The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent: Tips and Tricks for Making an Informed Decision

1. Know the agent

Arrange a preliminary meeting with the agent.

Does the agent carries himself professionally?
Does the agent turn up in slacks?
Does the agent spend time understanding your needs and preference?
Was the agent in a rush to sign a contract with you?
Does the agent present systematically and logically?
Does the agent demonstrate knowledge of real estate market?
Does the agent use facts and figures?
Does the agent have valuable real estate insights?

2. Know the Plan

Does the agent has a reasonable marketing plan to sell or rent your property?
Does the agent has a workable plan to ensure you are able to move into a new home after selling your existing house?
Know who would be presenting your house for sale – the agent you are signing the contract or his team or his delegate?
Know who would be showing you the house you are buying – the agent you are signing the contract or his team or his delegate?
Does the agent has a contingent plan or plans?
What is the service level of the agent after selling your house or finding you your new home?

3. Know what is really critical to you

Commission?
Selling price?
Meeting timeline?
Who will present your house for sale?
Who will show the house you are buying?
Network of the agent?
Real estate knowledge of the agent?
Creativity and ability to find solutions?
Always updating and deferring to you?
An agent who is thorough and diligent?
A good presenter?
A good negotiator?

4. Know what are the financing requirements

Does the agent understand the funding needs and have good contacts for mortgage?
Was the agent able to find solutions to overcome funding needs?
Was the agent able to advise on current and expected interest rates?

5. Are you engaging a salesperson who is facts based?

Do you need impromptu updates e.g debrief after each viewing? Weekly Updates?
Do you prefer phone or video calls at specific times, communicating via WhatsApp or emails?
Do you need your agent to be reachable within a certain time each day?
Do you need to approve all advertisements; Printed advertisements, Online advertisements, YouTube’s, Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebooks, etc?
Do you wish to be present during open house?

How good an agent is to you should be benchmarked against the criteria you set when choosing and signing up for the service of an agent. A top producer might sign the contract with you but is highly likely to delegate everything to his team or delegates.

A good negotiator is likely to be less flexible in commission negotiation, how else you expect him to secure a high selling price for your house? A good communicator is likely to keep you up to date on everything but might take up too much of your time.

There is no one size fit all solution to selecting an agent, the strength of an agent could be an area you would rather not deal with, and vice versa.

Hope the above provides good guidelines in your appointment of agent.

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Hope you are working with your ideal realtor because property transactions are usually the biggest we deal with in our lifetime!