Real Estate Agent

Just because someone is the top agent at his firm does not make him the best for you. If he is not familiar with your neighborhood, if he can't describe it knowledgeably to a seller, you may be better off with someone else.

If you are buying a home, there are ways to make bids more attractive, such as being preapproved for a mortgage so that the deal can be written without a mortgage contingency. This question will give you insight into the kinds of strategies a buyer broker thinks will work, both with lenders and sellers.

A reality check is where an agent puts you in the car and drives you around to look at other properties. As a seller, she is showing you that your expectations are unreasonable compared to similar homes in similar neighborhoods. For buyers, a reality check may be to prove that you have too little money to afford the neighborhood and that perhaps you need to adjust your hopes and dreams down to the size of your wallet.

You MUST ask. Enough said.

This is a minor concern, but you want to know the answer so that you can make sure a broker has sufficient time to represent you effectively. If he is too busy managing the office or keeping tabs on associates, he might be too much of an administrator to meet your day-to-day demands.

Real Estate is a business that people should be able to reach the person they hired to sell their home. A Realtor who has a phone that can receive email understands the importance of rapid communication. You want to make sure your agent will be taking your calls as they come in. For some reason many Realtors never answer their phone. This is not a good sign!

Prospective agents will give you a sale price they think they can achieve for your property. The most important question to ask is "What are you basing that on?" They should then support this with recent sales in your area of similar properties - both from their agency and others.

Make sure they can support the suggested sale price with evidence - you don't want to fall for the trap of securing the agent who simply says they can get the best price for you!

Ideally, ask for the names and phone numbers of three of the most recent clients. You want to know whether people are happy with the real estate agent's work now, not five or 10 years ago. When you talk to former clients, ask how easy it was to reach the agent when they had questions, and whether they felt well supported and advised throughout the process.

Inspections are a very common contingency in contracts when buying a home. A great question to ask a potential buyers agent is whether or not they attend their inspections. There are some buyers agents who will attend and some who will not. Most top producing agents will agree that attending inspections is important, for many reasons.

This is the best way to ask for references. You may even be lucky enough to actually know the homeowner. Be sure to ask the homeowner lots of questions related to likes, dislikes, and the agent's performance compared to what he/she promised.

Every buyers agent should be able to provide a handful of testimonials to you, period. As for contact information of past clients, this is not always possible. It still is a good question to ask a potential buyers agent though when interviewing! If you are able to obtain contact information of a past client of the buyers agent, make sure you do not waste the opportunity to pick up the phone or e-mail that person for their opinion of the potential agent.

If the agent typically works in areas far from your home, it may mean that he or she is not as familiar with the market in your area.

Make sure you read the contract and ask them to leave you a copy. Be sure you understand It before you sign it. The important things to know are when the starting and expiration dates are, how much the commissions and fees are, and how to terminate the agreement due to non-performance. Remember, if you have a problem with the agent, you can always ask AgentHarvest to talk with them.

Real estate agents often track interest rates and have contacts with favorite lenders who can speed the application process. That not only comes in handy when you buy a home but, years later, when your agent may be able to say who can help you pursue refinancing, home equity lines of credit, reverse mortgages, and other options. (A good real estate agent knows which bankers bend the rules, flexing standard industry formulas to improve your chances of getting, say, a home-equity loan.)

When buying a home, it can be a time consuming process. As a buyer you have a job, family, and other responsibilities. It's important that your buyers agent is available when it's convenient for you. A part-time real estate agent may not be able to offer enough availability to do so. If the best time to view potential homes is at 1:00PM on weekdays then that is when your buyers agent should setup the appointments. A part-timer may not be able to due to another job or responsibility.

If your neighborhood has a large portion of non-English speaking residents, an agent that speaks the language may be able to better market to those non-English speaking residents. Ask your agent how they would address a non-English speaking customer.