Markers of a real estate agent's value-add

Despite its central role in the economy and consumer decision-making, the real estate agent market remains under-researched in marketing. Nearly 90% of home sales involve listing agents, who directly influence three of the four Ps of marketing by negotiating prices, promoting the property through media and open houses, and enhancing the product via renovations, and staging. Recent lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors and ongoing legal challenges threaten to disrupt this market, in part due to uncertainties surrounding the true value-add of real estate agents in home sales. Against this backdrop, this dissertation identifies observable markers of high value-add listing agents. We construct a dataset tracking 50,000 listing agents over 17.5 years and covering 1.2 million home sales within a single metropolitan area, linking detailed transaction records with agent characteristics (e.g., commission, experience, workload, certifications) and transaction-specific reviews. The first chapter investigates which variables observable to home sellers predict a listing agent’s value-add in terms of sale price and time on the market. We examine a variety of markers that may serve as correlates of a listing agent’s skill and effort, identifying those that are indicative of their true value-add on transaction outcomes. Our results suggest that while greater experience does not consistently lead to better outcomes, an arrangement allowing for a contribution-based variable commission structure positively affects sale price without extending time on the market. The second chapter examines whether and how the subjective content of consumer assessments in online reviews relates to transaction outcomes. While consumers rely on reviews to assess service quality in credence markets, the extent to which reviews provide reliable indicators of true effectiveness remains uncertain. To address this, we develop a structured framework for evaluating credence services with ten textual attributes. Our findings show that experiential attributes such as responsiveness and assurance do not predict transaction outcomes. Additionally, mentions of empathy are associated with lower sale prices and transaction speed, suggesting it may be a misleading signal. In contrast, assessments of technical expertise and outcomes strongly align with favorable transaction results.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Marketing

Grantor

The University of Texas at Austin

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Sridhar, Sachin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Du, Rex

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Kumar Muthuraman
• Kathleen T. Li
• Alain P. Lemaire
• Andrew D. Gershoff

• Online reviews
• Service quality
• Real estate agents

Language dc:language.iso

English

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.26153/tsw/61149

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/133821