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'Outdated' is how one prominent principal described the result of a recent Real Estate Business straw poll, which revealed an overwhelming majority of agents prefer to deal with home buyers as opposed to buyers' agents.
Robert Elsom, director and chief auctioneer for hockingstuart Carlton, Burnswick and Northcote, told Real Estate Business he was “so surprised” to hear that more than 83 per cent of the 155 respondents would prefer to deal with home buyers.
“I love dealing with buyers’ agents, we can talk straight and get to business as you don't have to educate them to the extent you would with a traditional home buyer,” Mr Elsom said.
“When you deal with a buyers’ agent you know they mean business. They get paid when a transaction is finalised, so it is important to both parties to achieve the best possible outcome in a timely process.”
“Those days of a buyers’ agent bullying bidders out of an auction are long behind us.
"We know who they are and they are here to work with us.”
Peter Kelaher, managing director and founder of Sydney-based PK Property Search & Negtiators, said he does understand why some agents would prefer to deal directly with a home buyer, however there are several unique benefits an experienced buyers’ agent can bring to the table.
“When an agent deals with a home buyer they are well aware that their client is the vendor,” Mr Kelaher said.
“We are here to smooth over the entire process by working with both parties. The agent wants the best result for the vendor, and the buyers’ agent wants the best result for the home buyer, so if we work together all parties involved will achieve positive results.”
One of the first buyers’ agents in NSW, in his 15 years in the industry Mr Kelaher has seen agents become more accepting of his company's services.
He said most agents he knows would prefer to deal with a buyers’ agent.
“When we first started this company 15 years ago it was definitely a very volatile environment. Agents did not initially like dealing with us because they felt they could get more money out the potential home buyer because they were not as educated as us,” Mr Kelaher said.
“Now we have developed some strong relationships in the market and agents understand how we can work together to achieve the best possible results for our clients. I would say most agents in our market would prefer dealing with me, as a professional, than your average home buyer.”
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