Real Estate: Tips On Finding an Agent

If you're in the market for real estate, whether to sell your home or buy a new one, finding a good agent can make the process much easier. While you can save money theoretically by selling on your own, you may be surprised at how difficult it is to do. This goes double for an economy where people aren't buying homes at their appraised value. No one wants to be stuck listing a house for the next year and a half. You want to get it sold and move on with whatever you can get. Hiring a good agent can help you get more from your investment and have the process done much more quickly. Here are some tips you can use to find one.

Personal Recommendations

One of the best ways to find a good real estate agent is to go straight to those who have used one in the past. As long as they had a good experience, they'll be able to put you in contact with someone who has done a good job at least once. This is a more solid recommendation than you'll get from browsing advertisements or cold calling the companies in your area. While the right agent for one homeowner may not be the right one for another, it's still one of the best ways to hire someone.

Area Familiarity

It's paramount to make sure that the real estate agent you hire is not only experienced and successful, but has a decent amount of knowledge about the area in which you live. It's one thing to be able to sell a home. It's another to be able to sell yours. To do that, they will have to be able to answer questions from prospective buyers in such a way that sells the location as much as it does the property. When people go looking for a new house to buy, they aren't just looking at style and square footage. They want to know about the schools in the area. They want to know where the mall is. They want to know about the neighbors. Make sure the agent you hire knows the answers.

Personality

When it comes to selling real estate, it's hard to underestimate the importance of personality. Personality is what drives any salesperson to success, and it's usually very easy to determine whether or not someone will be successful in a sales field just by talking to them for a few minutes. If they can't sell you on themselves, how will they be able to sell your home?