Quick, think about this!!!
Your best friend just got their real estate license and is trying to make it in a very competitive business. You want to show your support by using their services as their first client.
Mistake #1: You have decided that trust for your friend translates into competency in real estate. Unfortunately, it does not.
You decide to proceed with your friend. After all, they were smart in college and you assume that they will quickly figure out the business. How hard can it be anyway? You know where you want to live and already have your finances worked out.
Mistake #2: It is innocent to believe that there is nothing to it. And though innocence is appealing in children, real estate is a profession with numerous details and pitfalls. An experienced professional can make a transaction look smooth and seamless; however as a consumer there is much work behind the scenes that you don’t get to see.
You make a decision, based on loyalty, to continue with your decision to hire your friend. Within a few weeks you have found a house in your preferred neighborhood. Because it was a buyers market, you make a good deal on the purchase of a new home.
Three years later, you have gotten a new job in California. Your friend is now out of the real estate business, and you hire an experienced professional to help sell your house. Now you discover all of the things that your friend failed to point out to you.
Mistake #3: You decided that experience didn’t have any value. Now your experienced agent has to tell you:
1) Your floor plan is one of the most unpopular out there.
2) The busy street that didn’t bother you is a huge impediment to reselling.
3) The expensive new windows that you put in are not going to yield much in resale.
Tips on hiring an agent
1) Find out how the industry works, who the players are and how they get paid
2) Interview agents as if your $200,000 were at risk and in their hands
a. How many transactions has the agent completed?
b. How long have they been in business?
c. Where do they sell the most homes?
d. How do they see their role in the process?
e. What is their process? Ask them to explain.
f. Ask for an example of their ethical standard.
3) Choose an agent based on the above information
To view Beth’s answers to the above questions click
here.
