This snippet is from one of our previous episodes: WARNING: The Unconscious Mental Triggers Property Spruikers Use To Trick You. 

Today we dive into a topic many Aussies don’t realise they’re being exposed to until it’s too late: the tactics used by property spruikers to pressure you into making a decision. 

Bryce and Ben break down the psychology behind these marketing strategies and explain how you can spot the signs before getting caught in the hype.  

From red sticker sold signs in display booths to “limited time only” offers and infomercial-style urgency, property spruikers know exactly how to create a sense of scarcity and FOMO. 

In this short and sharp bonus snippet, you’ll learn:
✨ The classic sales tactics property spruikers use to create urgency 
⚠️ Why the scarcity pitch is often manufactured—not real 
📊 How established properties differ from off-the-plan in terms of genuine scarcity 
🔍 What to ask before you sign anything 
📄 Why doing your own due diligence is your strongest defence 

Cut through the noise and start making confident, informed decisions when it comes to property investing! 

Want Personalised Property Advice Without the Hype?

The team at our sister company, Empower Wealth aim to help you make better property decisions—with no pressure, no flashy promises, and no “limited time only” gimmicks.  

👉 Build Your Own Property Portfolio Plan  

No two people or plan are the same! When you engage one of our qualified property investment advisors, we’ll sit down together to design a plan that fits your very own personal lifestyle and retirement goals. 

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If You Enjoyed TPC Gold | How Property Spruikers Pressure You into Buying, You Might Also Like:

• Ep 446 | Property Spruikers Exposed 
• Ep 489 | The Rise of the Finfluencer: Who’s at Risk? 
• Ep 538 | Property Spruikers 2.0: The Latest Tactics Designed to Trap You 

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Transcript

Ben Kingsley
Scarcity is a big seller.  

Bryce Holdaway
When there is less of something people will inherently want it more.  

Ben Kingsley
Correct.  

Bryce Holdaway
Well the thing is, knowledge is empowering but only if you act on it Ben, isn’t it? So some of these things are, but for us it’s you know a free book or whatever we’re trying to use scarcity. We’ve got a webinar – to attend those webinars they’re free right. 

Ben Kingsley
Infomercials: the first 50 only get this offer with the bonus. All of those things are all part of trying to enact you to take action right now.  

Bryce Holdaway
So how does that work in property, folks? Well, you’ve all walked into a display booth and you’ve seen all the red stickers on the ones that are “gone”, Ben.  

Ben Kingsley
Sold. 

Bryce Holdaway
Sold, therefore there’s only a few left and then they released new stages of land and all those sorts of things. So it well and truly happens. But so if we circle back to my experience with timeshare, I was told that. Because the offer that was provided was compelling and I was impressed.  

Ben Kingsley
Yeah, they are amazing those programs. 

Bryce Holdaway
And they said: If you don’t sign up today, you can never be exposed to this offer ever again. And I played a little bit, and I went, so does that mean if I talk to another person, like in two months’ time or two years’ time. He goes: No, your name will be in the system. You won’t be able to get this offer again. So that was actually pretty good scarcity. And I could see how that would get someone in.  

Ben Kingsley
Yeah, well, and yet we know that two months later, two years later… trust me, if you’re putting money on the table, they will take your money. There is no doubt about it that it won’t be a limited time offer. It never is. And they stack the value as part of that story as well. So they normally put high values on certain things and say, if you sign up today, you’re getting $19,000 worth of value for only $2,997 or whatever that looks like. So when you’re seeing those types of stack-the-value opportunities, you’ve also just got to say to yourself: but the thing that I’m buying, the thing that I absolutely want today and what I want to get from this and what I learn from it is that, does that represent value for me? Because if that represents value for you and you’ve checked and done all your research, then that should still be something you would consider. Because if you don’t, they were just ancillary. If the product stacks up on its own, then that’s something I would go after. So I’d be very, very mindful of the way in which scarcity is always used and just be mindful, okay, they’re gonna use it on me. So again, if I still feel like there’s a good opportunity here, I’ll explore it more, but I’m not gonna sign anything on the day. I’m gonna digest it and basically look at it. 

Bryce Holdaway
In established property there is a bit of scarcity that you do need to pay attention to like once the auction hammer goes down, make sure that you’re on the right side of that. If you’re buying established properties, they’re usually not homogeneous. There’s not sort of Apartment 9 or Apartment 22. There is legitimate scarcity that comes from having to act and move quickly. 

Ben Kingsley
And that’s why it’s such a good performing asset price because it’s unique, it’s one of them. There’s not 20 or 30 of them being built. That’s the property in that street, in that location, at that price point. And you’ve to go after it. 

Bryce Holdaway
Which is the asset, but I was even talking just a little bit about action you know, sometimes if you’ve identified an asset, you do need to move quickly. And you do need to jump. Sometimes we find anecdotally with clients, they are a little bit… what’s the right word here?  

Ben Kingsley
They’ve got to lose something before they gain something sometimes, and we’re saying please don’t be that type of person. If the expert’s telling you that this is good and all that, you don’t want to lose the good one. Because sometimes a good one can just turn up 48 hours after you’ve decided that this is what you want to do. Sometimes it can turn up four weeks later. So that’s the challenge.  

Bryce Holdaway
And the thing is these mental triggers are most powerful when they’re in clusters. So if scarcity on its own has none of the other triggers, like that before the auction goes down or you’ve got to move quickly because it’s an established property and it’s going to go… In the absence of the other ones, well then there’s not necessarily a bigger game being played other than to try and serve you. So folks, the mental triggers when it comes to marketing. Number one, reciprocity. Two, have an event paced. Number three, include anticipation. Number four, have social proof. Number five, have actual proof. Number six, community. Number seven, have some form of interaction conversation as Ben said, storytelling. And number eight as Ben double checks my counting is scarcity. Now why did we go through that, folks? Because Athena and Jason wrote in to say they went through this process. Alex wrote in to you Ben; we get scores and scores of people so we are trying to defend and advocate for folks to make sure that you don’t go to a slippery spot and slip.  

Ben Kingsley
So can I just give some tips? Ask questions. Ask lots of questions. Keep asking more questions. Ask how you’re getting paid. Talk about your qualifications. Talk about the business success. You know, of the overall performances of everything that they’ve done and what they’ve done and how humble are they in giving that announcement because same with us in our business, we’re not perfect. You know, there’s properties that we would say second time over, over the thousand properties we’ve bought. Maybe, maybe not. It’s a line ball decision. So that’s the truth right, in terms of so are they telling you the truth? If they’re offering things like satisfaction guarantees, full refunds… 

Bryce Holdaway
Mazda 2s… 

Ben Kingsley
Don’t sign anything on the day that they’re doing the pitch to you. Digest it, get some information behind it, go and do some of your own independent investigations. Certainly for house and land packages that’s a classic one, where if you actually do a bit of research on those new estates you could probably find other opportunities to buy the same property in that area for about $25,000 or $30,000 less than what’s being offered. So you’ll find that, and we’ve had plenty of feedback from our listeners over time saying exactly that. This person was selling me product off-the-plan. I did some of my own investigations. I rang around, and within two days, I got an offer on the table that was less than the fee that they were gonna charge me. So it’s little things like that that you can then sort of make sure you understand. So just some little tips and takeaways as we close it out.  

Bryce Holdaway
Very good Ben. So there you go folks, we want to make sure that you make better decisions. So make sure you are aware of those things.