Most brokers will be aware of buyer’s agents, but one Melbourne real estate agent is offering a unique service to clients: vendor’s agents.
Vendor’s agents are essentially doing the job of the buyer’s agent in reverse: helping clients to list, prepare and ultimately sell their homes for a flat fee. Entourage, based in Cremorne, Victoria, have seen a huge uptick in business in the last year as Australia’s property prices have boomed.
Managing Director Damien Roylance explained to Australian Broker what their vendor’s agent, Antoinette Sagaria, does for clients.
“The vendor advocacy, which has been huge for the last 12 months, I would compare to a mortgage broker,” he explained. “Antoinette, our advocate, gets the brief regarding what the property is and will then interview two or three agents to find the best one to run the campaign in conjunction with them. The client doesn’t really need to do too much, they don’t need to engage with the agent.”
“Sometimes the agents can do too much and pull tricks even when they’re selling your property, to try and commit to certain prices. But Antoinette is the middleman between the client and the agent, and that’s a complimentary service.”
“She takes a cut of the agent’s commission doesn’t pay a fee for that. So that’s a great perk: you get a qualified real estate person working for you and cutting through all the nonsense that the agent can spin you as someone who is 100% on your side.”
As Entourage also includes a mortgage broker section, they are able to offer buying, selling and financing options.
“With Entourage, the finance is the engine,” said Roylance. “There’s five brokers in here with a trail book and big existing clients. When we speak to a finance client who is looking to upgrade their homes and has that trigger to sell, we introduce them to Antoinette, which works really well to make sure that everything happens as it should.”
“Most people don’t sell houses very often: you might buy or sell one a decade. She can help prepare their property for sale, which is a big thing. She’s got her own little team trades that can spruce it, all small things to present the property in the best way.”
“It means we can help our clients out on both sides: to get the most on the sale and the least on the buy. We work for our clients and there’s no conflict of interest. Every time we have a new client, we open it up and present two or three options as a mortgage broker would.”
