[SteveG]

Hi guys,

In Australia, the term real estate agent refers to an employee who works for a real estate licensee. Under this scenario, the employee receives a small retainer and upwards of 35% sales commissions. You can work on commission only, but to do so, you must be a registered licensee and in such a case, you would generally receive upwards of 50% in sales commissions.

In Australia, you can list and sell your colleagues' listings along with your own. We do have to improve our listing professionalism though; for example, it's quite common to take down the details of a prospective vendor's home and without doing any research based on physical inspections, still get the listing. Quantity and not quality research is the pressure in Australia. We are constantly told to visualise what a home might look like (inside an out), this way we can print off a large volume of possible comparables for the prospective vendors to choose from.

The strategy is, if we print off enough comparables, we're bound to stumble across one home that looks and has similar features to the prospective vendor's home. If a prospective vendor asked us how long a property was on the market for, prior to selling, and what was the original listing price versus the sale price; we'd all be stuffed! Equally, if a prospective vendor asked us if we could walk to schools, shops and public transport, from their property, again, we'd all be stuffed!

In regard to price reductions, if we agree to list a property which is approximately 10% above what we feel the market would pay, we are struggling to get price reductions greater than 1% even after 8 weeks.

In my case, I've only listed the two properties, in my three months (vendor's relative purchased the second listing), but in regard to the first listing; after three weeks, the vendor invited me around so we could agree on a price reduction. I walked away with a 2.5% price reduction and a very excited vendor. As an employee, it's very frustrating to have to discreetly work differently to the company's corporate beliefs because you know they could be servicing their clients at a much higher, professional and personal level.

So, if you guys have any suggestions, please share them?