How to Choose a Real Estate Agent

If you had a very important legal case, you wouldn’t just hire any ol’ lawyer, would you? What about if you had to do have a risky surgery done – wouldn’t you want to first make sure your doctor was the best person for the job?

My point is, the same goes for buying or selling a house: Your choice of real estate agent will have a dramatic effect on your experience. A good agent can guide you through the process of selling your home and ensure you get a good price. If you are buying, a good agent can likewise use his or her expertise to help you find the home of your dreams for a good price.

I believe that most people really want to have the best real estate agent, but they don’t necessarily know how to tell the difference. Here are the things I think are most important to look for in a good agent. Don’t feel self-conscious about “interviewing” them – you are essentially hiring your agent, so you have every right to make sure that he or she can get the job done.

Make sure they are an expert in the neighborhood. Whether you are buying or selling, it is a good idea to work with an agent who has a lot of knowledge and experience in your specific neighborhood. For instance, my experience and knowledge is focused on the Bonita Springs and Estero areas, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to represent someone who was buying or selling in the Naples area. Because I don’t have experience in that area, I wouldn’t be familiar with market trends in the area, which would put my client and me at a significant disadvantage.

Ask how they will market your house. I like to tell sellers that anyone can list a house, but who’s to say whether it will get seen? Marketing is what tells the difference between the mediocre agents and the true professionals. Does the agent have a website where people can come and view additional pictures, videos, etc.? Do they have examples of professional (i.e., not homemade-looking) fliers they can show you? What other marketing techniques do they use?

Effective marketing requires knowledge of the right techniques to use, as well as a sense of showmanship. Everything from the pictures and the verbiage in the listing, to where and how the listing is promoted, can have an impact on the viewer’s first impressions. Simply throwing a listing on the MLS and putting a sign in the front yard isn’t going to cut it – if you want your house to sell for a reasonable price, you need an agent who is experienced and willing to aggressively market it.

Find out about their negotiating abilities. Because there is so much riding on your negotiations with the other party, it is important to find an agent who is a strong negotiator. Part of determining this can be done when you first talk to the agent – a strong negotiator will also be confident in regular conversation. You can also ask about their track record – are they able to negotiate the prices their clients want? A good agent should have examples ready to demonstrate times they have achieved a certain price for a client via negotiation.

Ask about their team. A good real estate agent knows that they can’t do all the work on their own – they need a strong team of people who can help with everything, from running a comparative market analysis (CMA) to help determine a fair price, to promoting a listing. No agent can do everything all by themselves and still do it well, and an agent who works with others to improve on what he can offer his clients is the agent you want.

Check their references. An agent’s references can tell you a lot about them. Sure, the agent is likely to choose people they know will give them a good reference, but if you ask probing questions you will get a pretty complete picture of whether the agent is what you are looking for.

When you call on an agent’s references, have a list of questions to ask them – basically the same questions listed here. What neighborhood did they buy or sell in? How well did the agent seem to know the neighborhood? If the person was a seller, how did the agent market their home? Did they get the price they wanted? And for both buyers and sellers, what did they think of the agent’s negotiating abilities?

Obviously, choosing a real estate agent is not a decision you should make in a minute or even an hour. You can’t base your decision on a picture or an advertisement and still expect to get the best results. Instead, treat it like you are interviewing a potential employee, and you want to make sure before you hiring them that they can do the job you want them to do. After all, that scenario is not far from the truth!

As an experienced real estate agent in the Bonita Springs and Estero areas, I have all of the above: solid marketing tactics, strong negotiating abilities, a reliable team, and an impressive list of references. To discuss how I can help you sell or buy your home, or even to ask me for my recommendations on choosing a real estate agent, please don’t hesitate to contact me!