Ep 79. What NSW New Price Guide Laws Really Mean for Buyers
In this episode, Michelle breaks down one of the biggest sources of confusion for property buyers: price guides — what they really mean, why they’re often misleading, and how recent NSW legislation changes may (or may not) improve transparency.
Drawing on decades of experience, Michelle explains why underquoting continues to trap buyers in wasted campaigns, how vendor reserves complicate the picture, and the practical steps every buyer should take to understand a property’s true likely selling price.
This episode is all about cutting through the noise so you can make clearer, more strategic decisions — and avoid the confusion loop that keeps so many buyers stuck.
Here’s what you’ll learn from today’s episode:
• Why price guides are marketing tools — not indicators of what a vendor will accept
• What the new NSW price‑guide legislation actually changes — and what it doesn’t
• How vendor reserves shape the real outcome — and why they’re rarely disclosed
• The types of sales that usually lead to realistic reserves
• The questions every buyer should ask the selling agent
• How to assess comparable sales properly (and avoid misleading ones)
• Why strategy and communication matter more than ever in a shifting market
If you’re navigating the market right now, this episode will help you cut through confusion, ask better questions, and approach each campaign with clarity and confidence.
Michelle also shares details about her upcoming Better Home Buying program — a step‑by‑step framework designed to help buyers move through the process with structure, strategy and certainty.
Speakers in today’s episode:
Michelle May - Michelle May Buyers Agents
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Please note that any views or opinions presented in this podcast are solely those of the speakers, and do not necessarily represent those of any business. These views and opinions are general in nature, and do not take account of your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. Please consider whether it applies in your circumstances and seek professional advice wherever appropriate.
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Michelle:
Hello and welcome to the Buyer Your Side podcast. My name is Michelle May and I am the principal of Michelle May Buyers Agents here in Sydney. In this property podcast I'll unpack how the property buying process actually works so that you, the buyers, can make clearer, more strategic decisions.
Now, over the many, many years of buying property, I've noticed so many buyers fall into what I call a confusion loop. They decide they want to buy a property and they start with excitement. But then they start delaying decisions because suddenly everyone has an opinion and then before long they're overwhelmed, stop, take a minute out and almost a year has passed before they start again.
Now the interesting thing is that it's not because buyers aren't capable, it's because the property market is actually quite a complex system to navigate, particularly if you don't do it on a daily basis. And one of those places I think that the confusion shows up the most from the buyers that I see is often around price guides.
I was interested to see this article that came out in the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday, was it the 15th of March? Yeah. So that was where the New South Wales government announced recent changes to the mandatory price guides. They now have to be disclosed. And so, you don't have to call the agent to find out how much the range is, but on top of that, they will have to start publishing comparable sales and if agents are found to be underquoting. They can be fined up to three times their commission. So that's a significant change to what it was before.
On the surface it looks like a really positive step for buyers but like all the headlines in property and the media it doesn't always tell the full story. I wanted to do this episode today about these potential changes and what that would mean for buyers and why you still need to be on guard moving forward.
Underquoting has been one of the hottest topics in real estate. Every time I speak to a buyer, this is the first thing that's on their lips. Underquoting happens all the time, missed out so many times and buyers are often drawn into campaigns where obviously the price cut doesn't reflect the eventual selling price. So that means, you know, they spend weeks attending inspections, arranging reports, spending money, organizing finance.
Having their finances lapse because it's been three months and they still haven't bought and then reapplied or extended. You're investing your time, your money and your emotions into property before you ever successfully get the keys and what happens so often is that you're never realistically in the running in the first place.
Therefore, these proposed changes are supposed to address that, where you have a price guide, you have the comparable sales, the penalties get higher, but I think there's still this element to it which a lot of buyers aren't necessarily aware of.
It's a really important part of the conversation that wasn't actually addressed here in New South Wales in the change in legislation, which they have addressed in Victoria, funnily enough, and that is the Vendors Reserve because the guide is not the same thing as the price that the seller is willing to accept, right? Those are two separate things. The seller ultimately decides whether to sell and at what price and that be completely out of line with comparable sales and what the agent says and what the marketing does, that reserve price often gets set really close to auction day like usually the day before or in a couple of days before and even under these new laws in New South Wales that reserve price does not have to match the advertised guide.
In Victoria their solution to that is that the Vendors Reserve has to be disclosed a week before the auction, but in the time leading up to it, it means the property can still be marketed at one level whilst the seller's expectation is significantly higher in both states, So let's unpack this for a second because there's the marketing side of things, then there's the seller's expectation. But there's also the surrounding noise that is happening, because you've got other buyer demand that can drive up price in a really heated market, the competition.
Then you've got the guide that can change during the campaign because agents have had feedback that they think the price is higher than, it's going to land up higher than the marketing. So, I think the simplest way I can explain it is that the price guide is the marketing figure, it's not the price necessarily that the vendor is willing to sell it at. Therefore, as a Buyer’s Agent it's still really important to do your research, right?
That means talking to the agent about the Vendor and the other buyers in order for you to be able to establish whether this price is actually going to be in line with what it's going to sell for on the day. What I mean by that is the more questions you ask the agent about the situation of the sale, the better it'll help you understand whether you're dealing with a realistic seller versus someone who is still emotionally attached, doesn't necessarily have to sell and therefore may set a crazy reserve price that is like their dream price and only at that point will they be a seller. Now don't forget that a sales agent doesn't get paid until they sell, right? So, it is in the selling agent's best interest to have the vendor in line with a reasonable reserve which would be dictated by the comparable sales. So if I were you and you're looking at a property and you've seen the price guide, the next step that I would take would be to start that conversation with the sales agent and go hey, why is the vendor selling?
Now for example if it is a deceased estate or the parent has gone into a home and they need to pay for residential care and there are multiple beneficiaries involved, family members involved. In practice, from my experience, it usually means that there is a very reasonable reserve because obviously they need to sell on the day to provide for the elderly person's care moving forward. It also means that because there are multiple people involved who are going to be potentially benefiting from that money, they need to sell on the day and they see market value, right? So, they're prepared to let it go for wherever that price lands on the day so that they all get the benefits from that and they can move on.
Now, for example, another reason would be where a reasonable reserve is usually the case is where there's a divorce. So they need to do it in a transparent way, hence auction is the way to go so that both partners can see that result play out in front of them and they obviously want to get on with their lives so I imagine that they're not going to set a crazy reserve right because they probably will want to buy their next property on their own or with another partner for example so those kind of scenarios just to give you an idea will help you understand where that reserve price is likely going to be but I always make it a habit to speak to the agent the day before the auction in the afternoon and say, hey, I'm coming to your auction tomorrow. Are there any last-minute updates? Have you set the reserve? And you'd be surprised to know that agents are quite happy to have that conversation most of the time to help you understand the lay of the land. How many other buyers have pre-registered, how many have their building and pest done, how many have paid for a contract review, those give you indications of how serious people are and how likely they are to show up for the auction.
Asking questions will really help you position yourself much better into understanding whether this is actually going to be a property that is going to be A. in your budget and B. is going to have a reserve that is likely to be reasonable so that even if you are the highest bidder you do not end up having to negotiate. After the auction with or through the agent with a vendor who is wanting say 100k above my market value for example therefore communication with agents, it’s incredibly important to do your homework and I suspect that even if with the comparable sales that they are going to have to provide be careful with the comparable sales that they are going to provide because occasionally I see them already provided by agents and they're so wildly out of step with the property that they're actually trying to buy. I don't know who they're trying to pull the wool over their eyes but make sure that the comparable sales are actually comparable sales and by that, I mean look at land size, the location, and when it last sold for. Normally comparable sales should be within three months of today's date, not something that was a year ago.
If it is a year ago, then obviously you need to take into consideration medium price changes. That's my take on it. Price guides are not sellers' reserves and I think in this market that is already like making constant changes, right? It's sort of the clearance rates are coming down, interest rate rises. We've got, let's face it, a shit show in the world right now. There's a lot of economic insecurity.
There may well be more sales coming up now where the seller's reserve is going to be out of line with the guides even if the agent is guiding correctly so ask those questions because in order to buy successfully it's not a game of chance you know you need strategy you need understanding and the ability to understand what you're actually seeing in the market that's the way forward because ultimately you want to ensure that the property you do end up buying hasn't been a panic buy because you've been chasing the market for so long. It is an A grade property that is going to perform above the median. I've spoken about this so many times, strategy and knowledge are key. So, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Are you currently trying to buy? I'm assuming so because you're listening to me. How long have you been at it? Have you chased properties that ultimately were never going to sell in your price bracket? I'd love to hear from you. Now if you found this episode helpful make sure you follow the podcast so you don't miss any future episodes about me explaining how the property market actually works.
If you are currently navigating the market yourself, I am preparing to launch a program called Better Home Buying where I walk buyers’ step by step through how to approach the process with clarity, structure, and strategy. The waitlist is now open and early access will go there first. So if that sounds useful, you can join via the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening. I'd love to hear your thoughts and until next time.