Are you wondering how you can effectively interview a potential real estate agent to help you buy or sell a home or investment property?
For most of us, buying or selling your home is one of the largest financial investments in your lifetime and thereby an incredibly important undertaking, yet many don’t take the time to do this. Every prospective homeowner or home seller should know the questions to ask when interviewing a real estate agent. Setting aside some time to go through an interview with a realtor is one of the most important items on your agenda when contemplating a real estate transaction.
Asking your potential real estate agent a few important questions can be the difference between success and failure. We often meet a real estate agent in many different places – maybe at an open house, or a postcard in the mail, or maybe through a referral from your friends and family. Regardless of where you meet them, understanding how to choose the right real estate agent will contribute to your overall real estate success.
So how do you avoid working with the wrong realtor? Very simply, you conduct an interview with the Realtor(s) that seem to resonate with you and ask them some great interview questions. Here are some examples:
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN REAL ESTATE?
Having experience is extremely beneficial, but be aware that this factor alone doesn’t mean a newer agent won’t be able to help you just as well or even better than a long term realtor. See how they respond to the questions and gauge the confidence and conviction they have in their response.
HOW MANY REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS DID YOU CLOSE LAST YEAR?
This is a great question to let you know about a realtor’s work ethic and buying/selling abilities. Do you want to work with someone who only buys and sells a couple of houses a year, or a lot? The volume of sales isn’t always indicative of quality and attention to service, so see how they answer this question and understand how they operate and manage their clients in high volume sales turnover. Your realtor’s prior track record speaks volumes and is important when picking the one that you will be happy with.
From the Homes You Sold Last Year, what was the Average Amount of Days from Listing to the Accepted Offer and how successful were you in selling at or above the asking price?
This is a great statistic to ask about because it’s an indicator on how effectively they did their job, from the inception of the listing until an accepted offer.
WHAT SETS YOU APART FROM THE OTHER REALTORS?
Understanding an agents’ strategic approach to listing and marketing your home, including the additional value they will add and provide with their services will be a large determining factor in who you choose to sell your home.
Your confidence in their ability to represent you, advocate and negotiate on your behalf, in both a buyer, or seller scenario, should be one of the greater determining factors in whether you decide to retain them as your realtor.
CAN YOU PROVIDE ME WITH AT LEAST THREE RECENT REFERENCES?
Any good realtor will be able to give you references that you can get into contact with. Every realtor should be ready with a provided list of people that they know will say wonderful things about them and the work they do.
But don’t just stop there, look at online (Google) reviews to independently gauge their track record.
Are you looking for the perfect real estate agent? Look no further! Set up a call today with Re/Max representative John Burdi for more information!
