Age Prejudice Real Estate Agent

[Purple Property]

In your opinion is there an age prejudice amongst real estate sales people?

i.e. would you not trust a late 20's, early 30's real estate agent with your million dollar property to sell and would prefer a family man/woman or someone in their 40's or older?

[Tjc]

I think it depends on the age of the vendor a lot, I can imagine a lot of mum and dad baby boomers (if there anything like my parents) would prefer and older agent because there "oldschool" and think someone younger lacks experience etc etc.

Not in every case of course but personally being in my 20s I would more likely pick someone younger as being more tech savvy I think is a bigger advantage now days given how much social media is changing to be the biggest market to be tapped in to that some older agents just can't get there head around or worse still brush it off as a gimmick.

[Davo36]

Oh for sure.

I sold commercial real estate in my late 20s. And most investors are in their 50s or so.

They don't want to be told anything by a 28 year old.

But if someone else in the office, in their 50s tells them the exact same thing, they're like "Oh ok then."

[andyp2010]

I thought you meant the other way around at first.

A lot of estate agents didn't give me the time of day when I was first buying at 22. In a way it was good as they'd still talk to me to kill time so they'd tell me all the issues more freely than if they thought I had a wad of cash waiting with their name on it.

I tend not to go for old estate agents myself though if I have a choice. The guy I bought my PPOR off, he was a nightmare and should have been retired. Everything was fax, paper copies, had to get the 'girls in the office' to do anything involving a computer because he could barely send an email correctly and took far too long. Very condescending too and I'm sure it was an age thing. Had to shout at him to put what I wanted on the contract, kept telling me 'that's not the way it's done' and 'are you even serious about buying?'.

[Tjc]

I thought you meant the other way around at first.

A lot of estate agents didn't give me the time of day when I was first buying at 22. In a way it was good as they'd still talk to me to kill time so they'd tell me all the issues more freely than if they thought I had a wad of cash waiting with their name on it.

I tend not to go for old estate agents myself though if I have a choice. The guy I bought my PPOR off, he was a nightmare and should have been retired. Everything was fax, paper copies, had to get the 'girls in the office' to do anything involving a computer because he could barely send an email correctly and took far too long. Very condescending too and I'm sure it was an age thing. Had to shout at him to put what I wanted on the contract, kept telling me 'that's not the way it's done' and 'are you even serious about buying?'.

Had virtually the same experience, Would get "hello" when going through an open home and the middle aged couple directly behind me would get the full sales pitch and "how can I help you" routine. It's always quite funny how quickly they change their tune and look of surprise when you say your after an investment property and ask for rental appraisals etc. but then it's also handy being largely left alone and not getting 20 questions with every place you go and look at.

[klauster]

I don’t mind age.
At the first contact I ask few questions, including preferred communication, response time and documents formats. If everything that matches my needs arrives on time – we’re a team. I’m very alerted of people who try to explain how good they are…

[P.Bateman]

Most people want an agent they can relate to. I think there is still discrimination on ethnicity and it can work both ways. Pakeha might find Pakeha agents more to their liking but also some homesellers think that asian agents can tap into that famed "chinese buyer market"

[BigDreamer]

We've worked with an amazing older gentleman who has been a real estate for a very long time. Old school in his methods but extremely well organised and great for buying from and listing with. On the other hand, when we were considering selling our own home we met a number of agents but were impressed with a young wife and husband couple (I think they were early 30s).

However, I can imagine that it would be hard for a young 20's agent to get listing but in saying that, they definitely could sell and do a great job. I know that because my husband was a real estate agent in his mid 20's and did a fantastic job but was slightly harder to get his own listings when he first started.

[BigDreamer]

Most people want an agent they can relate to. I think there is still discrimination on ethnicity and it can work both ways. Pakeha might find Pakeha agents more to their liking but also some homesellers think that asian agents can tap into that famed "chinese buyer market"

Also, it could be that they selected the agent which they feel is more appropriate for the area. My parents were selling their house in Botany and decided to work with an agent of Indian ethnicity because they believed he could relate to potential buyers of the area better (my parents are not Indian by the way).

[klauster]

It’s not new that commonly people are guided by emotion and feelings, a hindrance for good business decisions (and financial decisions too). But as investor, don’t we take that as advantage???

[PTILoveYou]

I have a student who used to be a top car (no. 2 in his yard) salesman for Holden when he was 19 to 21.

His age had no 'prejudice'.

He just learnt how to sell.