Helpful Home Tips &
Mortgage Advice from Experts

Once you make the decision to sell or buy a house, you will want to choose the right person to guide through the process. According to Realtor.org statistics, 88% of people looking to sell their house used a realtor.

Experience

Selling or buying a house is a complex process with local laws and customs that can be difficult to understand. Choose a good realtor and he or she will be your guide through every step of the process and provide recommendations for other assistance, such as a locating a a good mortgage lender. A good realtor has many qualities, but most of all, a good realtor is a successful realtor.

You will want the realtor you choose to have experience; a few years at least. The more experience a realtor has, the better the realtor knows how to find you exactly what you’re looking for.

Knowledge of the Local Market

The housing market in which the realtor has experience should also be considered. After all, a realtor who can sell multi-million dollar mansions on the west coast may not be able to sell modest bungalows in the Midwest with the same gusto. An experienced realtor could sell your house extremely quickly while fetching you a great sale price because they have an existing pool of buyers with which they are working.

If you are looking to purchase a home, the same fact applies. An experienced realtor will have many listings for sellers with which they are currently working. A less experienced realtor is likely to make mistakes or take much longer finding you what you are looking for.

Demonstrated Success

A realtor should not only be experienced, but successful as well. There are many agents who have been a realtor for many years, yet successful experience. After all, some people view this line of work as an additional source of income or a side job. A successful agent will have many closings in their past. This information is easily verifiable online.

Don’t be concerned if the realtor you interview with appears to be busy, because a busy agent is a good thing. However, you want to make sure that they will be able to give you the attention you deserve when you make the decision to choose a good realtor. You can find client reviews on many successful agents on sites like Zillow.com.

Locating Realtors to Consider

There are a variety of ways to meet an agent for the first time. You could use an agent that a friend recommended and has had success with, or you may attend an open house to meet an agent and get a glimpse of how they do things. Don’t worry if you are not specifically interested in that particular house, because if you are going to potentially use them for your real estate transaction, you’ll be giving them business anyway.

Once you meet a prospective realtor, ask them many questions about their experience with local listings and how many deals they have closed recently. Consider the length of time their properties were on the market and whether or not they fetched a good sales or purchase price.

A good realtor should be extremely knowledgeable not only about the home buying and selling process, but about the area you are looking to buy or sell in as well. Choosing a good realtor means picking one that has “the complete package.”

Personality & Communication

In addition to an agent’s experience and success, they must be a match for your personality. If you do not get along with your realtor, things will not go smoothly. You will want to choose a realtor who keeps you in the loop by touching base with you on your preferred communication platforms, whether they be telephone calls, emails, texts, or even social media. Remember not to sign anything until you are absolutely sure that you want to commit to a particular realtor.

Your choice of realtor should be made after thorough research and interviewing many prospective realtors. Buying or selling a house is something that you will only do a few times (or less) in your life, so it is important to choose a good realtor that you can trust.