anyone know what I need to look for in a realtor?

ShyWolf

ShyWolf

Cathlete
We are looking to put our home on the market soon but there are so many titles behind some realtors; i.e. : CRB, CRS, GRI, CRP, ABR
Broker/Sales Associate. I'm already confused x(


Our last realtor was horrible when we were purchasing 5 yrs ago . This time I want to make sure I find a good realtor who will help us sell our home and give us advice on what we need to do in order to get our asking price.

So can anyone help?

Thanks in advance
 
I'd just ask around and see if any of your friends could refer you to someone. When we moved from Alabama to Kentucky (before moving to TN) a few years back, we used the same realtors as my neighbors used. They had sold their house in literally a couple of weeks. The realtors were awesome. They took pictures of the entire house one night around 7 p.m, and before the next morning, they had them up on their Web site with a virtual tour. A home buyer saw our listing the next day, came to see the house and made an offer. We sold our home in one day. It took longer in Kentucky because our realtor didn't put as much effort into it at first (we really pushed and pushed her though).

I'd suggest that you go with someone who has a record of quick sales and aggressive marketing approaches. Someone who will put up a virtual tour and who has a good Web site too. The two houses we sold were both bought by people who had found the listings online. As for the abbreviations, I don't have any idea what they mean...
 
Here's how you interview realtors: put a for sale by owner sign in your front yard. Every single realtor in your area will contact you within a week. That's what I did & I was completely overwhelmed w/phone calls (BTW, if you do choose to do this, get one of those pre-paid phones w/a different phone number that you can dispose of when you no longer need it).

Other than that I can't offer any advice. My mom's a realtor so I know a little about the business, but in the end I just went w/instinct. I had a delightful married couple as my realtors & I immediately clicked w/them, trusted them & signed w/them. They worked their butts off for me & sold what I thought was an un-sellable house at a very tidy profit for me. :)

Carola, one of our forum members, is a realtor. Maybe you could PM her, she's never shy about giving advice. ;-)
 
Laura,
My realtors in Alabama were a married couple. And they were awesome. Maybe that's the key. Find a nice couple to be your realtors! :)
 
Thanks Laura!! I am not THAT bad, am I? :)

Vilma, all of those abrivations that you mention are designations which require additional education and / or professional experience. There are a whole bunch of other ones that are pretty useless in my opinion but CRS, GRI and ABR are good.

CRS = Certified Residential Specialist (a combination of a specified number of course work and a specified number of closed transactions over a certain period)

CRB = Certified Residential Brokerage Manager (course work for brokerage owners or real estate office managers, mostly pertains to training the sales staff)

ABR = Accredited Buyer Representative (3-day class mostly about representing Buyers but gives good legal background on contracts on both sides, has to pass a test)

GRI = Graduate Real Estate Institute (90 hour course work about legal issues, marketing, customer service, internet, etc. has to pass a test)

CRP = Certified Relocation Professional (2 day class about relocation)

In general, agents who have a designation look at real estate as a serious profession and not a side gig where they can make additional money. It is additional education that the majority of agents don't have, I certainly think any education that I have benefits my client as well. ABR is the most common and easiest designation to get. GRI and CRS are a lot more time consuming and involved, also a little more challenging.

I would interview at least 2 or 3 agents. Don't tell them what price you have in mind, have them come up with their own price recommendation.

Questions I would ask (in no particular order):

How long have you been in real estate?
Is this your full time profession?
Do you work by yourself or on a team?
What percentage of your listings sells and in what time frame?
What is your asking price to sales price ratio?
What asking price do you recommend? What do you think it will actually sell for?
What facts / comparable sales to you base your pricing opinion on? (have them document and explain what they base their opinion on - not a pie in the sky number - ask for a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis))
What will you do to sell my house?
What is your marketing plan? (ask for it in writing before you sign any listing contract)
What is your negotiating style?
Do you have references? Can I contact them? (actually call or email the references)

And most importantly, ask them

Why should I hire you? What distinguishes you from other agents?


I think you should look for an agent who is genuinely interested in YOU and building a long-term relationship with you, not only for a quick commission check. I think your best bet would be to find someone who is mostly working by referral. In general, they are not so much interested in the quick buck, but in long-term.

Ask around, talk to neighbors, family, business associates who they recommend. Meet with several agents and ask lots of questions. And be very careful to not fall for the ones that tell you what you want to hear in order to get the listing.

If you can't find anyone through your friends, feel free to email me directly, over the years I have built a pretty large network with agents all over the country.

Sorry, I have to scoot, doctor's appointment for my son to get his cast off. I had typed a long response but accidentially deleted it. There are a few things I wanted to add but I have to be out the door in 3 minutes. Hope this helps for now.
 
Very excellent and thorough advice from Carola.

My father's occupation from the time I was 5 until he retired was real estate, sales, broker and business owner and he had many return clients and referrals.

I have only worked with one that I really like after purchasing/selling 3 homes and it was a referral from DH's family friend.

Best of luck to you for a quick sale !
 
Carola
Thank you so very much!

My husband called someone via a reference and the man is coming over tommorow to talk with us at our home.

Before he gets here I'm going to show him your reply.

5 yrs ago we were 1st time buyers and really had no idea how it all worked and well we were not happy with the agent who represented us. He was never around to answer our questions, except on closing. I felt very rushed into buying our home which was in the construction phase at the time
.
The agent who represented the builder was the one who helped us out and was there for us - granted she had a vested interest in us buying the house. ;(

Since then we both have said what we want & don't want in a house if we ever have to relocate and we have already found the coummunity, house plan and lot we want. We just need to get this house on the market so we can start the process of getting the builder to start building it.
 
Someone who LOVES your house - his/her enthusiasm will be conveyed to potential buyers.

Someone who is very positive. In this market, you need someone to talk you through the tougher days.

Someone who is realistic. Our house is for sale, and our first agent convinced us to list it too high, even though our gut told us otherwise. We missed our window, and now it's 9 months later and we've lowered our house $200K!

Good luck!
 
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