Research firm ranks Prudential Real Estate highest in seller satisfaction

Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, Inc., a Prudential Financial Inc. company, and Prudential 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 Study.

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, marketing, office and services.

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 Affiliates Inc. "Our sales professionals are local experts, and sellers appreciate their ability to market and price homes right -- along with providing exceptional, attentive service."

"The team at Prudential Americana Group works hard to not only meet, but exceed the expectations of its clients -- sellers and buyers," said Mark Stark, chief operating officer of Prudential Americana Group.

"In the current challenging market, our clients want all the expertise and market knowledge we can offer -- and by leveraging Prudential's brand strength, its wide array of product and service offerings and its strong Internet marketing programs, we can provide sellers with the increased exposure they need."

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 agent remains key to customer satisfaction with real estate companies.

A large proportion of both homebuyers 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 Web site listing to market their home. In addition, among sellers, online methods are the most important aspect of marketing.

However, the sales agent 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 a sales agent. The knowledge and expertise provided by an experienced sales agent is a 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 - about 51/2 months, on average.

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.