Choosing the best real estate agent

Finding a real estate agent to sell your property can be quite a difficult task, however there are steps that can be taken to quickly gauge the best in an area, explains managing director of Vengent Australia, Marcus Gould.

As a company who look to find the best agents for vendors, Gould undertakes two types of research that he said investors should be doing themselves as well.

“Agents these days are chosen on the individual and not the business,” Gould told Property Observer.

While some are more comfortable heading to a larger franchise, he said that it is usually the case that a vendor will head to numerous agencies before picking the real estate agent they preferred.

In fact, there’s a far savvier way to approach this process.

“We assess the number of properties avaialbe for sale and then cross check against what has been sold in the last six months and then see the list to sale ratios of agencies that operate in that area.

“This give us a basic idea of any discounting that may be occuring and an assumption about who may be overpricing to get a listing,” he said.

They then use average days on market details, from providers such as APM and RP Data, and compare them to the results being seen by individual agencies, and combine it with other key performance indicators.

It then comes down to assessing a specific agent and their response system.

“That’s like secret shopping style emails. We can see how quick the agents respond to the email and, if they respond at all, the quality of the response,” Gould said.

Worryingly, just 48 per cent of the time agents respond within the 48 hour timeframe necessary to be chosen.

It’s also crucial to undertake open home research, heading there to determine the presentation of the agent, the property and the agent’s response to the potential buyers.

Marcus Gould’s top tips for sellers looking for the best agent:

Find out how the agent will best protect your price: You’re looking for them to say that they’ll work openly with you and the buyers, and will create trust with these buyers.

Ensure they understanding marketing: Have a look at how they have presented other properties in the past.

Ask about their ongoing training and industry education: This is especially important when it comes to their negotiation skills, so you’ll want to know that they’re learning regularly.

Longevity in a suburb and good knowledge of the area is important: If you’re knowledgeable, ask them some questions to check how much they know and can tell you. Find out if they live in the area, and how long they have been operating there for.

A solid and provable track record of premium prices: You want them to be able to demonstrate that they can achieve more than what they are quoting in the price bracket. Many vendors choose the agent who provides them the highest price quote, yet you should be looking for a realistic quote.

This article first apppeared on Property Observer.