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Underquoting is one of the ethical issues that REIV’s new chairman says he wants to address next year.
The new head of Victoria’s peak property body has vowed to use the industry body’s night to improve awareness of ethics among real estate agents.
At the Real Estate Institute of Victoria Excellence Awards ceremony on Thursday night, chairman Jacob Cain’s opening speech referenced the Australian Institute of Governance’s 2023 Ethics Index, which named real estate agents as the least ethical profession in the country.
He went on to say that he wanted to increase confidence in the industry by reflecting the high ethical standards espoused by members who attended the awards night.
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Speaking after the event, Cain said he believes an “absolutely small” percentage of rogue elements in the industry (including those not yet estimated) are creating “perception problems” for agents. He said there was.
Nevertheless, he said the institute could review its bylaws and see how it could shift from being viewed as a membership organization for paying members to instead treating tenants, buyers and sellers as stakeholders in REIV. He said he is considering it.
“Particularly in the Melbourne market, there is an issue of underquoting that has plagued the industry for many years and created mistrust,” he said.
“We just need to weed out the rogue agents who aren’t doing the right thing.”
Mr Kane said that most of the industry now considers underquoting to be “ineffective” and as a result, sellers’ expectations often do not match the budgets of buyers attracted by price guides. .
Jacob Cain of Cain Real Estate, President of REIV;
“It’s actually a terrible strategy,” he says.
“And the bad stuff gets exposed pretty quickly. People use Google reviews.”
But Kane said it would be difficult to completely change an agent’s opinion based on work factors, noting that there are emotional motivations behind most moves, from birth to death to divorce, and that most people are frustrated. He said that this means that he is engaging with agents at a time when he is likely to feel rationing. .
Real Estate Institute of Australia president Hayden Groves echoed Mr Kane’s sentiments on the night of the awards ceremony, urging attendees to take part in an online forum with the Governance Institute next week and find ways to improve their standing within the community. encouraged.
“We hope this session reveals things we don’t know and provides greater insight into how we can do our jobs better and how we can better educate and understand our agents.” Groves said.
He said the majority of people who responded to a survey about agent ethics would have interacted with them as tenants, buyers, or prospective home buyers, meaning they didn’t get the home they wanted through no fault of the agent. He added that there were many people who did not.
There will be a relative minority of sellers and landlords who have a fiduciary duty to act in their best interests, he added.
Hayden Groves, REIA Chairman.
“If there was more supply in the market and buyers and tenants had more options, the outcome would have been very different,” he said.
Mr Groves said this would make it difficult for the industry to “rise too far from the bottom of the list”.
“But where there are fundamental ethical issues, it is our responsibility to ensure that agents understand their responsibility to the interests of consumers,” he said.
“And we welcome government regulations aimed at improving ethical conduct and zero tolerance for improper ethical conduct.”
Longview Real Estate has been named Leading Residential Agency of the Year.
Mr Kane’s agency, Kane Real Estate, won Victoria’s Best Mid-Sized Real Estate Agency award, while Keyhole Property Investments collected the gong for Best Small Agency.
RT Edgar Toorak’s Antoinette Nido has been named Top Agent of 2023, while Ray White Cheltenham’s Greg Brydon has been named Top Auctioneer of the Year.
Eleanor Currie of Nelson Alexander Essendon won the Best New Auctioneer gong, while Tonya Davidson of Davidson Property Advocates was recognized as the State’s Best Buyer’s Advocate.
The REIV Chairman’s Award was presented to Wes Davidson, founder of Horsham-based Wes Davidson Real Estate.
Quentin Killian, CEO of REIV, said: “It is inspiring to see such high standards of professionalism in our sector, and the winners of the coveted awards are recognized for their continued excellence and achievement. It shows,” he said.
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