5 Mistakes to Avoid When Picking a New Real Estate Agent

 

 

Picking the right real estate agent is an extremely important part of the buying or selling process. With the wrong agent, it could take you a long time to sell your home or you could end up losing money through poor buying and selling decisions. To prevent this, here are five mistakes you should avoid when picking a new real estate agent.

 

Lack of experience:

 

It’s better to work with a real estate agent who knows what they’re talking about and has the experience to back up their decisions, so you should avoid agents who lack this knowledge. This will give you peace of mind during the stress of moving house. If an agent has a lot of experience in real estate, this means that they truly understand the property market and will know how to sell your home quickly for the best price, or buy a home with all of your requirements for the lowest amount possible.

 

To find an experienced agent, you should use a well-respected company like Compass Real Estate. Compass has real estate agents across a variety of locations like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, and many more. After the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy, you may be wondering ‘are Compass in trouble?’ However, Compass continues to grow and is always hiring new, highly experienced agents.

 

Experience in the wrong areas:

 

Although experience is key, you need to find out what kind of experience a real estate agent has. For example, if they have experience selling commercial properties, this won’t help you if you’re selling a suburban home. Equally, if they have lots of experience in a particular region, but not in the area where you live, then they may not have the best understanding of the real estate market in your area. Therefore, you should choose someone with the right kind of experience to avoid the mistake of picking an unsuitable agent.

 

Not reading reviews:

 

One of the biggest mistakes you could make when picking a real estate agent is not reading reviews. Even if you get a recommendation from a family member or friend, it’s still a good idea to read some online reviews to learn more about the agent. On sites such as Zillow and Google, you can read reviews that explore the agent’s positives and negatives. If there are plenty of poor reviews, then that’s a definite red flag.

 

Not meeting the agent:

 

Once you’ve read some reviews and narrowed down your selection, you should meet with at least three real estate agents to see what they’re like in person. Not doing this could mean that you pick an agent with who you don’t get along. Having a good relationship with your agent is very important because they’ll be helping you through a very stressful time.

 

Not asking the right questions:

 

When you meet these real estate agents, you must avoid the mistake of not asking questions. It’s not enough to simply get along with them because you must understand their process and figure out if this will work for you. You should also determine how honest and trustworthy they are. You need an agent who’ll be honest about whether your expectations are reasonable in your market.

 

It’s difficult to find the right real estate agent, but with these helpful tips, you’ll know what mistakes to avoid during your search.