Characteristics contributing to the effectiveness of residential real estate agents in South Africa
Date
2011-05-10
Authors
Knott, Ina
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Abstract
This report identifies a set of the top characteristics that influence the sales and commission earnings of estate agents. Real estate agents assist both buyers and sellers in the property buying and selling process. They invest in a variety of tools, technology as well as education in order to add value as intermediaries and to be more effective. The effectiveness of these characteristics is tested to identify the ones that actually drive their sales.
The research instrument used was a survey completed by South African real estate agents specialising in residential sales. Stepwise regression was applied to the collected data to test the strength of the relationships between the characteristics and sales as well as commission earnings.
The top characteristics that drive sales up or down are: the price ranges and area types in which the agent sells properties; years of experience; the number of units sold per year; using MyProperty website as an advertising medium; using Experian software to perform credit checks; using SAPTG software to perform market analysis and valuations and the location of the agency’s office. The top characteristics that influence the commission earned by an agent negatively or positively are: membership of the Institute of Estate Agents of SA; advanced home loan financing knowledge; the price ranges and area types in which the agent sells properties; years of experience; the number of units sold per year; using MyProperty website as an advertising medium; the other types of software used by the agent; using PropertySPI software to perform market analysis and valuations and whether the agent sells properties as part of a team.
The findings can assist industry stakeholders to eliminate the negative drivers and invest in the characteristics that increase sales in order to be more effective.
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Estate agents, Real estate agents