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The new crop of agent finder websites are doing nothing more than making a nuisance of themselves and driving up the cost of selling real estate, claims the boss of one of Australia’s largest independent networks.
First National Real Estate chief executive Ray Ellis said these sites have simply inserted themselves as middlemen in the marketplace, claiming to connect consumers with the best local agents for free – but on the back end they are charging agents a hefty 20 per cent referral fee.
Moreover, he said consumers don’t always understand that in effect some of these services simply pay salespeople to find whichever agent is willing to pay a 20 per cent referral fee.
“If the best agent in an area refuses, as is often the case, they call lesser agents until they find one who will pay the fee,” he added.
“We’ve had reports of agents being hounded with up to five phone calls demanding they accept the referral of a listing,” Mr Ellis said.
He said this kind of practice is not helping people find the best agent: “[Instead] it’s most likely helping them find an agent who will charge a higher fee in order to cover the cost imposed by [the site].”
Mr Ellis said websites such as realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and ratemyagent.com.au are the chief portals offering agent ratings and reviews without a vested interest.
He said that through these more established sites, consumers can gain insight “in less than two minutes” into the agents who are the most active and successful in any suburb – without having to hand over personal information to a middleman.
[Related: Will Tradingpost.com.au be able to take on realestate.com.au and Domain? Poll]
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