In Googling ‘who is the best real estate agent in NSW’ or ‘award winning real estate agents’ the results that come back are a collection of ads for websites and companies that compare agents and help you choose and agencies or agents that have advertised themselves as award winning.

It may be news to you if you’re not in real estate or had little to do with the industry that there are multiple awards on offer for real estate agents & other members of the industry including administration, marketing managers and property managers. These awards are provided by independent companies such as Rate my Agent, which is an affiliation to agents in providing reviews & direction for consumers considering agents, franchises (LJ Hooker, Raine & Horne, Ray White, Harcourts, PRD, Laing+Simmons) and also Peak bodies like REI (Real Estate Institute) for each state (REINSW, REIQ, REIACT, REISA, REIT, REIWA, REINT).

The Real Estate Institute provides and assists in research and well-informed advice to the Federal Government, Opposition, professional members of the real estate sector, media and the public on a range of issues affecting the property market. It also has a training arm for legislation & qualifications within the real estate industry.

So, to form an opinion on if an award winning agent is better than an agent without awards I guess it’s important to establish how they determined or on what basis they are awarded. It’s a given that the private companies, franchises & rate my agent require you to be part of their affiliation or group as an employee if franchise or using the service if it’s a private company like rate my agent. From both points they are then statistics based once you’re part of the organisation/ affiliated. For example Agents & their sales results are considered side by side with your peers that are part of it also & the winner is determined. This is where you see agents advertising #1 agent for a suburb or period of time, like a quarter or financial year. In both cases the awards are only considering the select people part of the organisation or engaged in the company/ suburb.

So this brings me to the other option, being awarded by REINSW (or the like in other states). To be considered for an award by the Real Estate institute, you are required to write a submission & supporting documentation in regards to your eligibility for the award. Its essentially self or peer nominated.

Essentially, it comes down to self or peer promotion with a side of stats or stats & a side of franchise support. In every case the agent is required to be already affiliated, nominate themselves or be nominated by their immediate peers. The REI then considers submissions and awards from there.

In summary, from the brief research I’ve done into the selection & overall of it, the findings are… if agents aren’t nominated by their employer, colleague or themselves or aren’t with that particular franchise group, they won’t be considered or compared side by side.

An agent awarded within their franchise for excellence in sales may have sold the most, earnt the most money or reached a set target, but it’s up to you as to if you see that as a benefit in selling your home with them or buying your home from them. Personal referral and recommendation is the best reward and longevity in any business. If you look after people, they will look after you.