Hello,
We are going through the process of finding a real estate agent and a friend suggested Open Agent. After some research it seems they only refer you to agents who are happy to give up some of their commission so is there a way to find any data on the agents who consistently sell above the price the agent puts on the contract?

Hello Max,

Open Agent and all other 3rd party platforms that introduce agents to sellers don't really focus on sales prices,though they may say they do, or sales results but ratings and feedback from the agents vendors (customers)
You can read this statement on their own website..

"You are missing some of my sales data – can you correct this? We do our best to gather all your previous and recent sales, but our technology is still very new and not yet perfect! Email us at agents@openagent.com.au with property sales we have missed. We will verify and add these to the site in the next update"

You really cannot get that sort of data unless..

1.you personally interview your potential agent
2.ask them to provide their sales history/results (e.g. cross check against sales data on Corelogic or Realestate.com.au 3.Try and verify that the sales results are factual

No.3 is the tricky one and no sales data portals I'm aware off produces such information.You really have to go and interview the agent and ask them to show you their personal results by examples of recent sales they've made. I stress the word RECENT,as the markets have changed dramatically and getting a strong sales result over and above will require very high skilled agents.Not too many of those around in each suburb.Quantity of agents are there but quality is hard to find.

In saying all this 3rd party introductory platforms really don't have your goals in mind,they are a business to make their fee's of the agents fee and really at the end of the day your property will be tendered to whoever responds the fastest to the tender request. Its then a matter of you eliminating who you don't want and then fine tuning who you do want to appoint as your selling agent.

You really don't even need to use Open agent to source a selling agent.Look online on Domain and Realestate.com.au or pick up the local paper and you will see who has the strongest market share of a suburb and listings they work.In most cases the top agents,who usually get a decent result for their clients has ample listings and sales and a track record.

With open agent,you are really leaving to chance that a quality agent makes contact with you. If you're friend cannot tell you who the best agent is in your suburb and asked you to search via pen agent,then really,in all due respects, your friend does not know who to refer you too. Its best to get a referral from someone in the know who knows the agents reputation or someone who has engaged the sales agent and has done a transaction. Most agents can provide you testimonials and even a personal contact of their past client (with consent) so you can ask them about their experience.

Best of luck Max B.