Finding the best agent

HOW do you choose a real estate agent to sell, lease or manage your residential or commercial property?

The first question you should ask is ‘are you a member of the REIV?’ because then you know they have completed the required training, are committed to ongoing professional development, are covered by professional indemnity insurance and are required to follow REIV guidelines to always act ethically, honestly and fairly. This is ‘The Difference’ which an REIV Member brings to your property transaction and is what makes an REIV Member unique.

The REIV’s new Choose a Member online tool can help you to narrow down your search. It’s the first resource on the Victorian market that is not influenced by referral fees, priority listings or other incentives to rank one agent over another.

In other words, there is no way to manipulate the order that agents and agencies are presented.

You can even tailor your search to find the best professional with experiences matched to your needs. For example, you can see who has the best record on selling three-bedroom houses in your region.

If you search for an agency with experience selling three-bedroom houses in Ballarat, for example, the REIV’s Choose a Member tool will provide eight results for agencies in the area that have sold this type of property in the past 12 months. It will provide the number of sales, date of most recent result, link to agency profile and link to their recent results.

Likewise, if you searched for agents who have sold four bedroom houses in Bannockburn, you’d be presented with two local agencies and if you searched for agents that have sold two bedroom units in Hepburn, the Choose a Member tool would turn up three relevant agencies. 80 per cent of Victorian agencies are REIV members so there’s plenty to choose from.

To Choose a Member visit reiv.com.au/the-difference.