Selecting an Agent
EXPERIENCE
There is no substitute for experience. Like snowflakes, no two real estate transactions are the same. Agents who only recently passed their real estate exam don't know enough to be helpful. Newbies can only be effective if they have experienced help or are working with an experienced team. Sadly, there are also agents who have been repeating the same mistakes for twenty or more years. Ask your agent the following question:
Question: When are the times price is negotiated or re-negotiated in a real estate transaction?
Answer::
1. When the offer is first made
2. The appraisal is done (especially if the appraisal is low)
3. After the home inspection
4. Just prior to close of escrow, particularly if the seller is anxious and the buyer has other alternatives
If your agent cannot give you these answers quickly, you might want to consider someone else.
NEIGHBORHOOD SPECIALIST
Emphasis placed on neighborhood knowledge is over-rated. It used to be more important, but with crime stats and school rankings, even traffic patterns and shopping info available on the internet, local knowledge has become a dinosaur. Familiarity with specific neighborhoods but lack of knowledge about what's going on in the market in general, can be dangerous. Go for general knowledge and negotiating skills over area familiarity. Real estate transactions require extensive training. Contracts, disclosures, terms and processes of escrow, how to make or solicit an offer, what a lender might be thinking, and accurate assessment of property condition are all more important than local knowledge.
COMMUNICATION
Find an agent who will listen to you. When interviewing, if an agent spends more time telling you about how good they are and what they can do for you, rather than addressing your questions and concerns, be careful. That will not make a happy marriage. Find an agent who understands you and can communicate in a manner you desire.
There are many tech savvy agents who use the internet, email, text, electronic signatures and efax. There are at least as many who do not. If you are a phone person, make sure you are doing business with a phone person. If the internet and email are your thing, make sure you are working with an agent willing to communicate in the same way.
According to National Association of Realtor statistics, breakdowns in communication are the number one reason clients and agents decide to part ways. Set the expectations early. How often do you want to hear from your agent? Weekly, daily or only when something significant arises? Do you need a recap of where you have been to avoid repeating mistakes or are you confident enough in your real estate agency relationship to trust your REALTORŪ?
KNOWLEDGE
There was an old school real estate instructor, Joe Ramos, who used to shout "Knowledge is Power" and he was always right. But sometimes knowing where to get the right answer is more important than knowing the answer, and certainly far better than making an answer up. Things change. As you can see from this web site, Elevate agents have lots of resources available to them. In a pinch, with escrow about to close, Elevate has enough experience within the company to answer to difficult questions with just a phone call.
COMPANY
Brokerage owners all want to think that their company is sooooo good that clients will be beating down their door to work with them. The sad truth, delivered by the National Association of Realtors is that less than 5% of Sellers or Buyers care about an agent's company. Imagine how sad the advertising firms must be, knowing they are taking all that money for national real estate ad campaigns with such poor results.
Buyers and sellers do business with AGENTS they trust, not companies. Agents, not companies, care about their friends, relatives and acquaintances, who become their clients. It will be agents, not companies that work the long hard hours necessary to help clients buy or sell their home, master the paperwork and assure that the transactiopn will go as smooth as possible. It will be an agent, not the company that finds a new buyer's first home and celebrates the occasion with them. It is people that matter, not companies.
