How to Choose a Realtor

Having the right Realtor® is a huge part of ensuring the home shopping and buying OR selling experience is a good one. A good Realtor® is constantly working for you. They're constantly finding homes that meet your search criteria, sometimes even before they're officially on the market, meeting you to look at potential homes on YOUR schedule and pulling strings with colleagues in the business to get your deal to go through. When selling your home, they work just as hard or harder. Home buying and selling can also be so emotionally and physically exhausting, that a good Realtor® is also an encourager and occasionally needed a reality check for you during the process.  A bad Realtor® is none of that and tons of frustration and even heartache. When choosing the RIGHT Realtor® for you be scrupulous. It's no little wonder that choosing the wrong Realtor® is one of the many reasons homes fail to sell. Therefore, keep these Realtor® choosing mistakes in mind, when you start the hunt.

The Family Recruit

Many people recruit family members as their agent because they don't want to offend them or they're just sure they'll do the best job because of their great love for you. First of all, you can't worry about offending a friend or relative when a huge life decision that includes a lot of money is on the line. Besides that, what if things go bad? Then the relationship is strained anyway.  Secondly,  although the agent in your family may have a great love for you and work hard, it does not mean that their skills match their level of love or that they won't "relax" a little in their work for you making the same argument that you love them, so you'll understand.

Choosing friends or family as your agent may be the right decision for you. Just make sure they have what it takes to do the best job.

The Yes Man

Avoid the yes man or woman. This is the Realtor® who will agree to list your home even if they know you're asking for a way too high and unrealistic price. Why would they do this you ask? Because although your house will sit on the market for months and months, they'll direct calls coming in on it to other homes they have listed and make their sales there. They're using you. They're buying your listing with their agreeableness to use it for what's known as a bait and switch for potential buyers.

Eventually, they will talk you into lowering your asking price but you'll usually sell for less than you could have and while the Realtor® has benefited all this time, you've lost time and money.

Saving on Commission

Remember, you get what you pay for. Many like the idea of an agent who is willing to take less commission so they can save money but there can be problems with this.

When your agent shows potentials your home, they may do whatever they can to talk them out of buying it and direct them to a home where their commission won't be cut.

Additionally, a good Realtor® really is PRICELESS and you don't want to undercut them on their commission. You'll come out ahead on the end.

Only Interviewing One

Many people stop searching for agents after interviewing only one because they like everything they see and hear so they figure ‘what's the point in looking further’? The problem is, you have nothing to compare to. Many agents have different methods of selling and you may be surprised and delighted to hear them. It's always smart to interview at least a few.

Foregoing References

Talk to references before hiring an agent in order to get a genuine idea of what they're really like. You're hiring someone for a very important job and just like any other hiring process, you need to check references.

However, don't let the agent hand you numbers they picked themselves...those reports are sure to be glowing. Better yet, ask the agent for the last ten clients they've had so you can get a more honest evaluation.

Picking From an Open House

Don't necessarily pick the Realtor® you meet at an open house. Did you know that open houses are usually unnecessary and only 2% of all homes are sold via open house? If you see an agent doing lots of open houses, it's only to meet potential clients. An agent moving to actually sell a house will probably be spending most of their time elsewhere.

The Realtor® in Your Neighborhood

So you may have a Realtor® in your neighborhood and figure they're the best choice because they know the neighborhood. The problem with this thinking is there's plenty of awful Realtors® out there who all have to live somewhere...see what I'm saying? A Realtor® who doesn't live in your neighborhood may be way more qualified and know the neighborhood just as well.

The Agent Sold A Lot of Homes

Don't hire the agent who sells the most homes. Hire the one who sells most of their listing CLOSEST to the listing price. Sure an agent may boast of selling 20 of 40 homes last year. But the better agent is probably the one who sold 18 of their 20 listing at or next to the listing price.

Ready to meet a great real estate team? Give us a call! We work throughout the Snohomish County real estate market and would love to be YOUR REALTOR!