Real Estate Agent

One thing that is important to understand when hiring a buyers agent is that they are human beings, like yourself. Buyers agents have families, lives, and schedules and this is one thing that buyers forget sometimes and it drives real estate agents crazy. It's not a smart decision to seek out a buyers agent who only works with one buyer at a time. This likely means they don't have a strong history of sales.

This being said, knowing how many buyers they actively work with is an important question. A great buyers agent should be able to make you feel like you are their only client. A great buyers agent will be able to juggle several buyers at a time due to their organization and efficiency.

Ask for a list of the homes the agent has sold in the last year, with the asking and final sales prices. Real estate is not unlike financial planning or insurance in that you want to be a lot like an advisor's average client.

If you have a $200,000 home (or that amount to spend on a new home) and the agent's sales sheet includes mostly homes valued at three times that much, you may not be getting a great match. After all, the agent will be better compensated by the commissions on the other properties, which may mean you get less attention.

Similarly, you want to make sure that the agent handles your kinds of properties. If their sales in the last year have been mostly single-family homes and you have a condo (or want to buy a condo), she may not be expert at dealing with the issues you're facing.

Unlike many other financial advisory relationships, where confidentiality and privacy are major concerns, you should have little trouble getting the names of references from a real estate agent. Property transactions are public record, so the confidentiality issue is moot.

Don't just accept the names of friends or relatives who referred you in the first place, as in "Why don't you just talk to your Uncle Morty about that? You know how he feels about me." This is your biggest investment and a bad advisor can cost you a lot of money, so make sure you talk to more than one reference. In fact, try to find references who had to deal with this agent in different circumstances, possibly one whose home sold quickly and another whose house sat on the market for months.

Few of us have a perfect house, no matter how much we love it. Ask an agent to tell you the home's best selling points and biggest drawbacks; you want to make sure the two of you perceive the house in the same way; otherwise, you could be in for a big disagreement on pricing.

This was the key issue in my parent's situation. My parents' house in New Jersey had one very small bedroom, with an attached bathroom, in the lowest floor of a split-level house. It was my big brother's room, then it became my grandmother's room, then it became my father's office.

It was a bit cluttered with a bed, his big desk, and a dresser. The first agent suggested removing the bed and basically calling it an office. My parents disagreed (they could have removed the desk or the dresser to open up the space); they felt that someone who might want an in-law apartment or a space for a nanny or au pair would look at the small bedroom and reconditioned bath next to it downstairs and away from the main bedrooms and feel like he or she had found a house that served the purpose. Moreover, they could better justify the asking price with four bedrooms.

It turned out that my parents were right, and the first agent's ideas were wrong; had any of the discussion happened in advance perhaps when my mother was planning at the bathroom remodeling project and wondering if she'd get the money back from the upgrade they could have avoided the trouble that came up when they were anxious to get the house on the market.

A great buyers agent will have several contacts in the mortgage industry whom they can recommend to you. Just like all real estate agents are not created equally, all mortgage companies and consultants are not created equally. It can greatly improve the probability of a smooth real estate purchase when utilizing a great buyers agents recommendation, as they know how one another work and what quality of service is to be expected.

In addition to recommendations for mortgage lenders, another thing to consider asking a potential buyers agent is about different professionals they can recommend. When buying a home you will likely need an attorney, a home inspector, insurance carrier, and other professionals, in addition to the mortgage lender. Ask the potential buyers agent if they have a list of professionals they can provide to you.

Unlike virtually every other form of financial advisor, real estate agents are in a cooperative situation. A lawyer can sit in a corner office and write and file paperwork for you, an accountant can crunch numbers, and a financial planner can develop a strategy all without consulting anyone.

But real estate agents can't close the deal without working with their peers. Real estate is a small community where most of the local players know of each other (at least by reputation). If your agent can't say a nice thing about anyone else in the field, then chances are that he doesn't work well with those people. That is not good.

Asking this question lets you see what an agent admires in his peers. It's also a pretty good list of professional references, because the names you get represent the competition. If you call, say, a lawyer whom the agent works with, there is a potential bias because the agent may routinely refer clients and the lawyer doesn't want to lose that business. The competition has no reason to say something nice, especially if they might be interested in your business for themselves.

No one likes dumping money into a home she is about to move out of, but a coat of paint can do a lot to refresh an older home. And while prospective buyers generally don't purchase your furniture, they do notice the way you live; cluttered closets, for example, look small and make people wonder if they will run out of space.

Ask what can be done to get your house in the best condition to be shown. Plan to do the work early, so you don't have to rush around at the last minute before a prospective buyer shows up.

The earlier you meet with an agent, the more valuable her input can be, and the more you can enjoy some changes that may have to be made. Again using my parents as an example, the agent who handled the sale told my folks when she first saw the home that there were certain issues that would have to be resolved, such as changing an old glass sliding door. My parents might have enjoyed the family room for the last few years they lived in the house with the upgraded door that they put in to meet the buyer's demand for an upgrade. Instead, they spent the money to make the fix, but never really got to enjoy it.