How to Choose a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your Home in Australia

The agent who tells you the highest number is rarely the agent who gets you the highest price. Choosing well comes down to a few checks you can do in an afternoon: confirm the licence, interview three agents with the same list of questions, look at what they have actually sold near you in the last six months, and read the agency agreement before you sign it rather than after. Do that and you will avoid most of the ways sellers get burned.

TL;DR

Every agent selling property in Australia has to hold a licence (or work under a licensed agent) with their state regulator, and you can check that online in about a minute. Interview at least three agents and ask each the same questions about recent local sales, days on market, marketing costs and commission. Treat a free appraisal as a sales pitch, not a valuation. Read the agency agreement for the type of listing, the length, the cooling-off terms and what you owe if you walk away. And line up a conveyancer or solicitor at the same time, because you will need one before the contract goes out.

Check the licence first

Real estate is a licensed occupation in every state and territory. An agent either holds a licence themselves or works as a registered salesperson or representative under a licensed agency. Either way, the name should appear on the regulator's register.

• New South Wales: NSW Fair Trading runs the property licence public register. Search by name or licence number.
• Victoria: Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes a public register of licensed estate agents that also lists agents' representatives.
• Queensland: the Office of Fair Trading lets you check a property licence online.
• Western Australia: Consumer Protection WA covers real estate agents, property managers and sales representatives, including how to confirm someone is licensed.

A salesperson rather than the licensee is normal. What matters is which licensed agency stands behind them, because that agency is responsible for their conduct and holds your deposit in trust.

Interview three agents, ask the same questions

One agent gives you nothing to compare against. Three is enough to spot the outlier. Work through the same list with each, then compare the answers side by side.

• What have you sold in this suburb in the last six months? Ask for addresses, not a vague "plenty". Then look them up.
• How many days on market did those sales take, and how many had a price reduction along the way?
• Do you recommend auction or private treaty for this street, and why? The honest answer depends on your suburb and the type of property, and a good agent will tell you which method their recent local sales used.
• What is the marketing plan, line by line, and who pays for each part?
• What is your commission, and is it negotiable? Ask them to put the figure in writing before you leave the room.
• Who will actually run the open homes and take the buyer calls? The senior agent who pitched you, or a junior you have not met?

How to read a free appraisal

An appraisal is an agent's opinion of what your home might sell for. It is not a valuation, which is done by a licensed valuer using a formal method and is what a bank relies on.

The known trick is the high appraisal. An agent quotes a number well above the others to win the listing, the property sits, and a few weeks later they ask you to drop the price. By then you have paid for marketing and the listing looks stale.

The defence is simple. When one appraisal is noticeably higher than the other two, ask that agent to show you the comparable sales that support it. In NSW, agents now have to include an estimated selling price in the agency agreement and back it with evidence if you ask, and Victoria requires the estimate in the sales authority to be based on the three most comparable properties. If the evidence is thin, the number was bait.

The agency agreement, clause by clause

The agency agreement (called a sales authority in Victoria) is the contract between you and the agent. Read the whole thing. These are the parts that matter most.

Exclusive versus open listing. An exclusive agreement gives one agent the sole right to sell for a set period, and you pay them commission even if you find the buyer yourself. An open listing lets you appoint several agents, with commission going to whichever one sells. Most residential sales use an exclusive agreement. That is fine, as long as the term is short.

Length of the agreement. Ask for the shortest exclusive period the agent will accept, and check what happens when it ends. Some agreements roll into an open listing, some keep running until you cancel in writing.

Cooling-off. This differs by state. NSW Fair Trading's guidance on agency agreements sets out a cooling-off period of one business day after signing, ending at 5pm the next business day. Consumer Affairs Victoria's guide to selling with or without an agent is blunt that there is no cooling-off period on a sales authority in Victoria, so do not sign one unless you have decided. Check your own state's consumer body before you sign anything.

What happens if you pull out. Look for the clause on early termination. Some agreements charge you for marketing already spent, some claim commission if the property later sells to a buyer the agent introduced. Ask the agent to walk you through the exit terms and confirm them in writing.

Commission structures

There are three common ways agents charge, and none of them is automatically better.

A percentage of the sale price is the most common. A fixed fee is agreed up front regardless of the final price, which suits sellers who want certainty. A tiered structure pays a base percentage up to an agreed figure and a higher percentage on anything above it.

Whichever structure you choose, commission is negotiable, and any agent who says otherwise is negotiating. Get the rate, the structure and the GST treatment in writing on the agency agreement. Do not accept a verbal figure.

Vendor-paid advertising

Most agents will ask you to pay for marketing up front: photography, floor plans, online portal listings, signboards, print, and sometimes a video or a styled campaign. This is vendor-paid advertising, and it is where most seller and agent disputes start.

It is reasonable to ask for an itemised list with the cost of each part. It is reasonable to ask which items the agent gets a rebate or bulk rate on, and whether that saving is passed to you. It is reasonable to decline items you do not think will move the sale, such as print advertising in a suburb where every buyer is on the portals. And it is reasonable to ask whether the marketing money is refundable if the property does not sell.

Question any package that seems built around promoting the agency rather than your house.

Underquoting rules

Underquoting is when an agent advertises a property at a price below what they have told the seller it will fetch, or below the seller's asking price, to pull in more buyers. It fills your open homes with people who cannot afford your house.

NSW and Victoria have specific rules. NSW Fair Trading's page on price estimation and underquoting explains that agents must put a reasonable estimated selling price in the agency agreement, must not advertise below it, and cannot use terms like "offers over" or a price plus sign. Consumer Affairs Victoria explains its Statement of Information rules, which require every residential listing to show an indicative selling price alongside three comparable sales. Ask any agent you interview how they set the advertised price and how it relates to the estimate they gave you.

Red flags

• Pressure to sign today. Nothing vanishes overnight; the pressure exists because comparison shopping hurts them, not you.
• Refusing to put the commission in writing, or being vague about what is included.
• An appraisal well above the others with no comparable sales to support it.
• No recent sales in your suburb. An agent who dominates the suburb next door may not know your street's buyers.
• Marketing packages presented as a single lump sum with no breakdown.
• A senior agent who pitches you and then hands the campaign to someone you have never met.

Check reviews and past listings

Read online reviews for the pattern rather than the stars. Do sellers mention the price they got relative to the appraisal? Do the negative reviews cluster around the same complaint?

More useful than reviews is the agent's sold history on the major portals. Pull up their recent sold listings, note the listing date and the sold date, and check whether the advertised price moved during the campaign. Repeated price drops tell you how they operate. Short time on market with few reductions tells you they price well from the start.

The conveyancer or solicitor you also need

In most states you need a contract of sale prepared before the property can be advertised, and that is the conveyancer's or solicitor's job, not the agent's. Line one up now rather than the week before launch. You can find local conveyancers on The Local List, and if you are buying again after you sell, a mortgage broker can tell you what you can borrow before you commit. Once the sale is done, our guide to choosing a removalist covers the next headache.

Find agents who actually sell in your suburb

The best shortlist is agents with recent sold listings on your street, a licence you have checked, and answers you can compare. Browse local real estate agents on The Local List, or narrow it by state, for example real estate agents in Queensland, and start your three interviews this week.