5 Tips For Choosing Your Asheville Realtor

After saving up for a down payment and cleaning up your credit score, you set out to find the best Asheville Realtor in your quest to find the perfect address.

Beyond the glossy exterior of a real estate professionals office, is the relationship.  How good an agent is at their job is what is going to matter most to you now through closing.

1. Do some legwork. Literally.

Research Asheville realtors online.  Does this agent or firm solely represent you or do they also represent the seller? Ask yourself this question, “would I want an attorney to represent both sides?”

2. Meet Potential Realtors.

See the agent in action, and meet them in a casual setting.  Are they friendly, informative and professional? How do they respond to your questions? Do they take an interest in you and assess your needs?

3. Ask friends/family who they’ve used

Ask people you trust for agent recommendations, but take what they say with a grain of salt. Did they recently buy a home in your same price range?  Have they had a successful time selling their home? Just because this agent worked out well for them does not guarantee the same experience for you, but chances are, if you trust your friends and family’s choices, the agent will be good for you, too.

4. Check out ratings and reviews

Online agent ratings and reviews are the next best thing to a personal referral.  Knowing the experience that lots of other people had with a particular agent is valuable information.  Zillow allows you to search a specific area to find agents with the highest ratings and best reviews. OR, after you’ve walked around your ‘hood and gotten a few business cards at open houses, you can search for agents by name and read their reviews.  Either way, online research should be a part of  the process.

5. Interview multiple agents

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial events of your life so take the time to interview at least three agents before deciding whom to hire. You want to find someone who demonstrates knowledge of your area and expertise in the buying process,  that is, familiarity with all the technicalities such as title, appraisals,  financing, negotiation, inspections, etc.  Above all else,  make sure you’ll feel comfortable having this person guide you through an overwhelming and stressful process.

• Does the agent work mostly with buyers or sellers? Some agents specialize in listing properties while others prefer to work primarily with buyers. Choose an agent who is tuned in to your needs.  If you are a first-time buyer, look for an agent that is willing to help walk you through the home buying process.

• Get references and phone numbers of recent clients. References should never be a problem. If you can’t get the whole list, get a minimum of three. And be sure to ask friends for references; often that’s your best bet because they won’t steer you to someone who didn’t work out.

• How do they communicate and how fast? The world has gotten much faster, thanks to online communication, so you need to ask your agent how they communicate (phone, email, text) and how fast you can expect a response. In a hot real estate market, buyers and sellers want instant access. Make sure your agent can support your expectations.

• What is the office like? Don’t be overly impressed by a big office. Many great agents go solo. Others like being around a lot of people. It’s a matter of style. They all have access to the listings in the Multiple Listing Service. However, you can tell some things from how organized the office looks. How you are going to be treated is the most important factor, but you do want to know that the managing broker is competent.

• How many years has the agent been in the business? Experience is helpful. However, being in the business a long time does not necessarily indicate the best person for you. Other factors, like familiarity with your market, communication style, or just plain personality may be more important.

• Is the agent a salesperson or a broker? Being a real estate broker indicates some initiative as more education and licensing is required to obtain a broker license. That said, some agents have no desire to obtain a broker license so don’t use this exclusively to weed out agents.  You might also inquire about continuing education, like the GRI (Graduate, Realtor Institute), e-Pro (Certification for Internet Professionalism), and others. Good agents keep ahead of the curve.

• Is the agent available to work around my schedule? A little give and take is a good thing in all relationships, but you don’t want to have to cater to your agent’s busy schedule. Often the busiest agent isn’t always the best. An agent with fewer listings or active buyers may be more responsive to your rime and this may be a better choice for some.  Find out how many open houses and clients the agent is committed to and feel them out about your time frame.

• Ask if the agent has enough time to devote to your quest. You need something now! An aggressive agent should start e-mailing you listings within a day or so and have a plan that allows you to see as many properties as you can handle in your time frame.

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