How do you select an agent when buying or selling a home? Most people according to research by the National Association of Realtors use the first agent they meet, usually without really knowing anything about them or their business practices.
A second way many people select an agent is to ask friends and family for a referral. This may get them several names, especially if they use social media to ask for a referral. This often leads to a short listing of agents who the buyer or seller will interview based on an arbitrary list of reasons. I like Sam so anyone he/she suggests must be good, for example.
But, before you ever get to this point maybe you should be asking yourself and those people giving you referrals how am I going to or how did you select an agent to represent me/you?
A great question to start this off is what am I looking for from an agent? What are my expectations? Do I know the responsibilities of an agent and even if they are being fulfilled?
So what might be important for you?
Communication - how often is your agent going to communicate with you and in what manner? Is that how they prefer or are they willing to work to your preference? Are they available to answer questions or are you going to be sent out into a loop of people on a team who don't answer?
Does the agent understand their fiduciary responsibilities and can they explain them?
Do they know the area?
Do they have a list of contractors and vendors for services you can access?
How do they approach and use technology, does it align with what you want?
There are many other things which may be important to you but I think an easy way to get to understand the agent in front of you is to ask them what they look for if they were hiring an agent to represent them?
Most likely they are going to highlight how to evaluate an agent who is good to work with and what they actually do and it is then easier to compare them to other agents. It also allows you to ask the follow up question - do you do that?
So, next time you are looking for an agent consider asking them what they would look for in an agent they were going to hire to represent them and why? Contact Nick Vandekar, Tredyffrin Easttown Realtor, Selling the Main Line with Long & Foster Real Estate Inc., for his list of what he would look for; office 610-225-7400, cell or text 610-203-4543, email Nick@vandekarTeam.com, website www.SellingTheMainLine.com.
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