Hiring a very good real estate agent means having a trusted mentor in your corner, able to guide you thru the ins and outs of the housing market. Hiring the incorrect one, alternatively, can result in frustration, wasted time and heartbreak.
Like many individuals, I discovered this out the hard way.
After my mother passed 10 years ago, my brothers and I brought in an inventory agent to assist sell our childhood home. We knew we were in trouble when the agent casually remarked that she got into real estate to see (and judge) strangers’ homes. Worse, she aired this detail in front of two veteran buyer’s agents, making it clear that we were at an obstacle.
Real estate agents have a fiduciary duty to their clients, meaning that loyalty, providing full disclosure of transaction details, taking reasonable care of and listening to their client are a part of the job description. Still, by chance hiring a lousy one — and the head-scratching experience just like the one my family encountered — are all too common.
The reality is, it’s hard to suss out whether an agent is value your money and time should you’ve never worked with them before, especially should you’re a first-time home buyer or seller. But in today’s tough market, where inventory is restricted and costs are high, it’s crucial to search out a talented and experienced agent — and recognize while you’ve hired a dud.
“Not all professionals with the identical license are created equal,” says Alex McEwen, founding father of McEwen Realty and broker associate at Selling Utah. “Having the best skilled in your corner is value its weight in gold.”
Listed here are 4 signs it’s time to let go.
They lack polish
Listed here are the nuts and bolts of how the early stages of a house sale typically goes down. When you’re the vendor, your agent will book a while to clarify every step of the method from listing to closing. They’ll have you ever walk them through any upgrades you’ve made to the house, outstanding maintenance issues and the way much you’re hoping to get for the house.
Next, they’ll do some market research on similar properties in your neighborhood and provide you with an inexpensive listing price. Even before your own home officially hits the market, your agent needs to be working diligently to make the sale as quick and efficient as possible; making a tentative calendar of showings that works to your schedule, coaching you on how you can artfully arrange your belongings before the open house and, ideally, hiring an expert photographer to take listing photos.
When you’re the client, your agent will guide you thru every thing from setting a practical budget to navigating the closing process.They’ll find properties that match your needs, help evaluate your options and negotiate on price and concessions to land you the perfect deal.
In either scenario, it’s best to at all times feel such as you’re in good hands. In case your agent makes you are feeling uneasy about their ability to do what you’ve hired them for, otherwise you’re doing a whole lot of legwork yourself to bring the sale to fruition, it’s good to hire a recent one.
They’re bad at communicating
Maintaining consistent and open communication is paramount to constructing strong relationships with clients.
Whenever you’re within the thick of a house search or sale, your agent should touch base with you by phone, text or email on a near-daily basis. For sellers, which means letting you recognize as soon as you get a proposal, and helping determine what to counter with. For buyers, it means checking in with you periodically with updates on any offers you’ve submitted, and recommending strategies to make them more attractive.
If, alternatively, you mostly have to achieve out to your agent for necessary updates, or leave message after message before they finally reply to you, it’s time to make a break for it.
They’re pushy
When you’re a buyer, your agent should kick off your own home search by asking you to create two lists, one for essential features your recent home should have, and one other for features that might be nice to have.
Once these lists are complete, your agent will use the local multiple listing service (MLS) to search out homes that match your criteria. While you possibly can search the MLS yourself, your agent has access to a wider range of listings, including off-market properties..
Your agent will then schedule showings of potential homes. During these tours, they need to highlight the property’s strengths and indicate areas that will should be updated or repaired. Ideally, it’s best to tour several homes to search out the best fit. Irrespective of what number of properties you visit, your agent should never push you towards buying a specific home, especially if it doesn’t suit your criteria.
“An actual estate agent just isn’t [there] to sell you a house,” says Bret Weinstein, CEO and founding father of Guide Real Estate in Denver. . “They’re there to make sure you buy the right house for you and your loved ones.”
They don’t know how you can negotiate
On the subject of negotiating, there’s at all times some wiggle room.
A knowledgeable agent can let you know about every potential concession at your disposal, and take the reins when lobbying for one. They’ve expert knowledge in local housing market trends, and the power to rattle off data points on every thing out of your neighborhood’s median home price to the typical variety of days it takes to sell a property in your block. And so they can confidently evaluate whether a purchase order offer is on point, and what sort of offer to counter it with.
“In case your real estate agent just isn’t providing you with the correct expert advice or helping you assess the chance and upside, you’ve got a nasty apple,” McEwen says.
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