Choose a Realtor

A - Real Estate Agents: What criteria ensures a top selection?

When Realtors do a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis), their presentation will be composed primarily of their marketing plan, recommended asking price and expected selling price plus their commission rate. If an agent's presentation focuses on his or her company, we're afraid you're dealing with a novice. If it goes overboard with their past history of accomplishments, you're probably looking at someone who is living off their reputation who is just going through the motions. 

During the CMA, make sure the agents provide you with:

• Their ideas for cosmetic changes and improvements to your home.

• A net sheet (list) of your expected selling costs, including the local customs for dividing closing expenses between you and the buyers.

• Current and projected local market conditions.

• Recommendations for good home inspectors and ones to avoid.

• Recommendations for real estate attorneys, title and escrow companies.

• An estimate of how much earnest money typically accompanies an offer for a home like yours.

• A blank listing agreement, sales contract and seller disclosure forms.

Don’t choose these agents:

Consider rejecting agents who don't help you with the above requests.

Stay away from rookies. New agents are just learning. Knowledge and confidence are gained from the experiences and involvement in a lot of transactions, not from any schooling. You're kidding yourself if you think that hiring a new "go getter" is a smart decision. When asked, these inexperienced agents won’t have the confidence to give you a decent discount.

Avoid highly successful agents too. Top producing Realtors may not give your listing the time you may need. Seriously, they just don’t have the time. Hot shot agents, with signs and advertising you see everywhere, make their money from large sales volume and often use a host of assistants. The more successful they are, the greater are your chances for working with one of their helper assistants.

Look for these characteristics:

Books and articles on selecting an agent often advise homeowners to ask for references plus information pertaining to the number of homes the agent sold last year, their percent of selling price to list price, percent of listings sold, average selling time of their listings, etc. These all sound good but are all subject to agent puffing, bending the truth, distortions of the facts, etc.

References? Who ever gives a bad reference? Besides, the sellers moved out of town. Number of homes sold last year? What are you going to do? Ask another agent to verify the number? Sales price to list price? Was the list price the original list price or are any of the price drops counted? Percent of listing sold? When a list was made, did it exclude the condos or exclude homes listed after a specified date or include homes sold from an adjacent area? Average selling time? Did the agent relist properties in order to hide the real selling time?  

You want an agent that belongs to the NAR (the National Association of Realtors) and one that's a member of the local MLS. But nitty-gritty selection should be based on personal characteristics, like: 

1. Their speed in which they return your phone calls.
2. Their ability to handle questions during the CMA.
3. Their level of experience (about three to 10 years is ideal).
4. Their willingness to easily allow you to cancel the listing agreement.
5. Their sincerity and frankness in answering questions.
6. Their marketing philosophy and grasp of the selling game.
7. Their overall professional appearance and presentation.
8. Their understanding of the housing market in your neighborhood.
9. Their ability to comfortably communicate with you.
10. Agents whose listings are displayed on realtor.com with lots of pictures.

                                 ATTEND LOCAL OPEN HOUSES

Use this opportunity to observe an agent’s professionalism and judge their knowledge of the home and neighborhood. Plus, you’ll discern their motives. Are they trying to sell the house or looking to recruit potential buyers? Is this someone you’d want as your agent? Is the open house being performed by the agent or an assistant?