What do you expect from a good real estate agent

[islandgirl]

From the agents I have been dealing with in the past couple of years I have found a great many of them are hopeless. Car salesmen that thought they would take on real estate. Recently I got into this discussion with a friend of mine who decided to go back into real estate. She was actually involved in the purchase of my IP. The only agent I found that actively sourced suitable properties that met my criteria, new her area and actively kept me informed without annoying me. Far different from those others that knew I was actively seeking and could not even bother to ring me! Not to mention the one who was so lazy that I had to drive the contract of sale down to the vendor in order to get it signed!

My questions to those out there is:

1. What do you believe makes a good real estate agent
2. What do you hate about realestate agents and what could they do to improve
3. I believe most agents do not use the internet/email etc to full advantage. No - listing on realestate.com is NOT internet savy! If you were an agent what would you do to improve your exposure on the net

 

[Xenia]

Honesty and integrity is the number one ingridient in any business whether it is real estate or selling books.

Honesty to not over quote just to get the listing. Everything needs to be backed up with statistics, there needs to be some proof of where the numbers are coming from.

Honesty to not condition vendors on lower prices after the trick of inflating prices.

Honesty to not undermine the vendor!

Agents that are not desperate for a paycheque are usually the better ones!

Honesty to not charge vendors for advertising where the agent's logo or company colours is displayed in newspapers. I think it is fair enough if vendors are asked to reimburse agencies the exact amount paid advertising but not the extra that it costs to display the agent's profile. And agent's definately should not be making an added profit from advertising, that is just plain wrong!!!

By the way, large colour display ads showing the house in newspapers do not attract anymore attention than just words in a classified ad. We have trialed this many times. THIS IS NOT WHERE THE MAJORITY OF ENQUIRIES COME FROM. Honest agents will tell you this! Dishonest agents will continue to push it to promote their own profile.

And with the sales we have done, 90% of enquiries are generated from realestate.com.au why would they NOT use it????

Also, good agent's know who their client is (the vendor) and have good negotiation skills and able to get the best price possible for their vendors.

That's my view of the industry!

 

[islandgirl]

Great points. Would definately agree with the honesty bit. I put an offer in on a block of land before Xmas - it had only been listed the day before. The agent rings me back to tell me someone had made a previous offer with one of his other agents - it was such an out and out lie and a just a tactic to get my price up. And he wasn't even a good fibber I was there when he had spoken to the other agent previously, there was no other offers at that point. I would have much preferred if he was honest. As it turned out the buyer withdrew the property for sale - I will certainly not do business with the agent again

I also hate it when they waste your time. Most of us are time poor - I would rather an agent tell me if the property does not meet my criteria before driving me there to see something that is obviously not what I want

 

[BayView]

I also hate it when they waste your time. Most of us are time poor - I would rather an agent tell me if the property does not meet my criteria before driving me there to see something that is obviously not what I want

Sorry to hijack; but on that note; if you give them a very specific criteria for what you're after, I find they stick to it pretty much. They will always try something else from time to time.

 

[islandgirl]

I guess there is a bad bunch where I am. There are mainly here for retirement I think.

 

[sunshine]

1. What do you believe makes a good real estate agent

Honesty and no Bullsh*t works for me every time.

Now I am not sexist BUT all our purchases have been through female REAs. I know a couple of really good male REAs on the Sunny coast and I wouldn't hesitate to purchase through them as they are honest in answering questions and don't try to give me the spin.

2. What do you hate about realestate agents and what could they do to improve

The ones who call after inspections to see if you liked the property. The agents I have bought off do not do this. I reckon if I am interested in the property I will contact them.

Real estate agents who do not know how to negotiate, or don't even try. A REA recently said to me "I will sell this property, might not be to you, but it will sell in the next 3 or 6 weeks". Now this REA had a motivated vendor and a very keen purchaser, and we were very very close, IMHO no need for those words...


I probably have a few more gripes but they are the stand out ones ATM.

Now if we were talking about PM's well ...lets not go there shall we...

Sunshine

 

[wylie]

I think the ones who call you after attending an open for inspection are good agents because they are following up those who inspected the property to get their feedback on price, good and bad features etc.

Of course, some will be just calling you to see if they can get any business from you, but my ex-REA relative used to call everyone who attended an open to get feedback.

 

[BayView]

Of course, some will be just calling you to see if they can get any business from you, but my ex-REA relative used to call everyone who attended an open to get feedback.

SOME?

try; ALL.

 

[alexlee]

Of course, some will be just calling you to see if they can get any business from you, but my ex-REA relative used to call everyone who attended an open to get feedback.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Sales is a numbers game. You phone a certain number of people and you get a % of positive responses. It's annoying to get calls from agents about homes you aren't interested in, but I can see it from their point of view.
Alex

 

[islandgirl]

I believe that cyber marketing in regard to real estate is vastly underutilised. My agent would regularly email me a listing of any great properties she knew I would be interested in. I think regular contact through emails, provided that they are not just spamming you would be good.

 

[Francesca C]

islandgirl

I would not rely on a real estate agent ever to source me an investment property. Sure, its great to build up a good relationship with them but they are only acting in their own interests.

Also, make sure you have a clear idea about what it is you actually want so you can tell them.

 

[islandgirl]

Francesca - I definately agree. But some of us are very time poor so having a team of people who know your needs is beneficial. And yes, you do have to be very specific about the type of property, size, style, age, location, amount of work required to bring up to standard etc etc.

 

[twobobsworth]

1. What do you believe makes a good real estate agent - communication skills. If i'm a seller and they've brought someone through I want to know how it went. If I'm a buyer and have questions or make an offer i want quick responses.

2. What do you hate about realestate agents and what could they do to improve - Auctions. I do not believe they get the best possible price in most situations. Its a game, get the buyer as high as possible the seller as low as possible. Too many people get screwed.

3. I believe most agents do not use the internet/email etc to full advantage. No - listing on realestate.com is NOT internet savy! If you were an agent what would you do to improve your exposure on the net - depending on the market they may not need to do advertising. Just a few puller ads and keep a good bank of qualified buyers.

 

[paulie]

1. What do you believe makes a good real estate agent
trust / honesty

2. What do you hate about realestate agents and what could they do to improve
Hate - responce times for offers to be accepted or countered, and the associated games and bullchit - re other mysterious buyers turning up last minute
To Improve - for me it is to speak to my great clients/friends more often, so my trust in people and that my efforts will be rewarded grow, which in turn allows me to trust new people i meet that the same will happen.

3. I believe most agents do not use the internet/email etc to full advantage. No - listing on realestate.com is NOT internet savy! If you were an agent what would you do to improve your exposure on the net.
I am an agent, and other than posting on somersoft i'd rather get face time with people/clients & potential clients than spending hours sending "helpful" email info that is rarely responded to.