Track record in suburb
Does your potential agent have a track record of success and a database of buyers for your specific suburb? When researching local agents, it can be helpful scroll through the list of recent sales on realestate.com.au or Domain to get a feel for agents that are prevalent in your local area.
Experience in negotiating
An agent with years of experience and lots of sold properties under their belt should be well-equipped to handle themselves during contract negotiations on your behalf.
Their team
The most successful agents generally have a team behind them. This benefits sellers because the workload is shared and there is always someone available to assist with buyer and seller enquiries. Usually an agent will build a team of experts in different fields. For example, social media, styling, negotiating, marketing. Having a team helps to ensure buyer’s calls don’t get missed and everyone receives the appropriate follow up post-enquiry.
Communication
Communication is paramount to keep sellers and buyers happy. Having strong communication skills and keeping buyers and sellers informed throughout the process helps to keep everyone happy.
Testimonials of past clients
Most agents should have a public profile on realestate.com and/or domain.com with testimonials and reviews from buyers and sellers. This will give you a great insight into how the agent works, and the outcome of previous property sales.
Approachable and professional
When you meet with agents at open homes as a buyer, and also when interviewing a prospective agent to sell your property, make note of how they handle themselves. Ideally agents should be approachable but also professional.
Social media presence
Social media is such a powerful marketing tool when it comes to real estate, and is surprisingly still largely under utilised amongst certain agents.
Professional open homes with follow up
How good is your agent with their follow up? Hosting a professional open home, with follow up afterwards seems Agent 101, but some agents do it a lot better than others. Why not scope out a few open for inspections and see how the agent treats you as a buyer.
