If you are thinking about selling or buying a home, you have likely spent some time thinking about hiring a real estate agent. Taking the time to do your homework will help ensure you find a trusted partner skilled at their trade. You know you want someone who will work for you and fight professionally to help you close the deal. But with so many real estate agents, brokerages, lists and articles on how to pick a REALTOR how do you narrow it down to the perfect person? Read on for what I think are the 3 most important aspects of picking your real estate agent.
Personality
Buying and selling homes while fun can be an emotionally taxing process. There will be countless interactions with your agent through good times and bad. Make sure that the individual you hire is someone you can be honest with, ask questions of and simply gets you and your needs. This person needs to be an exceptional listener with the ability to discern things you might not see yourself. Research shows 86% of buyers purchase their home via a real estate agent and that 67% only interviewed one agent. On the selling side, 80% of sellers contacted only one agent prior to signing a listing agreement. If you’re buying – be part of the 33% and home sellers – join the 20%. With so many agents out there – you want to find the best fit for your collective personalities to work together.
Familiarity
Following personality – familiarity is a trait you should be looking for in a REALTOR. Why? For home sellers: That individual can use every bit of information they need to help market and sell your property. They’ll be poised to answer questions honestly and completely. Yes, agents can learn about an area/neighborhood/development – but they may spend more time asking your for your knowledge. For buyers: The insight your agent has will help you with the questions you might have looking for a home in unfamiliar territory. Things to look for: knowledge of city/town, 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 or selling process. You want someone who is both a creative problem solver coupled with a strong negotiator. Remember the part about being an exceptional listener? This is where this skill will come in super handy. Listening to buyers and sellers alike – about what they need from a deal – will be instrumental as offers are prepared and/or considered. If you have never negotiated a larger deal – there is truly an art to negotiation and it is firmly based in listening and compromise.
Ace Picking Your Real Estate Agent
When the time comes to hire a real estate agent – spend the time doing the homework. Read articles, look for all the tips – but then think about these 3 central ideas. I think you’ll find them at the core of what you need/should be looking for in your REALTOR. Good luck on your future sale/purchase and if I can be of any assistance to you, please feel free to reach out.