Real estate agents should be paid higher fees

Real estate agents should not let the economic environment make them too aggressive

Real estate agents struggling to sell multi-million dollar homes or commercial properties at the top-end of markets should potentially receive higher fees, according to Donald Trump.

The property tycoon, addressing an audience of over 2,500 on the Gold Coast, for the Australasian Real Estate Agents conference, advised vendors to consider paying their agents more money in commissions, not less, in order to better incentivise them to secure a sale, particularly during hard times. In Dubai, vendors could mean property developers and real estate brokerage companies.

Trump, star of The Apprentice in the U.S., said that he regularly pays his agents 2-3% above the market rate.

“Over the years, I have done every conceivable thing to agents, including a time when I decided to cut the agents out on a beautiful building I was marketing to try and save on the commissions,” he said. “But did I learn the hard way that was a bad idea. The sales I had started to dry up. I found out the agents were telling people the building was no good. They weren’t stupid.”

He added: “Now I pay up to 8% commission and go [to] the other extreme because it means people bring buyers to me because I pay a better commission. It works.”

Mr Trump counselled agents not to let the economic environment make them too aggressive. “If you are too aggressive to the point where you become obnoxious, you are not a good agent,” he said.

“When I’m looking for an agent, I look at their past success and their reputation. I want to see their record: are they honorable people, are they well liked and what is their success rate like? And if I like what I hear, I make a deal.”

Negotiation skills were also important, he said.