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Consumers have say on what makes a good estate agent


4-Apr-2006

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria (REIV) have recently analysed the views of consumers when it comes to their satisfaction of Real Estate agents. Rather than rely upon anecdotal evidence, the REIV tested the temperature of consumers to find out why they selected an agent, what worked for them, if levels of competition are high enough and how satisfied they were. The Australian Research Group surveyed a total of 300 Victorian consumers, on behalf of the REIV, to ask them a range of questions aimed to finding out how they decided which real estate agency to use, what attributes are important to them and what was their level of satisfaction with the real estate agent’s completion of actions required. REIV CEO, Enzo Raimondo believes the research was a positive way of showing how Real Estate agents are perceived and provided an insight into consumer needs. "It also shows the importance of licensed real estate agents engaging in ongoing education and training." "One of the obvious outcomes was that consumers prefer agents with a good reputation and high quality service – as opposed to the cheapest price” he said. "One response which was not surprising was that nearly all consumers - 96% - feel there were enough real estate agencies to choose from. The most popular reason (23%) for selecting an agent was because he or she was recommended by someone trusted, closely followed by selecting an agent with whom you had previous dealings with (17%) – as opposed to the commission offered by the agent which only concerned 3%. “When it comes to satisfaction with agents, research has shown that consumers are satisfied with the service they are getting. This is not only great news but it serves as a reminder to agents to not relax and keep listening to the needs of their customers” Mr Raimondo said. The survey found that 29% of consumers were extremely satisfied, 33% were very satisfied and 21% were somewhat satisfied. That means more than 6 out of every 10 people who have used a licensed real estate agent have had a really positive experience and over 8 out of 10 were generally satisfied. The research also found that agents were almost spot on when it came to the critical question of prices with 79% of vendors and 67% of buyers agreeing that their agent had excellent or very good knowledge of local real estate prices. Sixty percent thought that the quality of advice on market trends was also excellent or very good. Licensed real estate agents do however have to improve advice on internet advertising for property as only 28% thought it was excellent or very good. The REIV always welcomes the views of consumers as it helps to improve the professional service that our members give Victorians. Key points