Learning About Agencies and Agents Part 2

In this entry we are going to explore more about estate agencies, the jobs that they do and the roles that they play in negotiating contracts.

What Does An Estate Agent Do?

An Estate Agent is responsible for negotiating sales contracts and selling properties for their clients. An estate agent can be a lawyer, or a person who has their estate agents license. An estate agent is defined by the Estate Agents Act of 1980 as a person who places an advertisement in a local paper saying that they are in the business of selling real estate or negotiating real estate on behalf of others.

Who Is An Estate Agent?

An estate agent or agent basically is a person who advertises themselves or makes themselves available to:

Sell, buy, exchange, take a lease of, or dispose of any real estate or business on behalf of another person.
Negotiates for the sale of a real estate property through the use of exchanging letters or taking on leases
collecting rents.

Professionals who also are involved in the business of buying and selling real estate, handling sales negotiations and leasing are also considered to be estate agents. Since the buying and selling of property is considered to be a legal process, lawyers are also included in this group of individuals.

Estate agents, while not allowed to perform all legal work for their clients, are permitted to perform some of the work involved. The work that they are allowed to conduct on legal documents is very limited and strict penalties are imposed for those who fail to follow the law.

In the next installment of this series on understanding more about agents we will take a more in depth look at the legal work involved with the sale of property and who is responsible for conducting that work.

Sean Rasmussen
Property Options Australia
Property Options Blog © 2006 - 2008

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

2 Responses to “Learning About Agencies and Agents Part 2”

  1. Property Options Australia » Blog Archive | Exploring Ways To Purchase Real Estate Part 1 Says:

    [...] you are looking for a real estate property, there are many ways to go about finding that perfect piece of property. There are several factors [...]

  2. Property Options Australia » Blog Archive | Real Estate Says:

    [...] you have submitted your offer and your real estate agent has given it to the sellers agent there are three things that can happen. Either the sellers will [...]

Leave a Reply