Choosing the Right Agent to Represent You

Mortgage with Manny Gomes

How do you find the right agent to represent you? There are a few tips to take into consideration. Oftentimes, I’ll hear people tell me they hired their agent because they liked them as a person. There’s nothing wrong with hiring a likable agent, but a home is one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make, so choosing the person who will guide you through this purchase should depend on more than just whether you like them or not. Experience, for instance, is an important factor, and a lot of people prefer to hire an agent who has a lot of experience. You need to be careful when gauging an agent’s experience, though, because that goes beyond just how many years they’ve been in the business. The number of years they’ve been an agent doesn’t automatically correlate with how effective they’ll be in a transaction. One way to find out whether someone’s a true professional or not is to see whether they identify as a real estate advisor. Advisors are different from agents. An agent is someone who’ll simply carry out your marching orders to the best of their ability. An advisor, on the other hand, will push back against what you tell them in order to protect you from yourself. This is something I do quite often—I’ll offer clients a different perspective concerning their wants and needs to help them get the best deal possible. “One way to find out whether someone’s a true professional or not is to see whether they identify as a real estate advisor.” A simple, effective way to vet an agent is to simply Google them. By doing this, you’ll be able to read reviews past clients have written about them and see how many sales they’ve handled. If you can count the number of sales they’ve handled on one hand, they may not have the transactional experience necessary to navigate you through the sales process as seamlessly as you would like. This isn’t to say that you can’t hire someone who’s new, young, and hungry to represent you to the best of their ability. If you can find someone like that who’ll work hard for you, by all means hire them, but make sure you ask them the right questions first—especially if you’re selling your home. For example, you can ask them what the average list-to-sale price is for your neighborhood, or what the average days on market is for homes in your neighborhood. Their answers will give you an idea of how well they understand the local market. Lastly, if you’re having trouble finding a good agent, you can just ask me and I’d be happy to refer one to you. I’ve been working in this area for a long time, and I know plenty of great agents who would love to help you. If you have any more questions about how to find the right agent or you have any mortgage needs I can take care of, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d love to help you.