Are you readying for some real estate dealings and working on picking a St. Johns County real estate agent? Whether you are thinking about buying, selling or even renting a home, you have hopefully invested time thinking about hiring a real estate agent. You want to a trusted partner, skilled at their trade. I recommend doing the homework to locate the right individual for your search. Ideally, you want someone who will work for you and fight professionally to help you close the deal. With so many agents, brokerages, lists and articles on how to pick a REALTOR how does one narrow it down to the perfect individual?
Personality
While fun, buying, selling and even renting homes can be emotionally taxing. There will be countless interactions with your agent through both good and bad times. Make sure the person you hire is someone you can be honest with, ask questions of and who gets you and your needs. This individual needs to excel at listening with the ability to discern things you might not personally see. Research shows 86% of buyers purchase their home leveraging a real estate agent. Of that group, 67% only interviewed one agent. On the sell side, 80% of sellers contacted one single agent before signing a listing agreement. If you are buying – strive to be part of the 33% and home sellers – look to join the 20% club. I cannot stress enough, with so many agents to choose from – you want to find the best fit for your partnership.
Picking a St. Johns County Real Estate Agent Familiar with the Area
After personality – familiarity with the local area is a trait you need to seek out in a REALTOR. Why? For sellers: That individual should utilize insight to help market and sell your property. Armed with innate knowledge, they are poised to answer questions honestly and completely. Yes, agents can and will learn about an areas, neighborhoods and communities – but they may spend time asking you for your knowledge. For buyers: The insight your agent brings will help with the questions you might have looking for a home in unfamiliar-to-you territory. Things to look for: knowledge of city/town/county, specific neighborhood, community, local schools and everything that it takes to sell someone on an area.
Negotiator Extraordinaire
There will be negotiations as you enter the buying, selling and even renting process. You want someone who is both a creative problem solver as well as a strong negotiator. Remember the part about being an exceptional listener? This is where this skill will come in super handy. Listening to buyers, sellers and renters alike – about what they need – is instrumental as offers are considered and/or prepared. If you have never negotiated a larger deal – there is truly an art to negotiation and it is firmly grounded in listening, communication and compromise.
Ace Picking A St. Johns County Real Estate Agent
When the time comes to hire a St. Johns County real estate agent – spend time doing the homework. Read articles and look for all the tips – but then think back to these 3 key points. I think you will find them central to what you need/should be look for in your REALTOR. Good luck on your sale, purchase or rental and if I can be of any assistance to you, please feel free to reach out.