How to Find the Best Real Estate Agent

Many people will engage the services of one of the first real estate agents they talk with.  Agents typically have good people skills so this is easy to do.  However, we recommend you interview several agents.  For most of us, it is the biggest financial transaction of our lives, so doesn’t it make sense to take a little time and effort to find the right agent for you? Although this is intuitively obvious, buyers oftentimes start communicating directly with the listing agent because they are so anxious to find out the details of a particular property.  This is a mistake. Listing agents already have a written agreement with the seller to get them the highest price and best terms for the home. They are typically only obligated to disclose to you that their company also represents the seller. They may have to take a middle position to best assist you, sometimes referred to as a “designated agent” or “transaction broker”.

In many areas, whenever a buyer goes to an open house and signs in, or to a new development complex, they are claimed by the real estate seller agents.  On that particular property, it is then difficult to engage an independent buyer agent to assist.  This is because the new buyers agent will not want to be in an argument over real estate commissions due with the listing agents.  It simple is not worth the time or effort for them.  However, we have also heard of real estate agents on the selling side who want their buyers to get independent representation.  We encourage the people who contact us who are in this situation to just be honest with the new agent about the search activities they have already done.

How do you find best real estate agents? 1) Don’t necessarily choose the first agent you meet 2) Look for experience and designations 3) look for reviews and ratings from independent third parties.  An agent who has a high volume of sales may be good or they may not because the ability to “sell” someone is different than the ability to “buy” a property with good negotiation skills.

Selecting a good buyers agent may take time.  We have provided on this site a downloadable assessment form to help you determine if you have a 10-star broker.