How to Choose a Realtor
Buying or selling real estate is usually the biggest and most important transaction made by a family. A realtor is more than a hired shopper for you. A good realtor understands the market, the legal obligations of a real estate transaction, and his fiduciary responsibilities to you. He’s also a good communicator, has the time to dedicate to your needs, and possesses good organizational skills.
Also, in today’s world, it’s also important for the realtor to be comfortable with technology. However, every realtor today has a plethora of technology solutions available to them. In fact, although paper contracts are still legal, it’s common and preferred for contracts and paperwork to be completed electronically. When you search for a realtor today, here’s what I recommend:
- Find someone that you trust and like to spend time with.
- Don’t choose a realtor just because they give you the most favourable market evaluation or estimation of you home value. The market will set the final sales price. Instead ask the realtor what activities you can expect them to do to market your property. Interview realtors and ask the following questions:
o Photos: who will take the photos of your property and how many will be on the listing? If video’s are appropriate, will they also be included?
o Showings: how are showings going to be handled? Some realtors do them in person, some realtors rely on lock-boxes and rarely step on the property.
o Open Houses: how often can you expect open houses on your property? Open Houses can be one of the most effective tools in a realtor’s toolbox, but because they are time consuming, some realtor’s avoid them. If your realtor doesn’t commit to regular open houses, they aren’t committed to selling your home and you should think twice about hiring them.
o Security: selling your home means showing your empty house to people you don’t know. A good real estate agent mitigates these risks by always being on-site during showings and keeping good records. During hectic open houses, further security techniques may be employed such as sign-in sheets, limiting the number of people viewing at the same time, or even employing security cameras to provide an extra layer of security.
o Current Listings/Clients: a good real estate agent will be in demand. However, if they are busy with other clients they might not be able to allocate time to your needs. For example, open houses are usually scheduled weekend afternoons, if a realtor already has two other listings, how will they schedule open houses for your property? Don’t choose a realtor that has already over-extended themselves.
o Newspaper Ads/Website Marketing: while it might feel good to see your property in a newspaper ad or posted on their social media, it’s important to understand that these ads are much more effective at promoting the real estate agent more than they do your property. Very few people buy real estate based off of a newspaper ads, but they do choose realtors. In reality, getting your property listed on MLS automatically publishes your listing on the web and you real estate search sites where buyers live such as Zillow, Zolo, Realtor.ca, etc.
o Vacation: everyone is entitled to time off and vacation. However, your house won’t be sold if your realtor is on the beach in Hawaii. Find out if your realtor is planning a vacation and think about how that might affect your ability to sell your house.