SHOCKING STUDY OF SELLERS' WAYS OF PICKING THEIR AGENT

The April 2010 issue of "Texas Realtor" shows interesting results of a new survey of home sellers.

• 62% of home sellers only interviewed one agent before listing their home.
• 19% of home sellers talked to three agents before they selected one
• 22% were more interested in determining the list price that would make their home competitive than any other service a listing agent would provide.
• 1% thought professional designations were important when picking their agent.  The other 99% didn't see the value to be of consequence.
• 3% found picked their agent by walking in or calling a real estate office and speaking to the agent who had floor duty at the time they called.

I don't know the size of the sample and I don't know how respondents were picked.  Nevertheless, I suspect the trends are valid, and several are shocking.

You have to wonder why our Realtor designations carry so little weight.  CPA means something special when you're trying to pick a tax accountant.  Board Certified Trial Attorney seems to indicate you might have a better chance if you're going to end up in court. 

So why would the majority of the public feel that the representation they would get from a real estate agent will probably not be improved by his education?

And why would far more than half of the potential home sellers only interview one agent before contracting with them to list their home?

I would suggest that the 3% who just walked in the door of the nearest agency and took pot luck choosing the agent who was on floor time duty had no less of a chance of getting the best representation available than the 62% who only interviewed one agent, or the 1% who didn't see how an agent's formal real estate education and the resulting certification was worth considering.

BILL CHERRY, REALTORS

DALLAS - PARK CITIES

Since 1964

214 503-8563

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