Finding a Real Estate Agent

Finding a good real estate agent to help you buy a new home is an important step in the home buying process. 

• What should you look for in a real estate agent?
• Where can you find a good real estate agent?

Let’s examine each of these questions:

What should you look for in a real estate agent?

The most important quality to insist on in a real estate agent is trustworthiness. If you can’t trust this person to guide you through the home buying process, you will undoubtedly have an unpleasant experience. You could waste time, lose money and undergo unneeded aggravation.

Remember that your agent is just that — yours. Your agent represents you and your interests. You will confide personal information to your agent and should expect confidentiality. Real estate agents are bound by industry and professional standards to engage in best business practices, and REALTORS® are held to even higher standards (as the capitalization and registered trademark symbol that they insist on imply), but it is up to you to assure that your agent abides by them.

When you begin the process of looking for an agent, you should interview several candidates in order to find the one you feel most comfortable with and who best understands and can serve your particular needs. Ideally, you want an agent who treats you like you are his or her only customer, someone who will work with you until you are completely satisfied and go the extra mile for you. Many agents are simply too busy or stretched too thin to do this.

You want someone who exudes professionalism and who is dedicated to their profession. Steer clear of someone who works only on the weekends or who views their real estate job as a second career.

Look for professional designations such as GRI (a graduate of the REALTORS® Institute), CRS (Certified Residential Specialist) or ABR (Accredited Buyers Representative).

Where can you find a good real estate agent?

You definitely want someone with experience and familiarity in the market you are looking to buy in as well as someone who has experience and familiarity in the price range you are interested in. (Even if an agent knows the luxury market in your city, he may not be familiar with homes that sell at or below the median price — or worse, an agent who knows the area but is inexperienced in the high-end market is not going to serve your needs, if you are looking for a top-tier home).

Get recommendations from friends, neighbors and colleagues, people you trust. Also, see what kind of recommendations an agent has from previous buyers. Ask an agent whom you are considering for references and don’t be shy about contacting the references and asking them pertinent questions about how that agent handled various aspects of the home buying process for them.

Here are a few questions to ask when you interview potential real estate agents:

• How long have you been a real estate agent?
• How long have you been involved in the real estate industry?
• In what other real estate-related jobs have you worked (prior to becoming a real estate agent)?
• Are you a full-time real estate agent? How long? How long in this area?
• Are you a REALTOR®? How long? How long in this area?
• How familiar are you in the area where I want to look? (Give examples.)
• How many home sales did you have last year? As a buyer’s agent? As a seller’s agent? Total?
• What is the average sales price of the real estate transactions you have been involved in during the past year? … the past two years? …over your career?
• What is the average amount of time I can expect it will take to complete this transaction? .. the quickest? … the slowest? … how do you see where my quest for a new home fits into this?
• Do you normally represent home buyers or home sellers?
• What percentages of your clients are buyers and sellers?
• How many buyers are you currently representing? .. how many sellers?
• What do you think your particular strengths and weaknesses are as they relate to my quest for a new home?
• Can you provide me with the names and contact information for a handful of home buyers whom you have recently worked with and helped find a home?

Finding a good real estate agent will be one of the most important decisions you make in the home buying process.  Hire an agent that you know you can trust to represent you and look out for your best interests.

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