If you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Long Beach, how should you go about choosing a Long Beach Realtor?
Sometimes, people get referrals from friends, family, or co-workers. However, oftentimes home buyers or sellers end up working with someone based on a random connection. For instance, they met an agent at an open house, called about a sign, or clicked an online listing to request information.
The most important thing to consider when choosing a Long Beach Realtor is their degree of experience, education, and professionalism. After all, buying or selling your home is one of the biggest financial decisions you will make. Therefore, you want to know you have expert guidance and advice.
Experience Matters
Before you hire a Long Beach Realtor to help you buy or sell a home, make sure you know how long they’ve been in the business. Ask how many homes they’ve sold over their career, or within the past 12 months. Someone who only sells a few homes a year may not have their finger on the pulse of the shifting market as well as someone who sells 40 or more homes a year. Online reviews like Google, Zillow, and Yelp can also be a good place to look. See what past clients have written and if those reviews match your expectations.
Make sure the Realtor works full-time and that selling homes isn’t a side gig. A side gig can mean they may not be available to you or other agents during regular business hours. Above all, make sure they are familiar with the area where your home is located if you’re a seller. If you’re a buyer, make sure they are familiar with the area where you want to live.
Marketing Plan
If you are selling your Long Beach home, make sure the Long Beach agent you select has a comprehensive marketing plan. How do they plan to expose your property to buyers? Ask them what their average time on the market is for listings compared to the Multiple Listing Service overall. How about the average list price to selling price ratio? Is the agent outperforming or underperforming their competitors?
It’s also important to look at the agent’s social media presence. They may say they’re going to post pictures of your home on Instagram, but how many followers do they have? Do they have a YouTube channel with examples from past homes? What about Facebook? In a digital world, social media presence is very important and something you’ll want to look at before signing any paperwork.
For a look at our marketing plan, check out our marketing page here.
Don’t forget to connect with us on social media! You can find our Instagram page here, our Facebook page here, and our YouTube channel here.
Choosing the Right Fit
You may also want to determine whether the agent you’re talking to works solo or as part of a team. Successful Realtors wear a lot of hats so doing everything necessary to ensure a smooth transaction can be tough for just one person. Similarly, with a large real estate group, you may be just one of a large number of clients. So you may not receive the personalized service you’d receive from a smaller team. Ask what aspects of the process your agent will handle and what will be handled by other team members. If you have questions for the agent, what will their availability be throughout the process?
Ask how many other clients the agent is representing. If they have too many buyers and too many listings, will they have time for you? When you call them or email them, how long will it take for you to hear back from them? Similarly, if they have no other clients, is that a warning signal? In that case, definitely check references or reviews very carefully.
Ask about the Realtor’s cancellation policy. If you’re unhappy with the Realtor, can you get out of the agreement? Under what circumstances? Would you owe anything?
What about communication? How often can you expect to hear from the agent on a regular basis? How will they keep you informed?
Aligned Expectations
And finally: are your expectations in line with your desires and can the Realtor help you determine that? If you’re a buyer, will the Long Beach Realtor help you determine what areas and type of home will best meet your needs based on your budget? Will they spend the time with you to analyze your needs in a consultation? If you’re a seller, can the Realtor give you a realistic idea of the value of your home based on a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA)? Do they have an idea of current inventory and what direction the market is going? Do they sound knowledgeable?
The Shannon Jones Team: Long Beach Realtors for 22 Years
If you are considering buying a home or selling a home in 2021, now is the time to start gathering information. Whether or not you’re buying or selling, it’s important to start interviewing Realtors now so you can be on track in the new year.
If your real estate needs are in Long Beach or surrounding communities, The Shannon Jones Team would be happy to meet with you so we can discover whether working together would be a good fit.
If you currently own a home in Long Beach, Lakewood, Signal Hill, Los Alamitos, or surrounding areas and would like to know how much it’s worth, please click here. You can also give us a call at 562.896.2456.
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