J.D. Power ranks Prudential "Highest Seller Satisfaction"

Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. [NYSE: PRU] company announced that Prudential Real Estate ranks “Highest Satisfaction for Home Sellers Among National Full Service Real Estate Firms” in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Home Buyer/Seller StudySM.

The inaugural study measures customer satisfaction of home buyers and sellers with major national real estate companies. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining four factors for the home selling experience: agent (43%); marketing (38%); office (12%); and services (7%).

Among home sellers, Prudential Real Estate achieved a score of 793 on a 1,000-point scale -- and Prudential Real Estate received particularly high ratings from customers in the marketing and office factors.

“We are very proud of this distinction, as it underscores the quality of our affiliates and their hard-working sales professionals, said Laurie Keenan, president of Prudential Real Estate. “Our sales professionals are local experts, and sellers appreciate their ability to market and price homes right -- along with providing exceptional, attentive service.”

The J.D. Power and Associates study finds that despite the popularity of home buying and selling resources on the Internet, the real estate sales professional remains key to customer satisfaction with real estate companies. A large proportion of both home buyers and sellers rely on the Internet to facilitate the buying or selling process, with 68 percent of buyers saying that they used Internet tools to help them in the purchase process and 61 percent of sellers reporting that they used a website listing to market their home. In addition, among sellers, online methods are the most important aspect of marketing.

However, the sales professional carries the greatest importance among the factors that comprise overall satisfaction among both home buyers and sellers.
According to J.D. Power and Associates, although the Internet provides home buyers and sellers with the ability to perform some essential tasks -- such as listing a home for sale or researching a neighborhood in which to purchase a home -- it still does not replace the importance of a good sales professional. Particularly in an uncertain real estate market, professional advice from sales professionals can be especially valuable to buyers and sellers. The knowledge and expertise provided by experienced sales professionals is an important benefit of using a full-service real estate company.

The study also finds that the average time a respondent’s home remained on the market was slightly more than six months, although home sellers represented by the top-ranking real estate companies report that their homes were on the market for slightly less time -- approximately five and a half months, on average.

Satisfaction averages 794 among those customers whose homes sold within five months or less, but declines considerably to an average of 730 among customers whose homes took seven months or longer to sell, the study showed. A real estate company that provides sales professionals who are skilled at determining the appropriate market value and listing price for homes, and who can effectively market properties, can help minimize the time that clients’ homes remain on the market -- which can not only save the seller money, but also inconvenience and anxiety.

Nearly one-half of respondents in the study (46%) reported using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate sales professional. Approximately 28 percent used the Internet, 23 percent used a sales professional they had used previously and 11 percent used a printed real estate guide.

The study also reports that home buyers were shown an average of 13 homes before they made a purchase. Home sellers reported that, on average, their home was shown 11 times, and about five open houses were conducted before a sale occurred.

The 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes 3,670 evaluations from 3,205 respondents who bought or sold a home between April 2007 and June 2008.

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on cell phone ratings, car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance and more, visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc. is Prudential’s integrated real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. Prudential Real Estate franchises are independently owned and operated. Companies are selected based upon outstanding performance

records, high levels of customer service and shared business values with those of Prudential. Prudential Real Estate provides franchises with business strategies using Operation Reviews as well as numerous benefits, including access to Prudential Real Estate’s Online Seller AdvantageSM program designed to provide real-time information to sellers with the touch of a keystroke. Prudential Real Estate is one of the largest real estate brokerage franchise networks in North America, with nearly 2,100 franchise offices and approximately 64,000 sales professionals in the franchise Network as of June 30, 2008.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $638 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2008, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Leveraging its heritage of life insurance and asset management expertise, Prudential is focused on helping approximately 50 million individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth. The company’s well-known Rock(TM) symbol is an icon of strength, stability, expertise and innovation that has stood the test of time. Prudential's businesses offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. For more information, please visit http://www.news.prudential.com/.

Why list your home with Prudential?

Prudential is relatively new to the Northwest; other franchises have been here longer and have good market share. But they can't match Prudential's statistics nationally. Here's some information for you about how Prudential's technology can help you sell or buy your home. There's an 8-minute video at the end.


Prudential Real Estate’s Online Advantage (SM) is a suite of proprietary technology products providing consumers with collaborative functionality and innovative online marketing capabilities to assist them in the homebuying and homeselling process. Online Advantage helps our affiliates capture a large share of consumers searching for real estate online, and it efficiently helps connect buyers with sellers through our advanced technology and relationship with various real estate Internet portals.

The Online Advantage is composed of the Online Buyer Advantage (SM) and the Online Seller Advantage (SM). Online Buyer Advantage, introduced in 2004, connects Network members with buyers across the country, and it gives sales professionals and brokers powerful back-office tools to efficiently manage online customers from contact to contract.

Online Seller Advantage (SM) is an information and marketing tool that provides sellers with detailed online activity information about their specific property and their neighborhood, and maximizes exposure for the sellers’ properties.

Why use a Realtor if you search for homes on the Net?

With just a few keystrokes, you can find myriad resources on the Internet to help you in your search for a new home. Besides property listings, you can find out about specific communities, schools and mortgage options. Take a look, for instance, at Prudential Real Estate which has made three great resources – Environmental Profile, Property Profile and Value Range Estimate – available to anyone. You can get detailed real estate information just by keying in a U.S. property address.

With this wealth of information at your disposal, do you really need a real estate professional to represent you?

Absolutely (but you would expect me to write that, wouldn't you?). But think of it this way: when you go to an unfamiliar place, you could do a self-guided tour. However, your tour is much more rewarding and enriching when you have someone who is familiar with the location to guide you along, because he or she has inside knowledge on the history, culture and stories that you may not have otherwise received.

The same can be said about sales professionals. Their should do much more than simply to drive you around from property to property. They can be a great resource, especially to homebuyers relocating from other communities. Your real estate professional knows the local area, including home values, taxes, utility costs, and school data, and may even be knowledgeable about resources pertaining to your special interests or needs. For instance, should you require help relocating an aging parent with you, your real estate professional may be able to direct you to local services or organizations for the elderly.

A sales professional can familiarize you with the processes involved in buying a home, alert you to potential risks, help you determine how much house you can afford, explain alternative financing strategies, as well as provide tremendous moral support.

Another benefit is having a strong advocate during the negotiating process. Sales professionals can help you objectively evaluate an offer, then work to negotiate a favorable contract. During the process, he or she will review the contract and obligations before you sign, explain how contingencies and release clauses work, and so on.

And something easy to overlook is our familiarity with the complexity and risks inherent in the process. In the years I have been practicing I have been continually amazed at how quickly a seemingly simple transaction can grow legally complex and risky. When complex questions arise, a sales professional can help you quickly locate an attorney or other licensed professionals whose services you may require, such as home inspectors, engineers, surveyors and lenders.

As your single point of contact, a sales professional can manage the entire transaction, including coordinating inspections, keeping in touch with the other real estate professionals, managing the documentation for the loan process, monitoring deadlines associated with contingencies, providing applicable paperwork, estimating closing costs, and helping prepare for a smooth and uneventful closing.

If you’re about to begin the process of buying or selling a home, consider involving a real estate professional. When the stakes are high, it’s comforting to have a specialist by your side.