News Limited has conducted research recently to establish how a vendor eventually decided on which agent to go with. Whilst there has always been a belief that vendors were attracted to an agent offering a low commission and a proposed higher selling price, these factors scored very low in the survey. The transparency of real estate pricing due to the internet and real estate data organisations now having a direct pathway to consumers has meant that vendors are no longer seduced by inflated artificial selling prices at the listing presentation.

In fact, in the survey vendors clearly demonstrated that the second most important factor that influenced their decision on who to list with was the abilty of the agent to use evidence based data to provide an explanation on the price they were suggesting was achievable.

The number one factor used by vendors to decide was the personality, professionalism, and trust that they had of the agent. In other words they were looking for someone they could get on with and were happy to hand over their keys and biggest asset to.

It seems once you establish trust, the terms of the listing (i.e. commission and advertising costs) become secondary.

News Limited research has recently shown that readers of print media are far more interested in articles about the value of prices in their own area than reading about what the rich and famous are buying and selling.
Providing evidenced based data on recent sales and future boom areas , along with tips on “how to” are the things that interest the average punter
Basically it’s about what’s in it for me!

News Limited has recently under taken research to identify the success of auction v private treaty sales with results to be released shortly, but the evidence is clear that auction was the winner.  From an extract from the Rismark Research , professor Hardman said:

“We find that, even after accounting for dwelling quality and location, auctioned properties sell for (statistically) significantly more than those sold by private treaty, but only in the upper price brackets. The “auction premium” is typically in the range 2 – 4%.

The results were statistically significant for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Gold Coast. “

A full report of the research, methodology and findings will be released shortly by News Limited .

This evidence validates what many real estate agents who promote the method of auction have believed for a long time , and that is that competition of buyers drives real estate prices up, and the main role of an agent is to promote a property extensively to ensure competitive bidding takes place amongst emotionally connected buyers .

Vendors who have been thinking about coming onto the market place in the second half of this calender year are moving forward selling plans and jumping in before the distraction of the election sets in. Auctions listings this season will continue the trend of being significantly higher and the impending announcement of the election will give July and August an extra injection of stock

The smart brigade in real estate are taking the opportunity of calling all prospective vendors and telling them all the great reasons to come on the market now versus during the election distraction period

Its been a bumper year for auction listing volumes and this is set to continue one would imagine right until close to election time

Makes me think, if your an agent an election over Christmas would be the best time for it , but somehow I don’t think that will happen

Even when I was at school I seemed to be drawn into, and attracted to the individuals that were different , the uncool , the weirdos. Did not know why I did back then , but I do now. They had no false mask . I was getting the real deal with them. They were not trying to be someone else and in doing so became attractive being the best them. Think about it.

If you copy someone else , the best you can ever be is a second best of them , and not an original. Alternatively you can be the best you on the whole planet of 6 billion people. There is only one you . And that’s what people want. They want to look into your eyes and know your not perfect but they are getting the real you . No social masks, no fakes, no lies , just someone who is happy being themselves and this makes you so attractive as you have no ego and carry your self as someone with a great self esteem

I love misfits , they are themselves and in the process give me permission to be myself.

An online survey of 504 Australian adults who report they have bought a property in Australia in the last ten years indicated they are much less interested in reading gossip, expert opinions and voyeurism on real estate.

They were far more interested on tips and guides in relation to property prices in their own specific area.

Below is a list of things in order of priority that they like to read about in terms of real estate editorial.

- Details of property prices in the area
- Tips that are easy to read and visually attractive e.g. 10 things to look for at an inspection
- Reviews of areas and suburbs that they could potentially move to
- Home improvement articles
- Auction clearance rates
- ‘How to’ guides
- Photos and stories about Australia’s most luxurious houses
- Celebrity houses and stories

The key learning is that evidence based data is critical in terms of readership quality to buyers and sellers of the Australian market place.

Had a mate ask me whether he should leave real estate the other day and wanted my advice. He is making about 90k a year and getting depressed Sunday afternoon knowing he has a slog ahead of him the next day that lasts a week.

My advice was to base your work decision on the following two questions:

1. What am I good at?

2. What do I like doing ?

People that operate in personal greatness zones are usually having these two issues met in the work . If your working in a vocation you like, and your good at , you will never be working a day in life. You are doing what your meant to be doing . Your expressing your unique psychological finger print and will constantly strive to be world class in that field and constantly looking at perfecting your craft .

There’s a only a limited number of tomorrows left so make sure your living your true essence daily

News Limited’s research recently of what are the driving factors as to why a vendor selects one agent over another is very insightful. The results of this research which is regarded as the most comprehensive quantitative research of the industry in recent times shows that agent selection criteria included the agents estimate of price and how they arrived at it, the fee for service , past track records of sales in the area, who had referred them to the agent, profile in print media and a number of other drivers.

However , the research showed out of everything , the number one reason why the vendor picked THAT AGENT was . Get ready for it. The relationship they had with the agent during the listing process, and how much they TRUSTED that agent. You see when there is trust , the terms , commission and marketing become secondary.

So next time your sitting eye ball to eye ball with a vendor, remind yourself , they don’t care how much you know , till they know how much  you care!

Over the last 3 months News Limited has conducted the largest research project in the real estate indutry and discovered a number of insights that will be shortly rolled out to the industry .

 One significant one is the factors that drove a vendor to list with an agent at the listing presentation and contrary to popular belief being the chepaest did not score high as to why a vendor selected that agent.

The top 3 factors that which influenced the vendor in the decision were the following:

1.Good personality

2.Agents explanation and evidence on price

3.Past track record of sales in the area

4.Quality of marketing proposal

The bottom 3 were

1.Lowest commission

2.Agent proposing a higher sale price

3.Low marketing cost

This research of 360 vendors clearly illustrates that a quality agent can attract a quality fee and vendors are highly influenced by a quality marketing plan , and having trust with an agent at the listing presentation will make the terms of the agreement of a secondary nature

We can learn a lot from marketing type companies like Coca Cola and McDonald’s on the way they launch a product. When you think about it launching a new hamburger or a soft drink is really not too dissimilar to launching a new property into the marketplace. There are products in the marketplace which in the real estate world comprises other houses and units. They are looking to find a buyer. When a vendor’s property comes on the market it is like a new product is being launched. A key in the process is how to differentiate your property from another property. 

If there is one clear thing we can learn from McDonald’s and Coca Cola, it is when you market you must use a multi media campaign to ensure that you get maximum cut through in the marketplace in a short period of time. When Coca Cola launched Coke Zero they did not passively just go onto their own website and put a logo of Coke Zero and hope for the best. Far from it. They advertised everywhere and in all forms of media and did it in a short period of time to ensure that the product was positioned in the consumer’s eye in a particular way.

In real estate when a property comes into the marketplace the first 30 days are crucial. Research shows that you will generally get your best offer on the property during this period and it is for this reason that you should have all your advertising happen in a short period of time at the start of the campaign versus a drip feed approach over many months. A property that hasn’t sold for months develops a perception in the marketplace as being “stale” or having a “defect” and that is the reason that nobody wants it. Unfortunately this is generally not the case at all and in fact the real reason why the property has not sold is that many of the buyers may not have been aware of the property during the early stages of the campaign or it was priced at a level that did not connect with the appropriate buyers in that marketplace.

Having been involved in thousands of property transactions as a real estate agent and auctioneer I know there are only two reasons why a property does not sell. Either the price is too high or the marketing is poor. You will never be able to establish what fair market value is unless every possible buyer in the marketplace becomes aware of it when it comes on the market. Buyers come from various sources, internet and newspaper advertising being the two predominant ones. The behaviour of many buyers is that they originally see it advertised in a newspaper then go onto the internet to explore more information such as a virtual tour and floor plans. Other sources include the signboard and the real estate agent’s database. Before appointing an agent ensure that every component of your marketing plan is discussed so not one buyer may slip through the cracks, as the family home remains the last tax free haven in Australia. Every dollar profit you make selling your principal place of residence is yours to keep.