How to choose a buyers agent?

The right agent can help you make your dreams come true and get the desired home, but the wrong one can leave you stranded in no man`s land.

Here are some tips on how to get the best buyers agent when looking for your new place to call home.

Often the best way to hire a buyers agent is through a recommendation from a friend or a relative who had previously used a realtor. That way you have something to start from. Next step is to do your research about the recommended realtors and see who has sold or bought the greatest number of houses.

Hiring a relative who is a realtor is often not advised unless that is their full time occupation and have plenty of experience. It is unlikely that a relative who is a part-time realtor would do as good of a job as a full time professional.

Also it is best to avoid realtors who charge below standard commission. The standard commission is around 5-7 percent of the value, so if a buyers agent asks anything below you should be suspicious about the quality of the job that the cheaper realtor will do. Of course you can negotiate a lower commission if the hose is sold after a couple of listings, but the standard commission is applied at the start of every job.

Avoid buyers agents whose pictures come up on the online listings. The picture of them is there because they have paid for that. Don`t accept the marketing hype that the realtor is an expert in real estate in your neighbourhood. Instead do an interview and find out for yourself.

The communication between you and your buyers agent is very important. That is why you should be interested in the way that the realtor will communicate with you. A communication interval of a few hours can mean the difference between an accepted offer and a missed opportunity. That is why you should choose a buyers agent that will communicate more frequently on the means of communications that are best suited to you like e-mail, mobile, phone or fax.