Are you’re thinking about buying a home and you need a recommendation for a realtor?
Have ever asked someone for a recommendation for a restaurant, dentist, or car mechanic, and heard great things about them from the person giving you the recommendation? But when you decided to go with that recommendation it wasn’t as stellar as you expected?
We’ve all been there and had a similar experience at one point or our lives right? And we wished we could go back and take the time to really determine if that dentist, mechanic was the right person for us?
And the same goes when choosing the right Realtor to work with? Just because they maybe have been recommended from someone you know. It’s always a good idea to interview other Realtors to get a comparison and to really make sure that recommended Realtor is going to work for you and help you achieve real estate goals.
A Realtors first responsibility is to watch out for your best interests. If a Realtor starts protesting that you don’t need to interview other agents, then that should be an immediate red flag. Because they are putting themselves first.
So please do yourself a big favor and make sure you take the time to talk to to a few agents before making the commitment. Doing this will greatly help you to really determine if you’re working with the right agent.
Here are two main questions to ask Realtors that will give you an insight on whether they would be someone you would want to work with.
What’s your process when working with a home buyer?
This a key question that should always be asked in the beginning it’ll save you the mistake of working with someone who’s only seeing you as their next commission.
By asking this question your looking for a Realtor that has a proven process for home buyers. It’s more likely that a Realtor with a proven process will get buyers into homes a lot easier, and prevent a loss of time and money.
Through the many years being able to help many home buyers the ones that were the most successful followed my process. They took the time to sit down with me to define their home buying goals, understanding the home buying process along with how their goals fit in the current market, and working together to create a personalized home buying strategy.
Pay attention to how they educate buyers on the process.You’re looking for a Realtor who sees the value in educating you with buying process before taking you to looking at homes. If an agent who starts out by saying “we’ll go look at homes and once you find a home, you like we will then put in an offer” I would look to work with someone else that will take the time to inform and educate you on the process first.
How long have you been a Realtor? And do you do it full time.
While it’s true experience doesn’t necessary equal success, with a commission based business such as real estate if they’ve been practicing real estate for at 5years or more and surviving they must be doing something right.
The follow up question asking if they do real estate full time is very important to ask. There is part time Realtors that has a full time job and do real estate on the side. What you want is to work with a Realtor who does real estate full time and is going to be fully available.
You don’t want to end up losing a home because the part time Realtor just couldn’t respond fast enough to an offer, or couldn’t take time away to view a home with you on the weekday vs. the weekend when they would normally be free.
Here an additional resource provided by Realtor.com that can provide you with more information to helping you choose the right Realtor.
Because your spending your time and will be making one of the biggest purchases in your life. Make it a point to reach out to other agents just to make sure the recommended Realtor is the right person for you. Be sure to ask the two questions to qualify them.
Aloha,
Marlo Ibon
408.422.3000
[email protected]
DRE#01834583
P.S. If you are in the Silicon Valley area and are needing help with understanding the home buying process and putting together a personalized home buying strategy please make an appointment with me.