How to Choose a Real Estate Agent in Brisbane: What Sellers Need to Ask
The agent you choose will have more impact on your sale result than almost any other decision you make. Here is how to evaluate the options clearly.
Most sellers interview two or three agents before signing a Form 6. Most also admit afterward that they did not ask the right questions during those interviews. The process defaults toward whichever agent quotes the highest price and the lowest commission, neither of which has much bearing on who will actually perform best on the day.
The decision deserves more rigour than that. An experienced agent operating in your suburb and price bracket, with a documented approach to marketing and negotiation, will consistently outperform a generalist with a lower fee. The gap in sale outcomes between a strong and a weak agent regularly exceeds the difference in commission by a significant margin. Here is how to evaluate your options properly.
Look at what they have actually sold, not just listed
The most important thing to verify is an agent's recent sales record in your suburb and property type. Not listings, not appraisals, not years in the industry. Actual settled sales in the last twelve months within a reasonable radius of your property. Ask for a list. You can cross-reference it against realestate.com.au to verify sale prices and campaign lengths.
Pay attention to how long their listings take to sell and the relationship between the original listing price and the final sale price. An agent who consistently sells close to or above the listing price in reasonable timeframes is demonstrating genuine market knowledge. An agent with a pattern of long campaigns and price reductions is telling you something important about how they price and manage vendor expectations.
Ask specifically how they will market your property
A vague answer here is a red flag. Strong agents have a clear, documented marketing approach and can explain the reasoning behind each element. What platforms will the property appear on? What is the photography and floorplan process? Will there be a video or drone component? How will they handle the database of active buyers they have from recent campaigns? What is the open home schedule?
The best agents in Brisbane's inner east maintain an active database of qualified buyers who have missed out on comparable properties. A well-priced home in Morningside, Hawthorne, or Camp Hill introduced to fifty buyers who inspected a similar property that sold last month can create genuine competition before the property is even broadly marketed. Ask whether the agent has that kind of active buyer pipeline for your area.
Evaluate how they communicate, not just what they say
The interview process is also a communication audition. How quickly did they respond to your initial enquiry? Did they do any research on your property before arriving? How well did they listen before speaking? Do they give you specific, substantive answers or fall back on generalities and industry clichés?
Communication quality during the campaign matters enormously. You want an agent who will give you honest feedback from every inspection, update you on enquiry levels and buyer sentiment, and have direct conversations when they need to. The agent who tells you what you want to hear during the appraisal is often the same one who avoids difficult conversations during the campaign.
Understand the fee structure properly
Commission in Queensland is not regulated and varies between agencies and agents. The typical range for a residential sale in Brisbane's inner east is between 2% and 3% of the sale price, though some agents quote outside that range. Marketing costs are generally separate and itemised.
Do not negotiate the commission down as your first move. A small reduction in fee is rarely worth it if it means losing the agent you actually want. The more productive question is: what does the fee cover and what is charged separately? Make sure you understand the total cost before signing anything. A higher commission paid to an agent who achieves a meaningfully better sale price is almost always the better outcome financially.
Red flags worth knowing
An appraisal that comes in noticeably higher than the others is worth questioning rather than celebrating. Overquoting to win the listing and then managing price expectations downward during the campaign is a well-documented pattern. Ask any agent who quotes a high price to show you the comparable sales that support it.
Pressure to sign quickly, a reluctance to provide a written marketing plan, vague answers about how they handle competing offers, and an inability to name recent comparable sales in your area are all signals worth taking seriously. The agent interview is your one opportunity to evaluate someone before you are locked into a working relationship during one of the most significant financial transactions of your life. Use it properly.
What matters most in the end
The right agent for your property is one who knows your suburb, has a demonstrable track record in your price range, can articulate a clear marketing and negotiation strategy, and communicates in a way you can work with over a five to eight week campaign. Those are the criteria that consistently produce strong outcomes. Price and commission are secondary to them, not the other way around.
Thinking about selling in Brisbane's inner east? Daniel works exclusively in this area and can give you an honest assessment of your property, the current market, and what a well-run campaign looks like. No obligation. Get in touch.