How to choose a real estate agent in Australia

Choosing the agent who sells your home is the decision that most affects the price you get, how long the sale takes and how stressful the next two months are. Most people interview one or two agents, usually whoever sold a neighbour's place. That is a thin basis for a decision worth tens of thousands of dollars.

This guide sets out a method you can run in a week: shortlist on evidence, interview three agents, compare their proposals on the same terms, and read the agreement before you sign it.

Start with the evidence, not the pitch

An agent's record in your suburb is the strongest predictor of how they will do with your property. Three things matter most:

1. Recent sales in your suburb and property type. An agent who has sold six houses on your side of the suburb in the past year knows which buyers are active, what they paid and why. Twenty sales across a city are less useful than six near you.
2. Days on market compared with the suburb. If the suburb median is 30 days and an agent's listings typically take 55, ask why. Long campaigns usually mean the price guide was wrong at the start.
3. Price achieved against the guide or an independent estimate. Agents who consistently sell close to or above the suburb's comparable sales are either pricing accurately or negotiating well. Either is what you want.

Our suburb pages rank agents on exactly these inputs plus review volume, recency and verified share. "Best" on this site means best on that published methodology, not best in some general sense; the formula and its weights are on our methodology page. Agents cannot pay to move up, and every agent in a suburb appears whether or not they have a relationship with us.

Interview three agents, not one

Three is the right number. One gives you no comparison; five takes a week of evenings. Ask each for a written appraisal (see what a property appraisal is) and run the same questions past each of them. Our questions to ask at an appraisal guide has the full list, but the ones that separate agents fastest are:

• Which three recent sales are most comparable to my home, and why?
• What did your last five listings in this suburb sell for, against their initial guide?
• Who in your office will actually run the campaign and attend the opens?
• What marketing do you recommend, what does it cost, and what happens to the money if we withdraw?
• What is your commission, is it inclusive of GST, and what triggers it?

Watch for the agent who leads with the highest price. A high appraisal is the oldest tool for winning a listing; the price comes down later, after you are locked into an agreement and the first weeks of buyer interest have been spent. Ask every agent to justify their number with comparable sales. Victoria's rules go further and require the agent's written estimate in the authority to be a single figure or a range no wider than 10 per cent, with the comparable sales that support it (Consumer Affairs Victoria).

Compare proposals on the same terms

Lay the three proposals side by side with these columns: appraised range, method of sale, campaign length, marketing cost, commission (with GST stated), agreement term, and the names of the people doing the work. If one agent quotes a lower commission but a larger marketing budget, the total cost may be higher. If one quotes a short campaign and a high guide, ask what happens at the end of the campaign if the home has not sold.

Commission is negotiable in every state and territory; no government sets a rate. Typical ranges are in our state guides for Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. A lower rate is not automatically better. The question is what the agent will deliver for it; the difference between a good and an average negotiator on a $900,000 sale is usually larger than half a per cent of commission.

Check the licence and the reviews

Every selling agent in Australia must be licensed or registered with their state regulator, and in most states the agency's licence must also be current. The public registers are free to search: NSW Fair Trading, the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, and the equivalents in each other state. Our agent profiles show the licence number and the date we last checked it.

Reviews are useful when you know where they came from. Look for reviews tied to a sale the platform can see, read the negative ones, and treat a page of five-star reviews with no detail as noise. On our profiles every review shows its source, and we mark a review "verified" only where we can show the evidence; we do not use that word otherwise. Agents on our site get a right of reply to a review, not a delete button.

Understand the agreement before you sign

Once you pick an agent you will sign an agency agreement (called an authority in Victoria and an appointment, Form 6, in Queensland). The important terms are the same everywhere: the type of agency, the term, the commission and when it is payable, the marketing costs, and any rebates the agent receives on those costs. The state rules differ in ways that matter:

• New South Wales. You have a cooling-off period of one business day (or Saturday) after signing, and the agent must give you a signed copy within 48 hours or lose the right to commission (NSW Government). The agreement must state the source and estimated amount of any rebates or commissions the agent receives on your marketing spend.
• Queensland. A sole or exclusive agency for residential property cannot run longer than 90 days per appointment (Queensland Government), and the Form 6 must state the commission and any rebates on expenses.
• Victoria. The authority must state the estimated selling price, the commission as a dollar figure or a percentage with a dollar example, and a rebate statement. Unless you agree otherwise, a sole or exclusive authority ends 30 days after an auction or 60 days after signing for a private sale (Consumer Affairs Victoria).

Exclusive agency means the agent is paid if the property sells during the term, whoever finds the buyer, including you. Sole agency usually lets you sell privately without paying commission. Open listings pay only the agent who is the effective cause of the sale. Most metropolitan sales are exclusive; that is reasonable for a well-run campaign, but keep the term short enough that you can change agents if the campaign stalls.

Red flags

• A price estimate with no comparable sales behind it.
• Pressure to sign at the appraisal.
• "Vendor paid advertising" with no itemised costs, or marketing that must be paid up front and is non-refundable.
• An agreement term longer than the campaign needs.
• The agent who appraised the property will not be the one running it.
• Any suggestion that your listing will get better treatment if you pay for extras.

What to do next

Shortlist from evidence, meet three agents, compare their proposals in writing and read the agreement before signing. If you are selling in Brisbane or South East Queensland you can compare ranked agents on our suburb pages and request proposals from up to three of them in one form; agents elsewhere in Australia appear with their public data and we will add proposal requests as we expand.

Frequently asked questions

How many agents should I interview?+

Three. It is enough to see a range of appraisals and approaches without spending a week on it. Ask each the same questions and compare their written proposals side by side.

Is the agent with the highest appraisal the best choice?+

Rarely. Ask each agent to justify their estimate with three comparable sales. The agent whose number is supported by the evidence is more likely to sell at that number.

Is commission negotiable?+

Yes, in every state and territory. No government sets a rate. Compare the whole proposal, including marketing costs, not the commission line alone.

What does the partner label on this site mean?+

A partner agent has agreed to pay us a referral fee on settlement if you sell through them after meeting them here. It never affects their ranking and the fee cannot be passed on to you.