Prudential Real Estate Ranked Highest for Seller Satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2010 Home Buyer/Seller Study

IRVINE, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc., a Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU) company, today announced that Prudential Real Estate ranks “Highest Overall Satisfaction for Home Sellers Among National Full Service Real Estate Firms” in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2010 Home Buyer/Seller Study^SM.

“This distinction underscores the satisfaction level and consistency of our network through challenging times in our industry”

The study measures customer satisfaction of home sellers and buyers with major national real estate companies. Overall satisfaction is determined by examining four factors for the home-selling experience: agent (44%); marketing (30%); office (15%); and services (11%).

Among home sellers, Prudential Real Estate scored highest on a 1,000-point scale and received particularly high ratings from customers in the marketing and agent factors. This is the second time in three years the Prudential Real Estate Network ranked highest in seller satisfaction. The Network also ranked highest in 2008.

“This distinction underscores the satisfaction level and consistency of our network through challenging times in our industry,” said Jim Mallozzi, chairman and CEO, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services. “Affiliate to affiliate, our sales professionals are the local-market experts who market and price homes right, while providing attentive service. The more you know us, the more you love us.”

Added Earl Lee, president, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services: “The Prudential Real Estate Network already enjoys one of the highest average selling prices in the industry. And, this prestigious J.D. Power and Associates designation demonstrates that our sales professionals are representing their customers with distinction.”

The study finds that despite the popularity of home selling and buying resources on the Internet, the real estate sales professional remains key to customer satisfaction with real estate companies. A large proportion of both home sellers and buyers rely on the Internet to facilitate the buying or selling process, with 79 percent of buyers saying that they used Internet tools to help them in the purchase process, and 82 percent of sellers reporting that they used a website listing to market their home. In addition, among home 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 sellers and buyers.

According to J.D. Power and Associates, although the Internet provides real estate consumers 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. The knowledge and expertise provided by experienced sales professionals are important benefits of using a full-service real estate company.

Satisfaction averages 768 among those customers whose homes sold within five months or less, but declines considerably to an average of 702 among customers whose homes took seven months or longer to sell, the study showed.

Nearly one-half of respondents in the study (46%) reported using recommendations from family or friends to find their real estate sales professional. Approximately 32 percent used a sales professional they had used previously, 22 percent used the internet and 12 percent used a listing agent for property.

The study reports that home buyers were shown an average of 17 homes before they made a purchase. Home sellers reported that, on average, their home was shown 12 times, and about two open houses were conducted before a sale occurred.

The 2010 Home Buyer/Seller Study includes 3,096 evaluations from 2,817 respondents who bought or sold a home between March 2009 and April 2010.

Based 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 provides franchises with business strategies using Operation Reviews as well as numerous benefits, including access to Prudential Real Estate’s Online Seller Advantage^SM 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 1,700 franchise offices and approximately 60,000 sales professionals in the franchise network as of March 31, 2010.

Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with approximately $693 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2010, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds, investment management, and real estate services. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit www.news.prudential.com.