Anjiep, I'd be interested to know the value of your home. For $14,300, at 2.5%+GST, thats over $520,000. Considering you need a conveyancer or solicitor anyway, let's leave that aside for a second; and lets take the $1,500 that you see as value off the agent's fees, leaving us at $12,800.
I am yet to see a property worth around 1/2 a million dollars that I can't add over $12,800 worth of value to; whether it be through introducing another genuine competing buyer and letting the competition drive the price up, increased exposure as opposed to small websites only a fraction of the market have ever heard of, or a combination of other factors, including giving the vendor time to do what they do best, and letting us handle their home with inspections etc. There's also a feel from buyers that if you're skimping on selling and advertising costs to sell your most prized possession, what else have you skimped on when there were maintenance issues or other problems while you lived there.
I don't mind, and selling privately is perfectly justifiable on some properties, but unless you're retired or time is not an issue for you, or your property doesn't have the capacity to potentially draw more than one serious buyer through a marketing campaign, then I certainly question your logic.
If your house is worth anywhere near the $520k calculated above, then I would put it to you that you may not have interviewed the right agent for your home yet. They can make up their commission and more, which is better than penny-pinching, because it's more of a profit for you!

Jenman agents… dont start – one of the posts above claimed that normal agents were interested in building their databases more than selling houses… I challenge you to call a Jenman agent. Last time I called one, from a landline phone, before I was even able to talk to an agent, the secretary bugged me for my details 'just in case we get cut off'… So I told her I was calling from a landline, she persisted, and eventually I got through… who's interested in building their database did we say?!

And I know the original post was a while ago, but on a $1.2m property, asking for an investment of under $10k is cheap. If you change your mentality, and have some input with your agent that you feel comfortable with, then as a team you're guaranteed to make that $8500 in marketing back in no time – all it takes is one other buyer and you could make 10s of thousands pretty easily on such a property. I know because I've done it recently on one worth less than $1m. Seems like cutting corners may cost you more than $8500 in the end; but hey, it's your house!

Only catch is that no-one’s ever heard of it compared to re.com/domain etc… think about how many buyers you might be missing by not listing on the bigger sites.

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Vendor would have to be keen to accept that offer… they probably won’t because ( as your question was about 14 days subject to finance), they have to take the place off the market and pretty much wait on you. Do things like the building & pest inspection before signing or during the cooling off period, and show your solicitor before signing – or if you’re using that just as an escape route, then don’t – if you can submit an unconditional offer you’ll have a better chance at getting the property if there is another offer on it at the same time.

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As another agent (see my earlier replies to this post), I completely agree with you cjm.
Buyers: get cashed up and tell the agent – you’ll find that although the agent is paid by the vendor, they won’t get paid at all unless they make deals. Be creative like cjm mentioned, but make sure the agent’s you’re dealing with know that you’re pre-approved and ready to buy. They’ll find you what you were looking for.

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Same with my agency – we have listing territories – where we can only list certain things, but I can sell anything with our company logo on it – anything Victoria-wide. Works well as agents are able to offer more to the buyers, and gets a better result for vendors as there are more people working on their property.

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Everyone is given an equal opportunity though… their best price. I know where you’re coming from jneale, in that there should be more communication, because as the agent with an offer on the table but not being the actual agent presenting the offers, we’re stressing too.
The problem I’ve encountered with it the other way is that you end up ‘shopping’ offers around, in that no-one knows where its going to end, and considering the buyers weren’t prepared for an auction, they both ended up pulling out because they were sick of the process.
Where does it end? If both (or all) offers are presented at the same time, who cares who put the offer in first, the fact is the vendor will chose one of them. What we do is call each buyer to make sure that it is their final offer, then that’s it. It’s a tough call as to when you draw the line, but unless you do it in that way, it goes on forever, or else stalls – buyers become angry (again, from personal experiences) – ‘I told you when I signed it that it was my final offer!’ is a common line.
This is the case in Vic anyway.

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In Vic it’s allowed -s27 application. Your accountant doesn’t sound too savvy with the property side of things – might want to get a new one just to get this project over the line.

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Would I be right in saying your ex-girlfriend’s father had been in the industry for a while, maybe a director, but probably not? Go into any agency and pick out someone who lives or has done business locally, relatively young or noticeably keen, and take them out for a coffee (not to bribe them or anything, and not for too long, because at that stage you’re not dollar-productive to them). Once you get chatting and you become a prospect, watch your phone – it should be ringing a few times a week!

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Think about it though – you want to have a good fight with your agent – if they end up getting you to pay what they wanted, they’re good – and you know they’re going to get the best price for your property. They’re in sales – if they can’t sell themselves to you, then they’re not worth it.

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