What is a real estate agent responsible for?
When you appoint a real estate agent to sell your home, they’re being hired to sell your home with the least amount of stress and for the best possible price. A real estate agent should save you time by marketing your property, conducting open homes, negotiating and following-up with buyers.
They are also responsible for helping you to prepare for the sale of your home by offering advice around pre-sale repairs and cosmetic fixes, helping you to decide on a ball-park price and closing the deal successfully when the opportunity presents itself.
What’s the difference between a real estate agent and real estate broker?
A real estate broker is a term that is more often used in the North American real estate market to refer to a real estate agent. In Australia when we use the term ‘real estate broker’ we are more often than not referring to a buyer’s agent, which is someone who helps you to purchase a property, rather than someone who helps you to sell.
How can I find top performing real estate agents in my area?
Finding the best agent in your area isn’t as simple as taking a friend’s recommendation, walking into your nearest real estate office or picking an agent who works for a big name agency - in fact, walking into an agency without any prior research or consideration of other agents in your area could mean you walk away from the sale of your home with less than expected. It’s for this reason that finding the right agent is absolutely crucial.
There are plenty of qualities that you need to consider to ensure you find a top performer in your area who is also right for your needs. You can utilise an impartial online comparison service like OpenAgent to compare and rank real estate agents in your area. All agents are considered and they can never pay to appear in our search results. Rankings are always earned based on customer reviews and in-depth sales analysis.
If I find an agent I’m interested in, how can I find out how they’ve performed?
The best way to do this is to compare them to other agents in your area. We understand that looking for a top performing agent that you can count on takes time, and in your search we don’t want you to miss out on finding any of those hidden gems. This is why we’ve built a dedicated team to analyse performance markers including millions of sales and tens of thousands of customer reviews.
If I’m already speaking to an agent, can I still use OpenAgent?
If you already have a working relationship with an agent, there’s no need to worry, we won’t get in the way of that. But it’s important that you still feel free to be able to speak to us about agents in your area so that you have peace of mind knowing you’ve made the right choice.
What traits should I look for in a real estate agent?
A good agent should strive for quality in everything they do, whether that’s giving you advice on how to improve your sale price, presenting your home at an appraisal, handling buyer enquiries or keeping you in the loop - agents should always look after their vendor’s interests. And above all else, your agent should be fair, transparent, honest and deliver on their promises.
If I’m not happy with my existing agent and want to find a new one, what options do I have?
If an agent isn’t delivering on what they’ve promised, then it could be time to sever the ties and engage someone new. It’s not always easy to end a contract with a real estate agent and often the best outcome is if you can both agree on a cancellation. Though, with that being said, most agencies will cancel a contract if it's requested as they’ll want to protect their reputations.
If your agent won’t agree to release you from a contract, then speak to the principal or general manager of the agency, and at the very least, another agent may be appointed. If you still can’t resolve the situation, speak to a solicitor who specialises in real estate law.
However, it’s important that before you sign any contract or agreement, you read the fine print. If there isn’t a clause that allows you to cancel the contract upon request, then advocate for one to be added.
How does OpenAgent assess who the top agents are?
We’ve built a significant amount of data behind our agent rating and matching engine - to put it simply, it’s real estate science. We analyse all active real estate agents in Australia, looking at past sales, customer recommendations and reviews.
We use all of this data to determine the real estate agents who have the most relevant experience, are most successful at selling, and who have a track record of providing outstanding service to their clients.
