In the coming year, millions of people will be looking to sell their homes or acquire new properties. If you fall into this category, one of the most important decisions you’ll need to make is hiring a reputable and dependable real estate agent to make the process easier.
Indeed, without the right agent, whose expertise and skills should be aligned with your needs, you may very well end up with the short end of the stick.
With that said, there are plenty of Realtors out there and near you from which to choose. Need help cutting through all the noise?
4 Best Tips for Finding the Best Realtor
Check out these top four tips for finding the best Realtors.
1. Set Your Buying or Selling Parameters
The phrase “right real estate agent” is subjective. In fact, the right agent for you might not be ideal for someone else, as it all depends on your specific requirements when buying or selling a home. If you’re a buyer, you need to know how much you can afford to spend.
Meet with a mortgage lender to determine how much they’re willing to loan you and, from there, create a price range. Additionally, make sure you have other requirements like target environment (family-friendly, for example), location, etc. Having all these parameters straightened out will allow you to ask the right questions about the experience of potential agents before hiring one.
2. Ask for Referrals
Now that you have your requirements straightened out, you’ll want to get to actually find and hire a Realtor. A good place to start from is referrals. Ask friends and family members or even co-workers who they worked with and why they decided to go with them. Chances are these people will be able to provide the names and contact information of an agent who may very well best fit your needs. You can even do a little research to find out who your neighbors hired when buying or selling their homes.
3. Do Your Research
Between some referrals and online sleuthing, you should be able to come up with a list of potential candidates. Once you have a few names in mind, take some time to research their business. How long have they been an agent? What category of customers do they usually work with? If you have recommendations in your vicinity, search online for “top real estate agents near me,” or “best Realtors near me” as another opportunity to find referrals and testimonials. If they’re based in another city or state, search, for example, “top real estate agents in Los Angeles.”
4. Interview Multiple Candidates
Alongside your research, make sure you talk to several of your candidates, preferably in person, to hear from their mouths how they can best partner with you to sell your home or find a new property. This will also help you put what you read online into context.
In the End…
It all boils down to knowing what you want in buying or selling a home, as well as finding a real estate agent with the most experience and success rate. Selling a home or buying a new property is a huge decision — and having the right real estate agent in your corner can make it a lot easier.
