Think being attractive and using lots of superlatives to describe a property helps a real estate agent be successful? According to recent research published by the American Real Estate Society (ARES), that thinking may be off the mark.
The study, published by ARES in the Journal of Housing Research, was conducted by Michael J. Seiler, Ph.D., K. Dane Brooksher Endowed Chair Professor of Real Estate and Finance at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary; Aaron Arndt, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University; Mark A. Lane, associate professor of finance in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University; and David M. Harrison, Ph.D., professor and Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate at the University of Central Florida College of Business Administration.
“Seiler’s work in experimental real estate is ground-breaking, as we can now begin to see buyers’ decision making process for the first time and how it influences transaction outcomes,” said Ken Johnson, Ph.D., real estate economist at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business, ARES publication director, and co-developer of the Beracha, Hardin and Johnson Buy vs. Rent Index.
The researchers investigated whether customers’ overall impression of online property listings can be influenced by the real estate agent, and whether this influence depends on the customer’s demographic characteristics. A sample of 1,594 potential homebuyers took an online audio/visual tour of a typically priced home in their area. Subjects were shown one of eight conditions in which the researchers varied agent gender, agent attractiveness and pathos (enhancing the verbal description of the property with superlatives). The results show that segments of customers are drawn to different real estate agents, but contrary to expectations, customers were not necessarily drawn to similar agents or more attractive ones.
Targeting customers with the same demographics is not necessarily an effective marketing strategy. In fact, agents posting their photographs may find that they attract customers of other races.
The study also found that agent attractiveness does not entice customers in a way that is consistent with the customer’s sexual interest, and there was no significant difference by gender or marital status. For example, heterosexual men’s overall house impressions were not consistently influenced by the attractiveness of the female agent. Instead, the less attractive female agent not using pathos generated a higher home impression from males than did the attractive female agents not using pathos. In fact, the attractive female agent using pathos influenced the house impression of homosexual subjects more than heterosexual buyers for both males and females.
Enhancing the verbal description of the property with superlatives influenced some subjects positively and others negatively. Customers who are suspicious of an agent’s motives may consider the use of pathos to be self-serving while customers who are less suspicious of an agent’s motives should be more susceptible to pathos. Many subjects reacted negatively when the attractive male real estate agent used pathos, particularly married subjects.
“Our study shows that an agent’s physical attractiveness, similarity to the prospective home buyer, and use of pathos influences the overall impression of the home, but not in a consistent enough way to specifically instruct agents to adopt a certain strategy,” Seiler said. “Importantly, adopting the incorrect strategy could very well work against the agent.”
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