How To Pick A Real Estate Agent

Video Transcription

How should you go about picking a Realtor to represent you when it comes time to buying or selling your home? I’m not going to give you a generic list that you can find anywhere on the internet. I’m actually going to give you some thought-provoking ideas and things that you don’t necessarily think about or read about on the internet when it comes time to finding a realtor. And make sure you stay tuned to the end, because I am going to share with you an education statistic on what it takes to be a real estate agent compared to other professions. You might be shocked.

Hi, this is Melissa Ballman, and I’m a real estate agent at Utah Homes by Melissa and Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. So today I’m going to go over the things that if I was interviewing an agent, as a real estate professional myself, these are the things that I would ask or do before I hire a real estate agent. Now, of course, you read all the time, interview at least three agents. Don’t just take one and run. But if you’re not familiar with the profession, you may not even know what interview questions to ask or what to look for. So here’s my list of things that I would check out before you hire a real estate agent.

First, do some research on the agent and ask questions like, “How many clients are you currently working with?” If you are a buyer and you’re looking for a buyer’s agent, and you’re interviewing an agent that has, let’s say, even five buyers clients at this time, that’s going to be very hard for you to get their attention and to get to homes in a timely manner. And it’s a sellers market. You have to be quick right now on getting into these listings, so that could set you back. So if you’re a seller looking for a real estate agent, five buyer clients isn’t as big of a deal, but you need to find a number that you’re comfortable with. Because honestly, as a real estate agent, we only have so much time to be able to service our clients. So check out how many people they’re currently actively working with right now.

I would also ask what services do they provide. Again, if you’re a buyer looking for a buyer’s agent, you’re going to want to know that an agent is going to do a CMA for you before you put in an offer. You don’t want to pay more for a house or have your offer rejected because it’s not competitive enough. So find out what services they offer, either as a buyer or a seller. How will they market your home if you’re selling it? How will they advertise? How will they get word out there? Do they do any staging for you to help you get your home sold faster and for more money? Things like that, you need to check out.

Next, are you comfortable with the agent? Do they give you that warm, fuzzy feeling? Do you trust them? Do you feel like they’re giving you sound advice through the home buying or selling process? Sadly, I had clients last year that contacted me to list their home. They had bought this home one year before with another agent who they said they could only afford a certain dollar price. Well, that agent talk them into going higher than what they were comfortable with, and with the HOA fees, fell behind on payments because they didn’t realize the HOA fees were on top of their mortgage payments. So they had credit problems because they weren’t making their payments. They were looking at foreclosure. It was a really bad situation. So you want to make sure that the agent you’re working with you trust and they’re giving you sound advice that you’re comfortable with.

Okay. Now I’m going to give you the statistic to blow your mind, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret that people probably don’t tell you. But first, if you’re liking this video, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the bell. That way you’re alerted each Friday when I drop a new video. Okay, so here’s a little secret. If you think you’re going to google “real estate agent near me,” or, “first time home buyer real estate agent as buyer,” things like that, that you’re going to put in Google, chances are you’re going to come up with a little website called Zillow or Realtor.com or any of those big sites. Well, let me tell you something. The agents that they have on there, those are paid advertising sites. So unless the home is listed by that agent that you’re specifically looking for, and I tell you why you don’t want to use the listing agent necessarily to purchase a home …. But anyways, we’ll come to that.

If you click on a home, it’ll give you a bunch of different options for other local real estate agents. Well, all that means is that real estate agent paid a ton of money to have their name published there. It’s not because they’re the best. It’s not because it’s a good fit for you. It’s because they paid money to have that spot. So since I touched on it, I’m going to backtrack a little bit, and why picking the agent that has the home listed for you may not be a good option for you either. I have a video on it, so check out some of my other videos. But just to just touch on it, high point, you’re not saving yourself any money.

The seller has already agreed to how much commission they’re going to pay before you ever even come around. So all that’s going to happen is by using the agent that has it listed, they’re number one, going to just get the buyer’s agent and seller’s agent commission. You’re not saving any money. And number two, they’re dividing their interest as best as they can. However, they’ve had a longer relationship with the seller and the seller’s best interests that they were hired to sell for. So keep that in mind when it comes time to finding an agent.

Okay, so here’s my statistic to blow your mind, and then I’m going to have one more thing to watch for when it comes time to hire an agent. In real estate, in the state of Utah, you have to go to school and do education for 120 hours to become a real estate agent. Now, of course, you do have to have a background check and take a state exam and pass it, things like that. But it’s only 120 hours of education to become a real estate agent in Utah. Just to give you an idea, if I decided today that I no longer want to be a real estate agent and go cut somebody’s hair, I have to do 1,600 hours to become a hairdresser. So just let that settle in there for a second. Even a nail technician is 300 hours to become a nail technician. So about double what it takes to be a real estate agent to do your hair and your nails.

So why do I bring that up? Well, education is important when it comes time. So make sure that the agent that you’re interviewing, that they go above and beyond what the minimum requirements are to be a real estate agent. National Association of Realtors has designation courses that you can take with extra education. For instance, I have my e-PRO certification through the National Association of Realtors, which was more education hours this year. The real estate negotiation expert course I took through the National Association of Realtors. Again, extra education. So make sure your agent is going above and beyond those minimum requirements with the state.

And finally, make sure the agent works this business full-time. Real estate is not for the faint of heart. After all, we are representing people in the largest asset they will probably ever buy or sell. So you want somebody that is all in and doesn’t do this for fun or extra money on the side, or they have a full-time job, because you really have to be in on real estate and know the laws and things that are changing and the market conditions. I will honestly tell you, I was a part-time agent for a number of years, and when I went back full-time, a couple of years ago, it’s a world of difference between a part time agent and a full time agent. So I can speak from personal experience on that one.

So if you’re looking at buying or selling in Utah, I would love to connect with you. Shoot me a message. Send me an email. Make a message down below and comment, whatever you want to do. But get in touch with me, I’d love to connect with you. I hope you have a great day and you enjoyed this video.