Finding and using a real estate agent
Consumers should always interview prospective real estate agents before making the selection on whom to hire. Locating the right agent to help sell the home or to buy one (in case of a buyer’s agent) is very important.
The amount of education an agent has, knowledge about the neighborhood where you want to buy and listings they have access to, are important factors to be considered while selecting a real estate agent.
How real estate agents can be categorized:
- Seller’s agent
- Buyer’s agent
- Dual agent
Seller’s agent: He is an agent working for a firm which holds seller’s listing. Any agent who works for a firm which belongs to a local or affiliated Board of Realtors is known as a seller’s sub agent and falls under the same category.
Buyer’s agent: A buyer’s agent represents a buyer in the real estate transaction and helps the buyer with home search & buying process.
Dual Agent : A dual agent works for a firm which holds a seller’s listing & also has signed a contract for representing a buyer who wants to purchase that particular listing. Such dual agency is required to be agreed by both the seller as well as buyer in writing.
It is important to know who will be working for you. In this regard some common questions that one must ask a real estate agent are:
- How long the agent is in real estate business?
- If agent has license to work in your state & if it is up to date.
- What is his average ratio of list price to sales price?
- What strategic plans the real estate agent has for his customer?
- Can he provide references of his previous work?
- How much he charges.
- Any kind of guarantee he offers?
- How many buyer as well as sellers the real estate agent is presently working for?
- Can he give reference of 3 buyers/sellers he has worked for?
Where to find a good real estate agent?
- Most used source for locating a real estate agent are people you know. You can know if a real estate agent is really good or not from people who have used his/her service. Ask them if the agent is easy to work with? Did they felt that agent was responsive to & met their needs? Would they use that agent again?
- Another option is to search through newspapers and home magazine ads for real estate agents who put advertisements about having experience in this field and offer buyer/seller representation.
As a home buyer/seller you should ask the agent if he will provide you a printout of recent selling prices & original listing prices in the region they work. It should show what owners paid for, what amount the houses got sold for, & full details about the homes. These statistics can help gauge how active the agent is in searching information about the sales occurring in that locality.
Lastly, try to select an agent who will work with your schedule. If you get the opportunity to see houses on evenings & weekends, and the agent only works day time that won’t be much helpful for you.
Some Resources:
Phoenix Real Estate – Phoenix Real Estate. Search thousands of homes for sale on the Phoenix MLS. Find homes for sale in Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Peoria & Tempe Arizona.
New Homes Myrtle Beach – Search for all available new homes and vacant land in the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina area.
EarthWiseProperties.Com – For Atlanta real estate visit this site.
ThePanamaTeam.Com – Our portfolio of Panama real estate projects includes oceanfront areas of Panama City, oceanside golf villa communities and hillside developments.
Comox Valley Real Estate: Owen Smith – Browse this website for homes listed for sale in Comox Valley, reports and important local real estate information.
HouseBeautifulNJ.Com – Top Realtor Servicing Morris County, New Jersey and Surrounding Towns Convenient To The NY Mid-Town Direct.
Madison House Hunter – Seller’s Source for Finding Home Buyers – Madison, WI.
WesternMontanaDreams.Net – Western Montana Property for Sale. Helpful tips for home sellers and buyers. Designated For Sale By Owner (FSBO) page. War Stories, real estate, and stream side setback Blog.
CoriFugate.Com – North Carolina Realtor Specializing in Charlotte Concord Matthews Midland and Mint Hill.
United States home builders – Real Estate News and Articles. Add to US Construction Companies Directory.
Canadian home builders – Real Estate News and Articles. Add to Canadian Construction Companies Directory.
USA Property Listings – Real Estate News and Articles. Add your property.
Credit – Get all the financial knowledge from this site. This site will help you to enrich your financial knowledge.
Your Payday Advance – A recognized leader in the online payday advance industry.
BeautifulBCHomes.com – For any query regarding real estate, visit this site. The one-stop British Columbia real estate resource site on the web.