How to choose a Real Estate Agent

Posted on 07/08/2014

Choosing the best real estate agent for your needs is essential, you are giving this person the task of selling your home and finding another for you to live in, therefore it is vital you choose someone who is going to sell your home quickly and for the most possible, and find you a new home quickly and for as cheap as possible. Certain estate agents are better at this than others, and you will need to meet with the estate agents face-to-face to see if they really ‘have what it takes’. Here are some tips in helping you to choose the real estate agent best suited to you.

You will need to speak to 5-10 real estate agents initially, however, there will be a couple that stand out to you more than most. It is these estate agents that you will want to interview face-to-face to get to know a little better. It is best to interview at least 3 estate agents. Here are some useful questions and tips to help you ascertain if this is the estate agent for you.

1. How long have you been an estate agent for?
2. How many homes did your company sell last year?
3. How many houses did you sell personally?
4. What is the average time it takes you to sell a home?
5. How close are your final sale prices in comparison to the initial asking price?
6. How often will you update me on any progress made?
7. Who do you represent? The buyer or both the buyer and seller?
8. Get a feel as to what the estate agent is like, do they listen and are they completely aware of your requirements and needs? Or are they merely focused on the commission?
9. Understand how the estate agent intends to advertise your property, and how often. Ask them how they are currently promoting properties, and find out if they are advertising online, try to ascertain how ‘viewed’ your property will be from this advertising.
10. Don’t be afraid to ask what qualifications they have attained, as well as the experience they have.

Once you have interviewed your favourite real estate agents you will have to start making the decision as to which one to hire. The first thing you should do is research each of the estate agents on the internet to see if there are any reviews or references from previous clients, and look at how the company is advertising current properties.

When you have decided who to hire, you need to start negotiating fees. Bear in mind that low fees may result in low enthusiasm levels from the estate agent, if they are not fully committed to selling your home it may be a difficult and drawn out task. Consider offering the estate agent full fee if they are able to sell the property at full price and a creating a sliding scale for anything lower than the asking price, i.e. the lower the final selling price of the house the lower the commission.

Before signing a contract with an estate agent read the contract very carefully. Pay particular attention to the small print, and research the typical contract content to ensure there are no irregularities.