To measure this effect, Sean Salter, associate professor of finance atMiddle Tennessee State University and co-author of a study on how an agent’s looks affect property sales, along with co-authors Franklin Mixon of Columbus State University and Ernest King of theUniversity of Southern Mississippi asked 402 people to rate agents, both male and female, on a scale of 1 to 10, from very unattractive to very attractive, based on online head shots. The researchers then looked at the agents’ property transactions over a seven-year period, writes The Wall Street Journal.
The findings: Every one-point increase in a listing agent’s attractiveness score added $10,989, on average, to the home’s list price. Every one-point increase in a selling agent’s score added $8,467 to the home’s sale price.