What We Want In A Realtor

Or simply a Real Estate Agent (REA), since "Realtor" is trademarked and reserved for agents that are affiliated with the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Although you can probably conduct a house purchase yourself (especially if you work with a builder directly), the American standard is to employ the services of a REA when buying a home.

Finding a REA is no science; most people find agents through recommendations of friends and family. Perhaps the most important things to us about the agent were that they had appreciable experience helping in home purchases, and that we got along and could trust their word. Being first-time homeowners, we were green about how it all works and would need patient hand-holding and guidance. We started searching for a REA in January initially intending to engage 2-3 agents, each specializing in one of existing homes, new construction, or short sales. We would not sign exclusivity contracts until we were ready to make an offer on a property they showed us. When we interviewed the agents, we also let them know we'd fire them if we were not satisfied with their services, even if they were our friends.

Here is a set of expectations we used to evaluate which REA we would go with:

• Obviously do the usual agent duties professionally: arrange for us to tour properties, provider us with seller information, negotiate the sale, manage the paperwork involved in the purchase process, and guide us towards a smooth closing, etc.
• Be able to assess any houses we consider like a buyer would, but also help us understand what the seller might be thinking, and anticipate any problems that could arise with the property.
• Know the neighborhoods we are interested in well, including zoning codes, trends, regulations, and developments that may affect us if we lived there.
• Understand what kind of house we want and steer us away from ones we will not like, even if they initially match our criteria. But also be able to suggest homes we might like based on (but not limited to) our search criteria.
• Provide us access to additional MLS data beyond what Zillow.com and Trulia.com already show, and be able to consider suggestions we provide outside that scope. Provide us with comps (comparisons of similar homes in the neighborhood).
• Be available by phone or email when we need them, and provide prompt/clear answers when we have questions. Be prompt, meet deadlines, and follow through on promises made.
• Not a "dual agent" on properties we are interested in or that are suggested to us.
• Have a couple of recent references we could contact to hear about their experiences with the REA.
• Be licensed (see www.arello.com, for a license number and info), belong to active trade associations, and have additional certifications.
• Work full-time as a REA, and be able to work with us personally throughout the process instead of pushing us to assistants and junior agents. Not too busy to attend to us, although they likely are working with other clients simultaneously. In other words, able to make time for us such that we feel we are their only client.
• Been doing real estate work for at least 3 years and closed on at least 10 transactions in the past year. At that, we wanted to know how many transactions were with first-time home buyers.
• Experience selling or buying homes in our price range, and not steering us towards a different price range than we have already established. In fact, also don't push us towards certain neighborhoods and kinds of houses.
• Have a good process for purchase, closing, and followup that is easy to follow.
• Able to suggest tips for saving money during the purchase, such as getting the seller to pay your closing fees, or concessions that would help ease life in the home.
• Tell us the whole truth, be honest, personable, well-spoken, and considerate. And patient since we would be pains to deal with.

I considered 5 real estate agents and ultimately decided to work with Acquire Homes, Inc., which is operated by a friend of ours. Yes, the conventional wisdom is to avoid working with friends in such business transactions, but we felt the risk was too low in this case. In a span of 5 weeks, we only visited 11 homes and are hoping to own one of them soon.