Real Estate Agencies in Australia

You will probably contact a Real Estate Agency if you are looking to rent or buy a property in Australia. The Real Estate Agent will always be smiling and well dressed and  ready to offer their services if you want to buy or sell a property. Property represents wealth for Australians; it offers financial security and the possibility of increasing value over the years.To become a Real Estate Agent, the person has to study a specific course, and later get a Real Estate Agents license to be able to work. The licence is serious, extremely organized, and inspected by competent organizations. The property market is simply the biggest in Australia, and provides a large number of jobs. The property market has a huge amount of industry attached to it, and many professions relate to the industry such as Engineers, Architects, builders, Plumbers, Painters, Carpenters, Lawyers, Appraisers, Banks, Insurers, just to mention a few .

By law it is not necessary to use a Real Estate to buy/sell or rent a property and the transaction between interested parties can be made privately. The majority of Australians use the services of a Real Estate Agency (I only knew two people that have not done so)and you will find it easy to locate real estate companies anywhere in Australia including rural areas. Real Estate Agencies offer mediation in selling and buying properties, rental property management, residential, commercial and industrial property auctions, and much more. They can manage rural proprieties as well as the cattle for example. Some companies specialise in a specific market, such as rental properties or auctions, but the majority of these companies (many are multinationals with thousands of branch offices all over the world) have multiple sectors inside them, covering all areas of the market. Many Real Estate Agencies are franchised and are well known throughout Australia such as LJ Hooker, Century 21 and so on.

The easiest way to find a real estate company is to visit a shopping centre in a commercial area. You might want to visit a few because each one has lists of different properties they manage, lease or sell. Real Estates generally specialise in properties located close to their office (or suburb) but this does not mean that they don’t have listings in other areas. Real Estate windows display photos and descriptions of properties they are offering but the complete listing is much bigger.  Saturday newspapers always have a large section dedicated to real estate, full of photos and ads.  Another way of locating real estate offices in your area is to do an internet search. An internet search is easy; for example if you type in "Real Estate Brisbane" and do a Google search thousands of options will appear. You will really need to be specific in your search, by either naming a company, or specifying the suburb you wish to live in. Yellow Pages phone books also list many Real Estate Agencies.

Brokers are also commonly used in  Real Estate and Mortgages. There are all kinds of Brokers. For example, if you want to buy a restaurant or any kind of business, you may look for a Business Broker. The Broker will act on your behalf, finding out what is available, what is included, the average values, and how much you want to pay for the business.Once you have the business, you will need to arrange insurance, so you will need to look for an Insurance company or Insurance Broker. An Insurance Broker will find out which company best suits your insurance needs and offers the best deal he/she has. Real Estate Brokers and Real Estates, work in all the areas of the real estate sector of Australia. Real Estates charge commission when selling a property, and when leasing one. Most Brokers will divide the commission with the Real Estate Company that is offering the property.

Note 1 :  If you are only interested in renting a residential property look under “Rentals or For Lease” with Real Estates, as Brokers are usually not related to leasing properties.

Note 2 : Almost anyone can buy a property in Australia including foreigners, but getting a bank loan can be difficult and will depend on many things.

To save space in newspapers and real estate guides (and to spend less) Real Estate Companies often shorten their advertisements, using acronyms and abbreviations to describe properties. After spending years deciphering the code, here’s a basic dictionary of the most commonly abbreviated real estate words: