Choosing A Great Real Estate Agent
Choosing A Great Real Estate Agent
Choosing A Great Real Estate Agent
Okay, you've made the decision to sell your house and find something better, or bigger, or smaller, or whatever that need is. You've gone online, perused the classifieds, and come up with five or six choices that look good (at least in photos). Now you find yourself in much the same predicament as the fish in the plastic bags floating on the ocean at the end of FINDING NEMO"Now what?"
Well, you could go the "For Sale By Owner" route, but if you want to avoid the headaches that are commonplace with virtually all real estate transactions, you need to hire a real estate agent, somebody who will be pro-active in listing your home for sale, as well as helping you find a new place to live. Above all, though, find somebody that you feel good about and that you trust.
Last time we sold our home, we went through several agents that didn't work out, whether it was from lackadaisical marketing to something as inexcusable as misspelling the name of our subdivision AND getting our address wrong. I had seen an agent's name around town on billboards, and was thinking this guy must be doing pretty good if he can afford a billboard. Other agents scoffed at the notion, referring to this agent as a "snake".having worked in sales myself, I knew the term "snake" was usually applied by other salesmen to refer to somebody with an inordinate amount of drive. A go getter. Somebody who made the other salespeople look like they were standing still.
Long story short, we hired the guy, and had our house sold within a couple of weeks as opposed to the six months it had sat on the market without a nibble. Much like to would take your car to the mechanic with the biggest tool box, trust your home to the guy who can afford big time advertising.
Now remember of course, that "agent" is another name for "salesperson". They are there to sell you a product, that is their end goal. Some will like whatever house you like, just because you like it. You need to try and find someone who will be honest and upfront with you. Maybe the house is nice but the agent knows that the neighborhood as a whole isn't all that great. If he volunteers this information, he or she is a keeper.
Ideally, an agent should work within a clearly defined area. This ensures that they will know this area and be intimately familiar with all aspect, not just neighborhoods, but schools, taxes, utility costs, etc.
The primary function of an agent is to get you in the houses that you are interested in. Once you decide on a house, and enter into the labyrinthine process known as escrow (the period of time between offer and closing), you will need an agent who knows how to navigate this road with the least amount of potential confusion. There are a lot of steps involved, any one of which if done incorrectly, could wreck the deal.
If you don't have huge billboards with smiling faces around your town, ask around for references. People will generally tell you if their realtor experience was good or bad, and most real estate work is through word of mouth. Pick someone, as I said, who knows the area, and most importantly, pick someone who recognizes that house hunting takes time. You may have to visit a house or twelve before you land on one that suits you.
In my most recent home purchase, I actually found the house I want, my agent let me in to check it out, and then he coordinated all the steps from making the offer to following through on the deal. We close at the end of this month. It has been a fairly painless process so far (marred only by writing other checks in addition to my down payment, such as home inspections).
Don't allow yourself you become duped into working for someone who is just out to make a quick buck. Look for someone who does have your best interests at heart. This makes the second time I have worked with this particular agent, and I will look him up again when the time comes back around to sell and move.
Happy house hunting!
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