I need to find a good realtor in my area, but there are so many out there. How do I narrow them down?
I’ve been preparing my finances to buy a house. Been saving for months, paid down student loans, and I just pre-qualified for a good mortgage. Last weekend I went on a trek, armed with nothing more than a notepad, pen, camera, and my GPS Blackberry.
I went through as many neighborhoods as I could in one day, documenting everything, but by the end of it I felt as lost as when I began.
I thought with the real estate sites available today, I would have little use for a realtor. I think I am probably wrong now. So how do I find a good one?
Bonus question: How do I find a realtor that can help me into my first house now, with intentions of presenting investment properties to me in the near future? I would like to start with a realtor specializing in REOs or improvement properties just so I can start out on a real estate investing side-career.
Thanks for the help.
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5 Answers
Call the 3 biggest Brokers in town and ask for the agent who has closed the most sales in the last 90 days. Ask specifically for those agents who wrote offers that closed, not just the listing agents. Interview them all and pick one.
Finding an agent at an open house will, 75% of the time insure that you get a rookie. That’s not always bad, because they may have more time to spend with you, but they may also not have a clue what their doing.
The Pro’s will asses your needs and be able to show you exactly what you want in one afternoon.
You are in the drivers seat. If you are not happy with one agent you can always go to someone else. Jump in there. This is a great time to buy!
You know that the seller pays all the commissions anyway don’t you? Even on foreclosures, the bank pays them.
Also, ask everyone you know who they used, if they were happy with them, and why.
What you may want is a buyer’s agent. Real estate agents represent the seller of the property. Even if you get an agent who is not the listing agent. You can, however, contract with a buyer’s agent who will represent you for a split of the fee.
@Marina ; In California anyway, When an agent writes an offer for a buyer, but gets paid a share of the commission from the seller he is still considered a dual agent, since the person paying him IS the seller. He has a fiduciary obligation to look out for the best interests of both the buyer and the seller.
use friends to help you out, their opinons are the most trustowrhty. Call the brokers in your town for listings, or start Googling (if you are a Googler) and search for real estate homes in your area. You can also talk to other realtors to give you peeks on houses that best suit what you are looking for, but only go the the realtors that friends or friends of friends have had or know experience from, or go to real estate agents, they can still give you a helpful hand and recommendations. ;)
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