“You don’t need to have a particular agent in mind.”

Nila, Cheltenham, VIC

Nila chose Kevin Chokshi to sell her home. Read her RateMyAgent review here.

Tell us about the property you were selling.


When I sold my suburban Melbourne home in late 2018, I wasn’t just selling bricks and mortar. I was selling the site of family memories going back 40 years. My parents built this home, and I bought it from them 13 year ago. We have a lot of history here.

How did you feel about the process of selling?


Despite my strong connection to the house, the time had come to downsize. My daughter and I were rattling around in a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house. And maintaining a large house is a lot of work! The timing was right to sell it.

I wanted to make the house attractive to an owner-occupier, not sell it to an investor who was buying primarily for the land and may have demolished the property. I thought it would be fantastic if another family could come in and make it their home.

I spent six months renovating it because it was totally 1980s – there was mission brown everywhere! The renovation was an intense experience, but in the end I got my wish. I sold our home to a couple with a young child.

My daughter and I are looking forward to the next phase of our lives. It will be strange knowing that our home of 40 years isn’t in the family anymore, but I’m happy that we sold it to another family who want to make it their own.

Why did you use RateMyAgent?


I knew the local area well, and I recognised the names and faces of local real estate agents, but I didn’t have any particular agents in mind when I began searching.

I liked RateMyAgent’s simplicity and practicality. The feature that allows you to search by agent and suburb is really easy to use. You don’t need to have a particular agent in mind – you can just search your suburb and surrounding, suburbs and take it from there.

How did RateMyAgent help you?


When it came to shortlisting agents, I was looking for people who knew the local area well and knew how to sell in a slowing market. Any agent can sell in a booming market, but I think the cream rises to the top when the market slows down.

Through RateMyAgent, I shortlisted four local agents who clearly had good local knowledge, based on their reviews. Then I looked at comments from buyers to get a feel for how the agent dealt with both parties in a transaction.

I chose Kevin Chokshi of Ray White Cheltenham. We got along well. I got a good vibe from him, and his team was really nice.

Would you recommend RateMyAgent, and why?


For sure! RateMyAgent does exactly what it is supposed to do, and nothing extra. It doesn’t have a whole bunch of extra links and rubbish that would make a mess of the site. I also like the fact that it doesn’t have a lot of advertising. You don’t get hit with pop-ups all the time.

I was also reassured by the credibility of the reviews on RateMyAgent. When you’re nervous about selling, it’s great to be able to see the experiences of people who actually sold with a particular agent. I also pottered around the site and read the section that talks about how RateMyAgent validates reviews and checks them against specific sales. I had a sense of confidence that the sales were genuine and the reviews were real.

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