How To Select a Real Estate Agent
It probably depends on the area you live in, some regions may be serviced by a couple or only one agent and others may have ten real estate agents or more.
Ask friends or relatives for recommendations, check the directories, web sites and local papers and take a note of agents that make a good first impression to you.
Agent Interview Basics
For the purposes of the interview process you should be able to narrow it down to three real estate agents that you instinctively feel you would like to associate you and your property with. Do not feel compelled that you have to choose one of the three, if after the interviews you don't feel comfortable about your options interview another agent.
The assessment begins from the time you make your first call. Be prepared with notepad and pen handy.
Note each interaction with your agent on a scale of Excellent - Good - Fair - Poor - Confusing - Bad.
Apply this to a list of tests similar to the below:
- Reception response time and manner
- Agent reply time
- Agent phone manner
- Punctuality
- Groomed Appearance
Then start asking:
- How well does the agent know the local market?
- Does this person have good communication skills and mannerisms?
- Is the agent attempting to get a complete idea of your situation?
- How much knowledge does the agent have about mortgage markets?
- Does the agent have additional education that might be appropriate to the sale?
- Can the agent provide a name, phone number & address of a recent client you could talk with?
Also Prepare questions that are specifically important to you.
At any time during the interview make a mental note or write down a grading for how you feel the agent has responded. It doesn't matter too much if each area is not graded the first time around, you can always ring back to clarify a missed question.
More importantly you will be left with a record of impression, if you find you record a poor response many times for one agent and then for another you have recorded excellent grades of response quality. Then you should find that the decision begins to become clearer, as to who is going to be better for your situation.
Important Note: Do not let the issue of your property value or more so the opinions of the agent to your property's value affect your grading. It might be a good idea to leave the price issue to last during the interview to avoid clouded assessment of the agents service.
If the agent comes across excellent in all areas but you are disappointed with the price do not make a decision to go with the mediocre agent who scored an excellent response for price alone.
Remember you should have defined your own, clear, position of price you may also have to accept that if most agents are claiming that it is lower. That perhaps your personal assessment requires further attention. It is a better choice to get an agent who has impressed you on service first than go with the real estate agent that has impressed on the price issue alone.
