Finding the right agent when you are looking for a home is an important aspect of the property buying or selling process. You need to know that the person you're entrusting with what is likely to be one of your biggest financial decisions is professional, honest, and hardworking. Often people also want to feel they have something in common with their agent too. This sounds like a difficult exercise, but truth be told – it really shouldn't be that hard. Finding a good agent isn't actually a difficult exercise. What is difficult is dealing with customers who don't actually know what they want. I spoke about this very happening yesterday.
There are times in real estate when you pick up a home to sell from a vendor who had previously listed with another agent, but who for whatever reason, no longer wishes to list with the other person. Often, it's due to time on the market – if the home has been listed for 3 or 6 months, or even longer, a vendor will sometimes decide to try another real estate agent.
When a listing like this comes the way of a real estate agent, it's interesting to find out why the vendor had chosen the last agent they used, and why they are now choosing you. Actually, sometimes interesting isn't the right word – astounding is often more apt. Explanations like "she's a friend of my sister" aren't that uncommon, and when you consider these same people will spend all day Saturday driving around homewares stores ensure their lamps match their curtains, it's amazing how little time they're prepared to spend on the decision that really matters about their home.
In every aspect of real estate, it's your track record, your testimonials, your reputation for excellence that should get you the gig. Of course as I've just outlined, that's not always the case. Sometimes it is just because you drop your kid off to the same school as someone. But an astute seller will know that this isn't the way to choose the person dealing with one of your biggest financial transactions. Your incredible sales record will speak to those who know that a real estate mistake can be a lot worse than buying the wrong colour scatter cushions.