What to Avoid When Looking For a Real Estate Agent

All Glenmore home buyers and sellers need to work with a real estate agent to get the best value they can when buying or selling a home. Here's why everyone should hire a real estate agent when working in real estate and what to look out for when choosing an agent.

Why Should You Hire a Real Estate Agent?

In the age of the Internet, many clients ask us why they should hire a real estate professional to help them sell their house. Without a real estate agent, some people do okay, but most don't. Here are five reasons you SHOULD hire a professional agent to help market and sell your property.

Education and Experience

You don't need to know everything about buying and selling real estate if you hire a real estate professional who does. The trick is finding the right person to help you. Most agents roughly cost the same, so it's about finding an agent you trust and who will deliver the service you want. We're all looking for more precious time in our lives, and hiring pros gives us that time.

Agents are Buffers

Agents take the spam out of your property showings and visits. Agents will filter all those phone calls that lead to nowhere from lookie-loos and try to induce serious buyers to immediately write an offer. Agents will qualify interested parties so you don't waste your time with showings to people who aren't interested and capable of purchasing.

Neighbourhood Knowledge

Agents either possess intimate knowledge or they know where to find the industry buzz about your neighbourhood. They can identify comparable sales and hand these facts to you. They know the market statistics and what they mean and can therefore give you a clearer understanding of what your home is worth, how long it should take to sell, and who your target market is.

Price Guidance

Contrary to what some people believe, agents do not select prices for sellers or buyers. However, an agent will help to guide clients to make the right choices for themselves. Selling agents will ask buyers to weigh all the data supplied to them and to choose a price. Then, based on market supply, demand, and other conditions, the agent will devise a negotiation strategy.

Market Conditions

Real estate agents can disclose market conditions, which will govern your selling or buying process. Many factors determine how you will proceed. Data such as the average per-square-food cost of similar homes, median and average sales prices, average days on market, and ratios of list-to-sold prices, among other criteria, will have a huge bearing on what you ultimately decide to do.

Professional Networking

Real estate agents network with other professionals, many of whom provide services that you will need during the process of buying or selling. Real estate agents know which vendors have a reputation for efficiency, competency, and competitive pricing, and give you a list of references with whom they have work, and provide background information to help you make a wise decision.

Negotiation Skills & Confidentiality

Top producing agents negotiate well because, unlike most buyers and sellers, they can remove themselves from the emotional aspects of the transaction and because they are not skilled. It's part of their job description. Good agents are not messengers, delivering buyers' offers to sellers and vice versa. They are professionals who are trained to present their client's case in the best light and agree to hold client information confidential from competing interests.

Answer Questions After Closing

Even the smoothest transactions that close without complications can come back to haunt. For example, taxing authorities that collect property tax assessments, doc stamps or transfer tax can fall months behind and mix up invoices, but one call to your agent can straighten out the confusion. Many questions can pop up that were overlooked in the excitement of closing. Good agents stand by ready to assist. Worthy and honest agents don't leave you in the dust to fend for yourself.

Develop Relationships for Future Business

The basis for an agent's success and continued career in real estate is referrals. Few agents would survive if their livelihood was dependent up consistently drumming up new business. This emphasis gives agents strong incentives to make sure that clients are happy and satisfied. It also means that an agent who stays in the business will be there for you when you need to hire an agent again. Many will periodically mail makret updates to you to keep you informed and to stay in touch.

Red Flags to Look Out For When Hiring a Real Estate Agent

However, many buyers and sellers may not know when to start when looking for the agent who is right for them. Every agent is different, and there are agents who will be a good match for a buyer or seller, and there are agents who will be a bad match—it’s just a matter of determining which is which. Here are some important red flags everyone needs to know about before hiring an agent.

The Agent Works Part-Time

Like any job, in order to truly be an expert, the worker needs to do the job all the time—not just on weekends or when they’re free. Being a real estate agent is a profession that requires a lot of time and effort to learn. If an agent says they only work part-time, this should set off a big red flag. If a real estate agent has to dedicate half of their time to another job or obligation, they don’t have enough time to take care of their clients properly. When looking for an agent, the first thing to do is always make sure the agent works full time. 

Agents Who Make Unrealistic Claims

During the home selling process, every seller wants to get the most money possible. Agents understand this and want to help their clients achieve that, but there’s only so much that can be done to actually get the money. However, some agents will use this to their advantage by giving sellers an estimate that is far more than any other agent in hope to get the seller’s business. If the seller signs with them, the agent can still put the home up for the promised amount, but it will stagnate and get no traction. Or, the agent will try talking the seller into a lower price after the fact, effectively tricking the seller into signing with them.

Agents With No Past Clients or Reviews

A good way to see if an agent is worth the time is by reading reviews left by past clients. Usually, it’s easy to find these as agents like to showcase them because reviews are effectively free advertising—and word-of-mouth is the best type of advertising. If it’s difficult to find reviews for an agent, or they seem to be nonexistent, it can be a bad sign. It can mean that the agent either just started or they find it difficult to get good reviews to showcase. Try looking on unaffiliated agent review websites in order to look for genuine reviews.

Agents Who Only Work With Certain Homes

In real estate, it isn’t uncommon for an agent to have a certain niche that they work within. When researching different agents to hire, it’s up to the buyer or seller to find if every agent has a specialty or not. Some agents may openly state that they exclusively work with single-family homes, but it may not be as clear with others. Having a specialty isn’t a bad thing, but it can be a time waster if the prospective client goes through all the time researching and interviewing only to discover that the agent doesn’t work with their property type.

Hire a Real Estate Agent for Your Next Real Estate Transaction Today

Finding the right agent is the most important part of buying or selling a home. The right agent will be the difference between just buying or selling a home and having a great experience buying or selling a home.