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HOW DO YOU CHOOSE AN ESTATE AGENT? – Featured Blog

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Today’s posts from our featured Port Elizabeth Blogger:

HOW DO YOU CHOOSE AN ESTATE AGENT? by The Port Elizabeth Property Blog:

When you think of finding an estate agent to sell a property or maybe its because you need an estate agent to help someone else sell or buy a property; what is the process you follow?

As an estate agent, I have found that the following are usually the ways in which people find estate agents:

SELF PROMOTION: If an estate agent can get a lot of self promoting adverts out there, the perception is its a great estate agent. I think for many people the logic goes as follows. X has 80 rubbish bin ads, 100 pole ads, etc. That must cost a fortune, so therefore X must be successful. Alternatively, X is great at promoting something, therefore my home will also get the benefit of this massive marketing machine. So often, as a consumer we do not have the real facts, X may be from a wealthy family, have a wealthy spouse or have taken out a bond to finance the promotions; none of which really are an indicator of success in selling property. When one looks at this as an indicator of the level of promotion a single home will get, maybe that is more concerning. In most cases all good agencies have very similar media footprints, which means that most professional agencies have the same exposure – so in effect very little of self promotion add spend actually affects any individual property.

DROPS: Drops are a key part of communication with an area. Random drops with no real message  – commonly referred to as the – “Spray and Pray” approach is just irritating to most homeowners. In many cases the sole motivation is getting leads and building a relationship of any sort, is not even considered. Look for intelligent and unique communications that speak to that community specifically.

(AREA) SPECIALIST: The term specialist is often worn out in real estate communication. How often do you not here I am a area specialist in half a dozen suburbs (really!) In many cases, people will see an agent on a suburb sign, this is self promotion and is not an indicator of being an actual specialist in the area, at all. Being an area specialist is having actual real current knowledge of the area, the properties sold, for sale and an intimate knowledge of what’s planned for the area. To this an area specialist will also be the person you go to for how the area is being affected by the local economy and what trends are impacting the area directly and indirectly. The other version is the expert in all areas like ” I specialise in residential, commercial and industrial sales”. Would that not more correctly be referred to as a generalist?

But what then is the better way?

REFERRALS: for me are great. It shows that someone else who used their services is happy enough to refer you. Often this is confused with people who are paid a “finders fee” for passing leads to an estate agent. Referrals from past clients is a great indicator of a great agent. Rather look for an agent that nurtures relationships with their clients, which survive long after the sale is complete.

You may also ask the estate agent:

  • What is the average time on market for properties they have listed in the past year?
  • How many show houses did they host per property listed in the last year?
  • How many properties have you got on your books at present?
  • How many sales do you do a month?
  • What percentage of your sales are registered (taking the 1st buyer without pre-approving often leads to collapsed deals)
  • To speak to a few of the agents current and past clients – what is/was their experience.
This is not meant to be an all encompassing guide but merely provides pointers. 

Real Estate is often filled with smoke and mirrors, finding the facts and seeing past the perceptions is key to finding the real nuggets of gold, which leads to a great real estate experience. 



Clinton Begley (PPRE MPRE CEA B.PROC (NMMU)) is the Principal/Director at BOLD REALTY, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. In addition to his passion for real estate he is also an experienced trainer, coach and mentor. He holds a B.Proc degree through the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and is a non-practising Attorney, Notary and Conveyancer. His legal and real estate experience is augmented by studies towards a MBA degree through the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School, which he is scheduled to complete soon. This article reflects the personal opinion of the author only, it is NOT intended as legal advice nor may any reliance be placed upon it. The article is purely for information purposes and you are advised to consult an expert before making any decision. The author nor any other person or entity may be held liable for damages of whatsoever nature from whatsoever cause.

Read more here: The Port Elizabeth Property Blog

10 Great Benefits to Have a Real Estate Professional on your team by The Port Elizabeth Property Blog:

In the real estate industry it is commonly believed that the sales cycle for property is seven years, on average. That means that for most of us we don’t have a real estate agent on speed dial, let alone know one. Then again, many of us have a friend or family member who is in the business; but maybe you know them a bit too well, to trust them with the sale of your property.

Whatever the case may be you still can benefit greatly from having a real estate professional, which you can trust. But other than when buying, selling, investing, renting, letting, developing, redeveloping, repurposing of property; what other possible benefit can there be to having a really great agent/property broker in your corner?

  1. MUNICIPAL VALUATIONS: Its saves money. Periodically the municipality value properties to determine the amount of rates to be paid. This may seen standard, but as many property owners found out the municipality did not value each home. Rather it applied an process (unknown) issued a valuation roll for comment and unless you objected it became your municipal valuation. In many cases, high municipal valuations gave many property owners a warm fuzzy feeling that they were literally living in a gold mine. The truth is, that other than for determining your rates, this figure means nothing, when selling. If you had a great agent, their valuation could have allowed you to raise an objection and save possibly thousands of Rand.
  2. RENOVATIONS: We all at some stage need to decide are we renovating, building on or moving on to another property. In many cases we make this decision without consulting a property professional we can trust. As an example Joe buys a house for R1,200,000 and spends R500,000 on renovations. Along with costs of purchase Joe is all in at over R1,700,000. Joe however does not know that in the neighbourhood the highest selling price is R1,400,000. Joe is about to realise that unless he stays in the home until property values catch up he will suffer an loss. The reality is though that if the time value of money is considered, his loss is far greater. This loss could have been avoided, with advice.
  3. INCONVENIENCE: A great real estate agent is a source of great advice and has contacts who can make certain property transactions a breeze. If you involve your agent early on, you can save time, money and frustration.
  4. KNOWLEDGE: A great real estate agent is really an area expert. This is not determined by sponsoring area boards, but is hard won by hours of pouring over sales data, following area news and keeping an ear the ground at the municipality.
  5. TECHNICALITIES: Most of the public and many people in the property industry are blissfully unaware of the highly technical nature of property. Just because it appears easy does not make it so and what you or your agent does not know, can hurt you.
  6. DESIGN ADVICE: Very often we decide to make changes to our home, but we do these changes based on our idea of what is most practical, often finding that changes need to be made later. Having a professional estate agent, with experience is that they often can see difficulties or challenges, while these are still only on plan, saving time, money, inconvenience and frustration.
  7. INVESTMENT ADVICE: Although estate agents are not FAIS accreditted, a business minded real estate professional would be able to guide investment decisions in the property asset class, but running key projections like Return on Investment (ROI) etc These projections and assumptions can always be confirmed by your financial advisor.
  8. SUBJECT SPECIALITY: So often we make decisions on advice of advisors, whose advice through well intentioned, is sadly off the mark because they do no know the industry. So often one will hear a remark like, I don’t need an estate agent to advise me I have a CA or a doctor, who helps me. That is great if you have an accounting or medical problem, but a property matter is completely outside of the standard scope of practice. By analogy if I have a tooth ache, I should see a dentist, but I have a gold friend who is a neurosurgeon. We all shouls agree that it is evident that the neuro will not advise on the tooth ache, but somehow in property, we loose this reasoning.
  9. FRIENDLY: Estate agents are geerally some of the most friendly people I know, so its fun working with us.
  10. TIME: A great agent takes time to get to know you and your personal requirements. I am aware that there are those who rush in and rush out, but n most cases, getting the optimal outcome is less about how well your agent is known, but rather how well known your requirements are to your agent.

These are just some of the great benefits for having a really great property professional on your team.

Clinton Begley (PPRE MPRE CEA B.PROC (NMMU)) is the Principal/Director at BOLD REALTY, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. In addition to his passion for real estate he is also an experienced trainer, coach and mentor. He holds a B.Proc degree through the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and is a non-practising Attorney, Notary and Conveyancer. His legal and real estate experience is augmented by studies towards a MBA degree through the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School, which he is scheduled to complete soon. This article reflects the personal opinion of the author only, it is NOT intended as legal advice nor may any reliance be placed upon it. The article is purely for information purposes and you are advised to consult an expert before making any decision. The author nor any other person or entity may be held liable for damages of whatsoever nature from whatsoever cause.

Read more here: The Port Elizabeth Property Blog

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This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.