Be Picky When Choosing an Agent

Most home buyers aren’t choosy enough in picking a real estate agent and are often disappointed in the level of service they receive.

According to a recent survey by the National Assn. of Realtors, when buyers were asked if they would use the same agent to purchase in the future, almost one-third said no.

Buyers should be as picky when they choose an agent as they are about the houses they look at. To hire the best agent for you, use this checklist of questions during your qualifying interview of several preliminary candidates.

You will learn a lot about the business practices, skills and values of the agents, and they will know that you are serious about your choice and expect a high level of service.

Plan on spending an hour or more on these questions and follow-up discussion.

1. Is this your full-time career?

You obviously want someone who treats real estate sales as a career, not an avocation. I don’t recommend you work with a part-timer. In my opinion, a part-timer is anyone who devotes less than 40 hours a week to selling real estate.

The average agent spends 50 hours a week at work. You want someone dedicated to the business, ready to work with you when you have time. You don’t want to fit your schedule into a part-time agent’s availability.

2. What percentage of your income is derived from residential real estate sales?

You are looking for someone who derives most of his income from residential sales, not commercial sales, property management or some other source of real estate income. Why? You want an agent who specializes in selling residential properties.

3. How many buyers do you work with at once?

Be wary of the high-producing agent who may not have time for you. If the agent tells you he works with as many buyers as he can find, you’ll know he’s not choosing his buyers carefully. On average, good agents work with no more than six to eight buyers who will buy in the next one to three months from them.

4. How much time will you have for us?

Although you want an agent who’s available when you want to look at homes, you also want a successful agent. Finding the balance between the two is your job. A reasonable amount of time would be available to tour homes once to twice a week.

5. What percentage of your transactions come from listings? From sales?

The first question means the agent represents sellers, marketing their homes to other agents and to the public; the second means the agent is selling houses to buyers like you.

You want someone who sells enough real estate in a year to be well practiced. In my opinion, anything less than eight sales to buyers (not listings sold) in a year isn’t enough to qualify to be my agent. Some agents’ businesses are heavily slanted toward listing properties. They’re not as interested in you as a buyer.

6. What areas do you specialize in? What price ranges? What kinds of buyers?

Get a sense about whether this agent knows enough about your needs to really provide service. If she says she’ll show you homes in the entire state, run the other way. You want an agent who has sold houses to other buyers like you, so that agent has identified with your needs, and is interested in helping buyers like you.

Some agents, for example, won’t work with first-time buyers, while other agents specialize in helping first-time buyers.

7. Will you work with other buyers in the same price range while you’re working with us?

Some agents who represent buyers will not do this, because it puts their buyers in competition with each other. To avoid this situation, a good buyer’s agent will refer you to another buyer’s agent.

8. What are your sales strengths? How do you hone your sales skills?

Listen to determine whether this agent is learning new communication and negotiation skills continually by taking in classes and seminars. Or whether he believes that one sales course taken five years ago prepared him for the competitive world of real estate sales today.

9. Are you a member of the state and national Realtor associations?

Members of the California Assn. of Realtors and the National Assn. of Realtors abide by the Realtor Code of Ethics, take more educational courses than other licensees, earn more money and generally exhibit a higher level of professionalism than licensees who are not Realtors.

10. How will you assist us with research, financing, negotiations and follow-up before and after closing?

Listen as the agent explains how she works. Does it sound as though her process is organized and well thought out? The agent should describe how she will search out homes for you, how she will tour with you, and how she will strategize with you before making an offer on a property. If the plan doesn’t sound well thought out, keep going to the next candidate.

11. Does your office and company have minimum performance standards? Do you have ongoing education? Your agent should be stating solid business practices, and, through his actions, should reflect the business values of his office.

Also, you may have to work with another agent in the office, or the broker. Do you sense this would be an entirely different experience from working with this agent? In other words, you may be talking to the only competent agent in the office.

12. How does your office/company handle complaints?

One of the biggest surprises you could get is when you have a complaint with the agent or company. Now’s the time to find out how complaints are handled. Ask the agent about procedure.

Does the office and company have a process for handling buyer complaints? Ask the agent how that works. Many offices and companies have no planned, formalized process. So, if you have a complaint, you have a challenge even in getting someone’s attention.

13. Does the agent take enough pride in his work that he refuses to work with buyers who do not commit to him?

Good agents work only with buyers they trust. Loyalty is the foundation of that trust.

14. What criteria do you use to choose the buyers you work with?

Good agents are careful about who they work with, for they’re working for long-term referrals, not one sale. A competent agent works only with those they’ve qualified financially, and those they feel are motivated to purchase. In addition, they work with people with whom they want to have a long-term business relationship.

15. Will you expect us to look at homes on our own? If so, why?

Good agents don’t just give a buyer a list of homes to see, and then write the offer after the buyer has found the home of his choice.

Instead, they stay with the buyer every step of the way, to ensure that he gets the information he needs and sees properties right for him.

Only in a very fast market would a good agent give you a list of homes to see on your own. After all, you should be relying on the judgment and the comments of the agent as you both tour together, to give you information to make good property choices.

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Carla Cross is a Seattle-area Realtor and the author of “Buyer Beware: Insider Secrets You Need to Know Before Buying Your Home,” from which this excerpt is reprinted by permission of the Real Estate Education Co., a division of Dearborn Financial Publishing, Chicago. To order book, call (800) 829-7934.