J.D. Power and Associates have been tracking buyer and seller satisfaction rates for the past 3 years, and since last year, buyer satisfaction has gone up while seller satisfaction has gone down since 2009. Makes sense to me. Most people having to sell in this market aren’t the the happiest frame of mind (loss of job, forced downsizing, etc).

Whereas buyers are able to take advantage of the large amount of available inventory and often desperate sellers, so why wouldn’t they be happier and more satisfied with the process.

Of course, seeing Keller Williams as one of the highest ranked companies across the board fills my little heart with glee. Here are a few things I think help make me a better agent for you, dear client.

• Education: I know the emphasis on education (our office has at least 6-10 classes a WEEK) on various types of topics allows me ample opportunity to catch up on an issue I’m not familiar with.
• Networking within the industry: chatting with other top producing agents across the city on a regular basis through the networking groups I belong to all help to keep me on top of my game
• Local issues: meeting with local state representatives and city council folks helps me keep abreast of issues that may be trickling down the pipeline in the near future. This is a direct benefit to you if I know a water treatment plant may be coming in down the road, or that their are plans to turn that quiet country road into a 8-lane mega highway.

In my opinion, long gone are the days of the ‘lone ranger’ type of mentality that I see many agents subscribing to. Especially in a city like Austin, being connected and working together with my peers is a bigger and bigger part of getting transactions to closing. Yes, we are all competing for business in this city, but there is not only a lot of business, I need the expertise of my fellow agents to help me through some of the situations I run across.

I think that as clients get more savvy (as they should), and do their research online to find the right agent (as maybe you are doing now), doing their research by googling me, and seeing what they find, finding a good fit in an agent is going to rank pretty high. Looking for an agent that is knowledgeable, and informed about their industry is going to become more and more important. 

I for one, am glad that the bar is being raised for my industry, and I’m proud to be one of folks working hard to raise it.