Where do Appraisals Come From?

The survey mentioned in my last blog also explored the source of buyer enquiries to real estate agencies, and found that real estate portals accounted for between 45% and 90% of buyer enquiries! However for appraisals (ie potential vendors), the results were less favourable to the portals. The majority of those surveyed reported that less than 30% of appraisals resulted directly from those enquiries. This suggests a lot of internet users contact real estate agencies from portals like realestate.com, but serious vendors are also heavily influenced by other inputs, presumably advertising, letter drops, and agency reputation.
The experience of my house sale professional contacts supports that finding. An agency like Ray White Beecroft, with its excellent location on the main Beecroft shopping arcade outside Franklins, with four superb digital window displays showing off its wares, a large property management department, and a reputation for efficient and ethical performance, gets appraisals from many sources, certainly not just directly off the web portals.