (that last 17 days) I can’t see it increasing as massively in the next seven years. Maybe. If so, that’s good luck to the people who bought from us in the boom.
If we were looking to invest elsewhere now (which we are not – not yet), we’d certainly look closely at Melbourne (houses NOT apartments). There are also many regional centres across the Eastern States that I feel still represent good value compared to city prices.
If you really are interested in reducing the guesswork (instead of my waffling), I strongly advise you to purchase Louis Christopher’s just released 2026 ‘Boom and Bust Report’. It’s a 136-page manifest of great research and sheer analytical brilliance into what’s likely to happen in the real estate world in the year ahead. And it’s just $69.95.
And no, I don’t get anything from recommending it.
Indeed, I bought it myself last week.
If you are serious about investing in property, then please remember these key points from this investment section.
Yesterday, I had the displeasure of watching two of Australia’s most repulsive real estate identities boasting that 2025 has been a “great year for real estate agents”. I couldn’t help but think how a great year for agents is often a tough year for buyers.
With prices rising constantly across the country, it’s getting harder for buyers – especially first home buyers – to find a decent home at an affordable price. The most amazing comment I have heard in the past year came from a well-to-do business executive who moved from England to Sydney. He wanted to live in the Eastern Suburbs. After a month of looking around he said to me: “It’s become clear that if I want to live in this area, I am going to have to pay at least $15 million to get a decent home.”
I immediately thought to myself, “If he’s struggling, imagine what’s happening to first home buyers today.”
Anyone who says that buying a first home today is not tough is either ignorant or callous. It has long been known that thousands of battling first home buyers have been financially trampled – often by legions of property investors – in the stampede to buy real estate. For investors, Australia has some of the most unfair and lopsided property tax benefits in the world.
As I often say, when I bought my first home (in the 70s), the cost of the home (a one-bedroom unit, but a home nevertheless) was less than my annual wage. Try finding anyone anywhere who has it that easy today.
What makes me feel saddest of all is when young people say they have given up on ever being able to buy their own home. Or, even if they can manage to scrape up a deposit, they don’t want to be burdened for decades by a huge mortgage.
While home buying is as tough as it’s ever been, it’s not impossible – not yet. If I was a young person today looking to buy my first home, I would follow the advice I was given by a wise mentor many years ago. Get a foot on the bottom rung of the property ladder.
This wonderful man told me that any achievement in life must be looked upon as climbing a ladder. And the biggest problem that a lot of people have in their lives is their attitude towards climbing that ladder. Most people expect to jump straight up to the third or fourth rung. In doing so they often come crashing down.
The important point is to start at the bottom. Put your foot on the first rung of that ladder.
What this means in the property market is this: You need to find a property somewhere that you can buy at an affordable price for you.
If this means buying a property in a regional country town, go ahead and do it (regional values often increase more than city values).
Get onto that first rung.
As I was writing this article, I spoke to a lady who bought a home three years ago in the Central Queensland town of Biloela. Sure, she struggles to pay her mortgage and her rates at times. But she knows that owning is better than renting.
The home cost her $180,000. Today that same home is worth about $350,000.
A friend of mine bought a home in the same town at about the same time. He paid $327,000. Today, it’s worth at least $550,000. And each week, $500 rent goes into his bank account.
Many people can afford to buy a home for under $500,000.
And there are still many areas where homes can be bought for $500,000; or, at least, well under $1 million.
The message cannot be repeated too often: Get a foot on the first rung of the property ladder.
And no, you don’t have to move to a small town in the country.
You can become what’s known as a ‘rentvestor’. This means that you buy a home in an area where you can afford to buy a home and you rent that home to tenants and then you rent a home in the area in which you want to live.
If all goes well – and history repeats itself – you should be able to sell the home in the far-away area later and that will give you enough money to secure a home in (or near) the area you wish to live.
When we are trying to achieve something difficult in life, it always helps to see a problem as a challenge. It helps to think of others who have overcome challenges in the past. If they can do it, surely you can do it.
One of my favourite historical stories is of Hannibal when he was trying to cross the Alps with his elephants.
There was no known route through the Alps.
So, Hannibal said, “We will find a way, or we will make a way.”
If more first home buyers would adopt such an attitude more of them would be able to buy their first home.
Recently, I wrote an article about finding a dream home which was largely well received. You can read that article again here.
Also, for many years one of our most popular publications has been a booklet called the 13 Worst Mistakes Made by Homebuyers. You can download it here.
If you’re considering selling a home in 2026, think of this: consider what it took you to buy that home and to pay-off that home.
So, before you call an agent please make sure but you do just a few hours of research.
Research will be well worth the effort. It will likely save you from paying out thousands of dollars in needless expenses. It will also save you from an even greater loss which happens to most home sellers – under-selling your home.
What frustrates me most with home sellers is that so many get ripped off.
Surely we all know that real estate agents are the least trusted businesspeople in society. And yet when we sell our homes, most of us just sign whatever the real estate agent puts under our noses.
This is madness.
Even a slight bit of research will teach you that you must never pay money to any agent for any reason until your home is sold.
It doesn’t matter what the agent tells you is now common practice. It doesn’t matter if the agent tells you that some procedure (that is going to cost you money) is company policy.
Sure, the agents can have their company policy, but your family needs its family policy. And your policy must be that you will only hire an agent who places your interests ahead of the interests of the real estate agent.
Let me recommend a book to you that I’ve just read. It is called ‘How They Get You’ and it is written by the bright young finance journalist, Chris Kohler.
I have been reading business and finance books my entire life and I have never read a book that nails down what really happens in the real estate industry as well as this book.
Chris Kohler is to be commended. I urge all consumers who are interested in saving their hard-earned money to buy his book.
Let me quote just one on the many ideas that Chris shares with his readers. It’s to do with refusing to pay marketing costs in addition to thousands of dollars in real estate commission. Chris advises that you say this to every real estate agent, “Okay, I will pay you 2% of the sale price, but I want that to include marketing costs.”
Unless you can find an agent who will agree to that quite reasonable request that Chris has suggested, do not hire an agent. You will be better off selling your home yourself if you can’t find an agent who will agree to include the marketing costs in the cost of the commission (which is to be only payable when your home is sold).
At the moment, we are helping a lady to try and sell her home in Glen Waverley. The local agents wanted her to spend as much as $5,000 on marketing costs so that her home could be advertised on the major real estate websites. Instead, she found a private sale company that will ensure her home is advertised on the same sites for about $700 – about 80% less than the agents charge. Plus, if she manages to sell the home, she’ll pay no commission.
If you would like a copy of a book on how to sell without a real estate agent, please click here.
Aside from the costs, nothing is more important than the method you choose to sell your home.
And by far the worst method is public auction.
If you are reading this article before Christmas and you are a subscriber to the Jenman website and you are considering selling your home in 2026, let me give you a Christmas gift – a copy of my much-acclaimed book 88 Reasons Why You Must Never Sell Your Home at Auction.
As I have been saying for years, the problem with public auctions is that the entire focus is on the sellers’ lowest price – known as the ‘reserve’.
But if you want to get the highest price for your home, it is common sense that you must know the highest price a buyer is prepared to pay.
And you will never know the buyers’ highest price if you sell by auction.
The government in Victoria is considering legislation to make it compulsory for people who are selling by auction to disclose their reserve price before the auction.
This will help home buyers who are misled by false quotes that are so rampant in the industry.
But surely if the sellers are forced to reveal their lowest price shouldn’t buyers be forced to reveal their highest price?
Isn’t that the epitome of fairness – that the same rules apply to both sides?
If you would like to know how to ensure that buyers pay their highest price for your property please click here to receive a copy of what’s called a Buyer’s Price Declaration. You are also welcome to contact one of our supporters who will gladly explain to you how to us it effectively,
This is also explained in detail in what many people say is my best book. It’s called Don’t Sign Anything! I am proud that it became the number one bestselling business book (for a brief time). Although written back in 2002, it is as relevant today as 23 years ago.
Again, because it’s Christmas and if you are thinking of selling your home in 2026 I will gladly give you a complimentary copy Don’t Sign Anything.
All I ask is that you read it and that you contact us and let us help you find a good real estate agent when the time comes to sell your home.
If you think it is hard trying to buy a home these days, be thankful that you are not trying to rent one.
For years most real estate agents have treated tenants as second class citizens.
These agents don’t seem to know that today’s tenants are tomorrow’s home buyers.
And today’s homebuyers are tomorrow’s home sellers.
Recently, we have been researching how many people who deal with a real estate agent go back to that agent in the future.
It’s early days but our early research is showing us that real estate agents lose about 87% of their clients.
Yes, for every 100 people who buy a home through a real estate agent 87 of those buyers do not go back to that real estate agent when they become sellers.
But when it comes to renting, that the figure would be even higher because so many people are so upset with how they are treated by the real estate agent when they’re trying to rent a home.
I can’t think of too many sadder situations in the real estate world these days than dozens (sometimes hundreds) of people jostling to rent the same property.
If there is one tip that I can give you to help increase your chances of finding a good rental property it would be this: Complete the rental application in a thorough and clear manner. Most agents are lazy. They will appreciate you making it easy to approve your tenancy application.
Some time ago I wrote an article on how tenants can increase their chances of finding a good property to rent. If you would like to read that article please click here.
Please let us know how we can help you to make your real estate experience enjoyable. This is the way it should be – investing in real estate, buying real estate, selling real estate or renting real estate should all be a pleasant experience.
To make it so, we need to hear more of your thoughts. In 2026 we are planning to do massive amounts of research. If you are interested in participating and answering some questions about your experiences with real estate agents or even buying or selling without an agent, please send us an email and let us know.
In the meantime, whatever you are doing in the real estate world, whether you are trying to rent a home, trying to buy a home, living happily in your home and considering selling that home and maybe downsizing, we wish you all the best and we hope very much that you will contact us before you make any major decision.
Just remember three words – DON’T SIGN ANYTHING.
And that means don’t sign anything until you are 100% sure that you are safe.
In view of the massive amounts of upfront ripoffs in the real estate industry today, let me give you three more words to remember – DON’T PAY ANYTHING.
At least not until you have got the result you desire.
To those who read our articles regularly, thank you for your support.
If you know anyone else who would like to receive our articles during 2026, please feel welcome to share any of our articles with them. Please ask them to subscribe.
The more people who know how to stay safe in real estate, the more people will stay safe in real estate.
And staying safe in life should always be our priority.
Merry Christmas and happy new year to you.
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