One of Australia’s top agents has sold a property for 22 per cent above reserve after using his strong online presence to win the listing.
McGrath Estate Agents Neutral Bay partner Nigel Mukhi sold a two-bedroom unit in the Sydney suburb of Kirribilli for $1.931 million after setting a reserve of $1.58 million.
Mr Mukhi, who placed 58th in the Top 100 Agents ranking, told REB he was not sure if it was an uncontested listing, but that his profile definitely helped him win the business.
“The people looking after the sale were the owner’s kids – they were living interstate and they did a lot of research online and they said my presence in the area was one of the reasons they called me,” he said.
Mr Mukhi has worked his local patch for more than a decade, and said he invests time and money in building his profile among potential vendors.
“I think everyone is researching online, so you’ve got to make sure you’ve got a good presence online,” he said.
McGrath Estate Agents Neutral Bay takes out banner advertising on realestate.com.au and Domain, while Mr Mukhi invests about $15,000 per year in personal banner advertising.
Mr Mukhi’s online strategy also includes engaging with Open Agent and Rate My Agent, where he has posted his sales results and attracted a string of positive reviews.
Indeed, the vendor of the Kirribilli unit has posted a testimonial in which he said he “would highly recommend Nigel and his team to any other prospective seller or buyer”.
Mr Mukhi said part of the reason he gets positive feedback is that he asks clients to post comments.
“Rate My Agent is quite a strong site in our area, and the good thing about Rate My Agent is that it’s up to the client to post their own comments,’ he said.
“On the back end of Rate My Agent, when you sell a property and update sales results, you have an option to invite the client or purchaser to post a comment. Sometimes I do it and sometimes I don’t, depending on the client and how busy they are.”
[Related: Agent reveals how he conquered Rate My Agent]
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