How do you interview/select real estate agents???

[Sazoo]

As I discussed in another thread I posted a few minutes ago, DH and I are going to be selling our condo to MIL and buying a new house soon. We're working with a mortgage broker that a friend recommended, and we're discussing hiring a real estate attorney just to handle the sale of our condo to MIL, since we don't really feel that we need the services of an agent for that transaction.

However, we definitely need to find an agent to work with to help us find and put an offer on a new house. It seems like everyone we know knows someone who sells real estate, but I don't know who to call. I feel like it is really important to hire the right person to work with us to find our new home, yet I'm just not sure how to go about "interviewing" agents/Realtors to find someone we click with. And even if I figure out what questions to ask or whatever, I am wary of contacting several people to put feelers out and then wind up with a bunch of different agents calling/hounding us to work with them. On the other hand, I also feel like it would be a bad idea to just call up one person & hire them without having anyone else to compare him/her to. :confused:

Most of the agents our friends/acquaintances recommend do not probably work primarily in the market area/suburbs we will most likely be looking to buy into. That's not to say the couldn't still work with us even though their primary territory is a neighboring suburb, but I would sort of prefer to work with someone really familiar with the area we want to focus on. I'd also prefer someone who is an experienced real estate agent, rather than someone who is really new to the business. I'm halfway tempted to just call up some big real estate agency and say "We need a real estate agent" and let them assign someone to us. :p

Anyway...I guess my question is mainly how do you go about selecting a real estate agent if you don't happen to personally know someone you'd like to hire to represent you? Should we call multiple agents and interview them somehow, or should we just pick someone that is recommended to us by someone whose judgement we think we can trust, and just go with it?

TIA for any suggestions...

ETA - While we do own a condo now, I bought it as new construction 6 years ago...just walked in (with my dad) looked at the model units, decided to buy, and sat down and worked everything out with the real estate agent and mortgage person who were on-site that day. Therefore, I never really went through the "normal" process of buying a home, including this whole "how to select an agent" thing. ;)

[curlygurl]

I would suggest looking at listing in your area of interest and go to some showings. Meeting the listing agents - give you an opportunity to meet and get to know agents, and hopefully you click with one. You many even find a house before that - and just use the listing agent. I would then suggest you use a RE attorney to look over your paperwork - since the listing agent definitely has the seller's interest in mind, but I don't see the need to include a separate agent at that point. Also, not having your own agent at that point - would give you a little more negotiation room since the listing agent would be working with the entire commission and you could ask that they throw some of that into the deal if there is gap with your price and the seller's (not with the initial offer, but once negotiations have started and the gap doesn't go away.

If you aren't lucky enough to find something on your own - hopefully one of the listing agents will make a connection with you.

[ADSigMel]

I really like curlygurl's idea. I, however, am incredibly lazy, and I live 3 hours away from our city of relocation. So I called up a few friends who've recently bought homes in that area. The first one I got ahold of who loved her agent, I called her up and booked her. But then, it's not that important to me that I "click" with my real estate agent, as long as she has enough sense to understand what we're looking for and find it for us. She's just helping us find the house, not moving into it with us. Of course, I'm just a first-time buyer, so what do I know? I may well have a horrible experience doing it this way and end up doing things very differently next time.

[mamax2]

I'd also prefer someone who is an experienced real estate agent, rather than someone who is really new to the business. I'm halfway tempted to just call up some big real estate agency and say "We need a real estate agent" and let them assign someone to us.
If you want an experienced agent, then being 'assigned' to one is pretty much exactly what NOT to do. I'll make a sweeping generalization here, but the agents who are sitting floor duty, the agents who are sitting at open houses - these are your newer agents. They are in those situations because they are trying to recruit business. That does NOT mean they aren't good though! Oftentimes, a rookie (anyone in the business less than 4 years) is hungrier and willing to work harder than someone who has their hands full, kwim?

My suggestion? Pretty much the exact opposite of what curlygirl told you. You have everything to gain by working with a Buyer's agent. You are essentially a first-time homebuyer and you probably really need the hand-holding and honesty that only a buyer's rep can give you. Why would you want to start off your house hunting with someone who's not representing you just so you can try to negotiate them down from their commission if need be? IMO, that's really getting ahead of yourself.

Now, to find a great agent. If you feel comfortable with some of the recommendations from your friends, you can always ask them to refer you to an agent who specializes in the area you're looking at. Agents often know 'who's who' and can hook you up with someone who will be a good fit.

If that's not an option, I'd start flipping through the paper, web, etc. and see who seems to be an 'expert' in the neighborhoods you're interested in. This is usually pretty obvious - they're the people with listings in that area, links to the school system for that suburb, etc. You can tell if they 'know' that town or not. Next, just put out some contact requests. If you get any bites, see who provides you with good info, who do you have a pleasant phone conversation with, who offers something special or unique? Who do you just plain like? It's really just like any other social interaction - if you click, you click.

Once you find your agent, if you get contacted by other agents, the nice thing to do would be to simply say "I'm working with a Buyer's representative now. Thanks for your interest. I'll be in touch if my situation changes." That should pretty much cease contact.

Good luck and happy house hunting!

[Sazoo]

I would suggest looking at listing in your area of interest and go to some showings. Meeting the listing agents - give you an opportunity to meet and get to know agents, and hopefully you click with one. You many even find a house before that - and just use the listing agent.Thanks for your suggestions, curlygurl! I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable approaching this process without a buyer's agent there to guide us through it, but it is an interesting idea. DH & I have gone to a few open houses in the past, but none recently.

But then, it's not that important to me that I "click" with my real estate agent, as long as she has enough sense to understand what we're looking for and find it for us. She's just helping us find the house, not moving into it with us.You make a good point. :) I guess I'm just worried about hooking up with an agent who either won't put in enough effort to find us the kind of house we want, or one who is pushy & tries to railroad us into putting an offer on something that doesn't truly match our needs. I think that's what makes me feel like I want to find someone who we have a good rapport with. *shrug* Good luck to you - I hope the agent you chose based on your friend's recommedntion works out. :D

If you want an experienced agent, then being 'assigned' to one is pretty much exactly what NOT to do. I'll make a sweeping generalization here, but the agents who are sitting floor duty, the agents who are sitting at open houses - these are your newer agents. They are in those situations because they are trying to recruit business.Yeah I know - I don't think we'd actually do that, because I agree with you that those are probably the less experienced agents.

That does NOT mean they aren't good though! Oftentimes, a rookie (anyone in the business less than 4 years) is hungrier and willing to work harder than someone who has their hands full, kwim?That is also a good point...I was just thinking about that the other night after I posted this thread. Maybe I shouldn't let that be so much of an issue in us selecting an agent, because I do want to find someone who will work hard for us. ;)

You have everything to gain by working with a Buyer's agent. You are essentially a first-time homebuyer and you probably really need the hand-holding and honesty that only a buyer's rep can give you.Yes, this is what I've been thinking, too.

If that's not an option, I'd start flipping through the paper, web, etc. and see who seems to be an 'expert' in the neighborhoods you're interested in. This is usually pretty obvious - they're the people with listings in that area, links to the school system for that suburb, etc. You can tell if they 'know' that town or not.Thanks for the tips. We spent a couple of hours last night driving around different neighborhoods checking out houses that are for sale & picking up flyers. Maybe we'll take a closer look at those & see which agents are listed. I know at least 2 of the flyers are from the same agent, & her flyers seemed to contain a lot of info & details about the homes & the general area.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, ladies - I really appreciate the feedback! :D

[hmbay]

ITA agree that the newer and the non "big name" agents are more likely to work harder for you. In my experience buying/selling several houses and with DH being a realtor he and I have found the smaller/newer agents are often more on the ball and return calls etc. The "big names" kind of add you to their list of clients and are hard to connect with. DH much prefers to handles deals with a smaller agent he knows will return his calls than a "big agent" who will often never return their messages.

[ADSigMel]

Update: We got really lucky with the realtor that my friend recommended. She showed us a TON of properties yesterday and today, and she was great about changing gears to show us the kinds of properties we would want to see once she got a feel for what we were looking for. She gave us great advice about the areas of town we should be looking at (since we are re-locating from out of state). We're having a fantastic experience with her.

[riotgrrl]

glad you found someone!

[Sazoo]

That's great, ADSigMel! Good luck finding your new home! :)

*********************************************

Update from me - Today when I was hiring an appraiser to appraise our condo that we're selling (to give us a better idea of the value so we can set a price - we're selling to MIL) I contacted an appraiser who I used to work with...& guess what? I found out she is also a real estate agent now! She lives in the same city where we live currently (& where we'd like to buy a house, if we can afford to) & it sounds like she's pretty familiar with this general market area. She's coming over tomorrow morning to inspect the condo for the appraisal, so we're going to talk more then about her possibly working with me and DH to help us find a new house. :)

[ADSigMel]

Good for you! It's always nice to be able to work with someone you already know well.

[ntexasdad]

track record and references... have they done it many times and who can they refer to you.

[udsweetpea]

That's great you found someone! For anyone else who needs to find a realtor, I recommend asking the mortgage broker you work with. They usually deal with the same realtors and know which ones are good or not. In my experience, the realtors with more experience don't work as hard as the new ones. One realtor referral of mine with 17 years of experience doesn't return phone calls and doesn't get around to contacting my client for a few weeks. Another experienced realtor chewed me out for not sharing private information about my client.