How Vendorable works
For property owners
Step 1
Get ready to transact by recording the real estate that you own or are looking after on behalf of somebody else (you might be a trustee, lawyer or other trusted adviser). You can collect and store documents with your property in readiness for finding a real estate agent and as a handy way of filing records. Whether you have a large portfolio to manage, or just one investment property, Vendorable makes it easy to see what is happening with each property.
Your details are kept confidential (they're not shared with any real estate professionals) until you request services.
Step 2
Request a service
Post a job to find an agent to sell or lease your property. This kicks off a competitive tender for services. You can describe in your job what you need help with, outline your ideal professional, and provide as little or as much instruction on how you want to run the transaction process. Set expectations around access, costs and your preferred criteria.
You control how much of your personal or company details are made available to prospective service providers at this stage.
Step 3
Get proposals quickly
Receive and review each bid to be your agent from the comfort of your desk or in the palm of your hand. And avoid the old time consuming ring-or-walk-around! Key details are presented simply and property professionals’ profiles are available for review. As Vendorable grows, prior work and client feedback of agents is helping new and existing users inform their decisions on who they choose to appoint. You can connect with the agents you think will be best suited to your property before making any decision.
If you've hidden your details until now, connecting with an agent is at your discretion. You're in control.
Step 4
Contract electronically
Agree terms immediately on acceptance of a bid. Each agency agreement contains Vendorable's set of global rules and account for jurisdictional regulatory requirements. This assists you and your professional to enter into an agency agreement faster via electronic contract. It also means you get the same agreement irrespective of the service provider, which simplifies risk assessment.
Vendorable helps ensure anything you're committing to is compliant by constantly updating our terms of service.
Step 5
Work collaboratively
Communicate directly with your service provider, track their progress and receive reports at regular intervals or generate on demand. Worry less about missing important phone calls and engaging in the dreaded 'phone tag'. Communications about the work your agent is doing for you and the progress of the transaction are conducted in one place via workflow reporting, instant message and file exchange.
You are able to access an update on your property transaction at any time on any device with Internet and a web browser.
Step 6
Provide a review
Build knowledge to help others decide which agents should be appointed for their jobs in the future. Once your agent has completed working for you, you can rate their service performance and leave a testimonial.
Your review is anonymised and aggregated with the reviews of other property owners who have used the same service provider.
Frequently asked questions
Some answers to commonly asked questions by owners
Signing up
Creating an account with Vendorable will allow you to use the platform.
To create an account you will need to supply an email. You will recieve a message from us to confirm that the email you have provided was entered correctly and is yours. You will need to click the link in the email to continue.
Pricing
Vendorable is free for property owners to sign up, manage their property portfolio, sales and leasing transactions.
For more information on how we charge agents see our terms of service.
Compliance
Real estate services is a regulated market. We guide professionals with their compliance obligations to you and for themselves.
We keep up to date with legislative changes in real estate regulation so that our platform continues to work for you.
Agency Agreements
Vendorable has standardised the agreement between proprietors and agents for varying types of agency, cost structures and transactions.
This means that all professionals in the platform bid on the basis of the same agreement. Here is a summary of the key points.
Types of Agency and Service Fees
Vendorable supports three types of agency relationship, two commission structures for sales and for leasing letting fees are calculated by reference to a period of the rent and percentage and periodic management fees may apply where the property is to be managed.
Here is a brief summary of the types of agreements and fees agents incur when using Vendorable
Still have questions?
The fastest way for us to help you is to sign up to our platform and use the question mark in the bottom right hand corner to chat live with our team. However, if you don't want to sign up and still have a question you can head to our contact page and send us a message.
Summary of key points on agency agreements
The following is a summary of the key points relating to the agreement rules within Vendorable:
- the agreement comes into effect once you've clicked the button to appoint the agent
- everything the agent said in their proposal to you forms part of the agreement
- the type of agency is that specified by the agent
- the default position is that the agreement has no duration and the parties can end it at any time without penalty - you can choose to accept an amendment to this from the agent
- you have to reimburse the agent for costs additional to their service (like advertising and auctioneer fees) once the agent asks for them but only after the agent has reasonably accounted for them (e.g. with the third-party's invoice)
- for sales, usually, the buyer's deposit to purchase the property will be held in a trust or escrow account and the agent's commission is paid out of this
- the commission or letting fee as quoted in the agent's proposal includes any and all consumption taxes (e.g. GST or VAT) - for letting fees this is written, for example, as '2 Weeks of Rent plus GST'
- the agent's fee for service is payable once the sale of the property has been completed or the property has been leased
- you must not seek to avoid paying the agent's fees through rescinding the contract for the sale or lease of your property and then selling or leasing the property again to the same or a related purchaser or tenant
- the default position is that the agent must seek your consent to a "dual agency" - that is where an agent associated with your agent is acting for an actual or prospective buyer or tenant of your property
Summary of the types of agency and service fees
Types of agency
Exclusive Agency
An exclusive agency means that:
- if the seller's property is sold while the agreement is in force, the agent is entitled to commission; or
- if the landlord's property is leased while the agreement is in force, the agent is entitled to the letting fee.
Even if the property owner or another person was responsible for introducing the buyer or tenant, the agent is entitled to be paid. If the agreement ends without a sale or lease, and then the property is sold to a buyer or leased to a tenant introduced to the property by the agent while the agreement was in force, then the agent is entitled to be paid too. Agents prefer exclusive agencies since it gives them comfort they will definitely be rewarded for their work marketing the property for sale or lease.
Sole Agency
A sole agency means that:
- if the seller's property is sold while the agreement is in force, the agent is entitled to commission unless the seller is responsible for selling the property; or
- if the landlord's property is leased while the agreement is in force, the agent is entitled to the letting fee unless the landlord is responsible for leasing the property.
If the property owner introduces the buyer or tenant to the property, then the agent is not entitled to commission. If the agreement ends without a sale or lease, and then the property is sold to a buyer or leased to a tenant introduced to the property by the agent (not the property owner), while the agreement was in force, then the agent is entitled to be paid. A property owner might have special reasons for wanting a sole agency over an exclusive agency. For example, a seller might already have some interested buyers but an agent could deliver a better deal.
Open Agency
An open agency means that if the agent sells or leases the property, then they are entitled to be paid. But if someone else sells or leases the property (like the property owner or another agent), then they are not entitled to receive commission or a letting fee. If a property is of a high value or could take some time to find the right buyer or tenant, the property owner might want to appoint any number of agents under an open agency. In this case, the property owner will only pay one commission or letting fee to the agent who successfully sells or leases the property.
Types of fees
Fixed Commission
When an agent works on a fixed commission, the seller pays the agent the amount previously agreed once the property sale has been completed. This amount does not change, and is irrespective of the price the agent obtains for the property.
Percentage Commission
When an agent works on a percentage commission, the agent is entitled to calculate their remuneration by reference to the price obatined for the property. The seller pays the agent a percentage of the sale price of the property.
Letting Fee
When an agent works for a letting fee, the agent is entitled to calculate their remuneration by reference to the rent obtained for the property. The landlord pays the agent a period of the rent obtained for the property, for example, two weeks of rent plus tax.
Management and administration fees
When a property is managed by an agent, the agent is entitled to be paid a percentage of the rent collected and is likely to charge periodic fixed fees on a monthly and/or annual basis. These fees for managing a property are in addition to the letting fee.