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The Right Realtor

Decide what you want to accomplish, and go from there...

There is a Realtor for everyone, but how do you pick the right Realtor for you? Much will depend on what you are trying to accomplish.

Are you selling a vacation condo? Primary residence? Your ocean front property that you haven’t been to in over a year? Is selling urgent or are you testing the waters to see if you can get the price you want?

Are you a buyer relocating to Maui permanently or an investor who wants a vacation rentable condo that you can come to several times a year? Are you planning a permanent move in the future but buying now while prices are low?

The answers to these questions and many others should help you decide the right choice of Realtor for you to partner with to help you attain your real estate goals. You will want to know a number of things about your Realtor right away.

How will your Realtor communicate with you? How will he or she market your property or search for properties, if you are buying? What is their experience level?

Having confidence in your Realtor that he/she is competent, has the experience to represent you properly, and will put your best interests first and also have a good rapport with you is the ideal way to attain your real estate goal.

That might all seem very obvious, but taking the time to interview the right Realtor for you is worth the effort and will result in a better overall experience. Any real estate transaction can be very stressful, having the right professional on your team can greatly reduce it. While not every transaction has problems, you will want to know that the person representing you will maneuver through any issues that do arise with your best interests in mind, will communicate with you and help guide you to make the best decision for your circumstance.

If you are visiting and looking at property, it is easy to bounce from open house to open house and talk to Realtors and sign up on their email list. But do you really know which Realtor is going to work for you once you go back home? All Realtors have access to the same listings through the MLS. You could be giving your trust and confidence in the Realtor that finds the home you like first, without any consideration about whether they are really competent.

Generally, you will have a more successful and pleasant experience committing to one Realtor. That Realtor will in turn commit to you and work with you for however long it takes to find you the right property.

As a seller, in addition to the obvious questions of experience and references and whether you have a rapport with your prospective Realtor, I would also find out what kind of marketing will be done for your property. Buyers come and go, and look with the intent to buy, and s0metimes change their minds. Buyers will start looking online months before they are planning to buy and the process can take years before they ultimately buy. You will want to make sure the Realtor you select has a good Internet presence. Not just a website, but the ability to get your home visible to anyone who is trying to find it by getting it on all the major search engines that buyers use to search for homes.

Another quality that you will want in the Realtor is the ability and willingness to communicate with you in the manner that you want. Do you want someone who will call, email or text you, or all three? How often do you want to be contacted, after every showing or once a week, or only when there is an offer on the table? Do you want a Realtor who is going to tell you what you want to hear, or one who will be objective and tell you the potentially hard reality that the price you want to sell your home for is not realistic? Do you want a Realtor to help you stage your home even if it means you have to pack up all your tchotchkes that you love so much?

This is an important piece in selecting the right Realtor. If you are not being communicated with how you expect, this can be a source of frustration for everyone. Having a great Internet savvy Realtor is important and the combination of both of these characteristics is crucial. No matter what marketing the Realtor does, the one thing we can’t control is when that buyer who wants to buy your home will show up. However, we can control how often we communicate with you and to do it in the manner you prefer.

If you are not being kept up to date about your property, regardless of how much your Realtor may be marketing your home and working for you, if you don’t know it, then you may feel it isn’t happening, which is likely not accurate. So don’t forget about this characteristic when you select your Realtor.

Our entire world has completely opened up to all of us via the web. But real estate is still a relationship business. While over 80% of buyers use the Internet to start their home search to preview homes and narrow their search, over 90% still partner with a Realtor to represent them throughout the home purchase process. Most sellers employ a Realtor to assist in selling their properties as well. Open communication with each other and making sure that you have the rapport with your Realtor to have a good working relationship with them is critical.

If you employ these guidelines when interviewing your Realtor candidates, and don’t forget about communication styles and your expectations, you should be able to select a Realtor that you have confidence in to adequately market your property; represent you throughout negotiations; and who will communicate with you throughout the process, and thus will have selected “the right Realtor” for you.

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