If it were up to K, he would advise against using a real-estate agent. Like, ever. According to him, the process of buying or selling a home is intense, but not unmanageable if you properly educate yourself. While I kinda want to agree with K, I also understand that working with an agent could be inevitable for various reasons.

We recently sold our townhome and purchased a single family home. While the process was intense, most of our stress was attributed to our real-estate agent. We stayed razor-focused on the end goal, we ignored all bad behavior. But, it was far from easy. I know hindsight is 20/20, I am hoping our lessons learnt helps/warns you from making the same mistakes we did.

If you are like us, a real-estate transaction is the single biggest financial transaction of your lifetime. It’s important to ensure that the process is spearheaded by someone who is good at their job. It’s as simple as that.

One of the biggest mistakes we did was not investing enough time/efforts in choosing a good real-estate agent. K & I were not actively looking to move at that time, and so, we hadn’t signed up with an agent/agency. We met the agent at the open-house for the house we eventually bough. We hired her after a quick interview and a browse of her online reviews. She would act as a “dual-agent” representing both the buyer (us) and seller. We also hired the same person to sell our town home. There, this was our biggest mistake. What we didn’t realize was that this person now had all the “power” in the transaction, and should things go sour in your relationship, could end up hurting us bad financially. 

As a “process” aficionado, I am taking our experiences and creating a process to this highly abstract process of choosing a real-estate agent. This was originally intended to be one post. But as I started writing, I realized that it is lot of information and it’s best to split it into 2 posts.

Steps 1 & 2 are discussed in this post. The subsequent steps are covered in the following post.

Step 1: Do Your Research

Most real-estate agents in Zillow or other sites have the perfect ratings and reviews. Do not go by just that. As with any customer-centric jobs, online reviews are of utmost importance for a real-estate company/agent. There are several ways to take down a “bad” review, leaving you to believe that the agent in question is “absolutely amazing”.  It’s probably not true. Read the reviews with a heap of salt.

Most importantly, reach out to your network – talk to your family, friends, friend’s friends, colleagues about their experiences and ask if they would recommend a good agent. Once you have collated a list, start calling them to schedule an initial meeting. It is important to convey that you are interviewing several real-estate agents and that you would make a decision shortly.

Some might think it’s pre-mature to get a real-estate attorney involved at this point. I disagree. Your real-estate attorney is your best investment in the whole transaction. The attorney works only for you and technically should operate only with your best interest in mind. A good real-estate attorney is your first line of defense. Again, reach out to your network and get recommendations.

Step 2: Interview

The real-estate profession is highly unregulated. It’s my experience that most agents have a “casual relationship with truth” and are faced with little to no repercussions for misrepresenting facts. Understand that. Assume a lot of what the real-estate agent says is fluff and always VERIFY. 

For instance, during the interview our agent said that she sold a similar house in our neighborhood for $20K above asking. When we were doing our research the next day, we realized that neither the online home sale price nor the county’s property search denoted a 20K increase. When I asked her about it, she simply said that the online value was wrong. We knew she was being dishonest, but we had signed the “Representation Agreement” by then. We swept it under the rug and chose to ignore a red flag. 

In addition to the details in the agreement below, some of the topics you should discuss with your agent during the interview are –

The agent’s familiarity with your neighborhood

The agent’s success-rate, in terms of sale-price-over-asking and turn-around time.

Ask the agent to provide –

Unsigned contract/representation agreement

References (from agent’s past clients)

Contact details of the agent’s broker.

Mention that you would like to get a legal consult on the contract, talk to the references and the agent’s broker before deciding. During the interview, if you repeatedly feel pressured to sign the contract, don’t. The correct real-estate agent will understand your need to mull it all over. Any agent, despite their sale portfolio, is not worth it if they are bullies. 

Importantly, trust your instincts, trust the energy. You would be interacting with this person for the next 3-4 months. Make sure their personality works for you.