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The best Louisville Realtor for you? Here’s how to pick!

By
Real Estate Agent with REMAX Champions
This article has been updated from it’s original that ran on InsiderLouisville in November, 2010.

Pick the best Louisville Realtor for you

In any market, real estate agents are always looking for new clients. Most Realtors would love to work for you, but would you want to work with them? That’s the question.

I’ve identified the Top 4 factors to consider when picking the best Louisville Realtor for you. Or, since we’re in basketball country, let’s call these the Final Four of Realtor Selection.

1. How Trustworthy Is Your Louisville Realtor?

While this can be difficult to discern, having a trustworthy Realtor is the most important factor for your next transaction to be successful. You want an agent who’s going to worktowards your best interests.

The best way to learn about trustworthy Louisville Realtors is to ask people you trust if they would highly recommend their Realtor. Notice I said “highly”? If they say something like, “Yeah, she was fine” that’s not necessarily a ringing endorsement.

You want someone who’s going to go the extra mile for you. If a situation arises where your agent has a choice between your best interest and their own, you want them to side with you. Top agents put you first!

There are also free Web sits like Yelp and RealEstateRatingz.com that give some additional insight into what past customers felt about their agent. Angie’s List is a subscription based site that also tracks ratings about all kinds of service providers, including real estate agents in Louisville, KY.

2. Does Your Louisville Agent Have theRight Expertise?

Louisville real estate has many facets.

Of course, there’s the difference between commercial and residential real estate. But even within residential, some agents focus a greater part of their attentions on being a selling agent and only work as a buyer’s agent on occasion. The reverse can also be true.

Then there’s relocation, property management, appraisals, interior design and, with the rise of distressed properties, short-sale and REO specialists.

You need to find the best Louisville Realtor for the real estate job at hand.

Are you looking to sell your Louisville home? Focus on agents that do a great job making sure your home is well staged, takes gorgeous photos (and plenty of them!) and then promotes your listing, not just on our Greater Louisville MLS but across all the major real estate Web sits.

Moving to Louisville from Chicago? An agent who has expertise as a relocation specialist understands the additional things that factor into your decision like good schools, reducing commute times, notifying the utility company, comparing property taxes and more.

The best Realtors are better equipped to make sure your cross-state move is a smooth one.

3. Match Your Personality with Your Louisville Realtor

City Livability Awards report cover graphic
It may not seem obvious, but it’s important for you and your Louisville Realtor to “get along.” So try them out over coffee.

Due to the nature of the business, you’ll likely be spending a great deal of time with your Realtor during the sale or purchase of your new home. Having a positive personality match is huge!

  • Do you want to get the know the person behind the job? Or, would you rather it remain strictly business?
  • Would you like the agent to notify you regarding every new piece of information, no matter how large or small? Or, would it be better if they only contacted you with the important stuff?
  • Old school and like phone calls? Or, do you prefer emails or even texts?

Being on the same page with your Realtor will make the potentially stressful process a lot easier to handle.

Have a sit down with any potential candidates and let them know you’re interviewing agents to find the best match. Good agents will appreciate your honesty and the one selected will put their best effort forward knowing you’ll be loyal to them throughout the process.

Ask if they use an agency agreement. If so, tell them you’d like to know exactly what it contains. That way expectations are understood from the start. Personally, I believe thatagency agreements improve the real estate transaction and builds trust between both the agent and his or her client.

4. Best Louisville Realtor Will Have Experience

There are many measures of experience: years as a professional, years in real estate, number of homes sold, total value of properties bought or sold. All of these increase the Realtors knowledge base.

Most real estate transactions move along a predictable course. But if something unusual arises, does the agent have the proper experience to best handle that particular situation?

I believe many consumers incorrectly put value on an agent’s company. Whether an agent works for RE/MAX or Century21 has little to do with that agent’s ability to perform well for their clients. There are plenty of great agents that work for boutique real estate companies.

Experience alone does not a great Realtor make… but it certainly helps.

Conclusion

So who is the best Louisville Realtor? The answer, of course, is “It depends.” It depends on you, your needs and your personality.

I hope the information I’ve provided will help you identity which agent will make your next move a highly successful one.

Tre Pryor is an Internet-veteran turned tech-savvy Realtor. One of the top Louisville agents, you can find his work at InsiderLouisville.comLouisville Homes Blog or follow him onGoogle+ or Twitter.

Choose Tre Pryor to be your Louisville Realtor or recommend him to a friend!

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