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What is the best way to get a real estate agent? Our contract is going to be up soon and we want someone else. We had interviewed other agents previously and asked all the questions but now our contract is up. It seems like picking a needle in the haystack-we have asked others prior.
We need someone honest and aggressive, since our house has been on the market almost six months and the only advice our agent says is to lower the price, to "make it attractive and seem like a bargain."
So, in summary, how do you find out how good a real estate agent is? Should you go with the highest producer?
talk to people you know who have used agents, what did they like about them, what didnt they like about them. the highest producing agent isnt always the best, what do you want your agent to do for you? do they return calls promptly? how do they advertise? just b/c an agent says your home is worth a huge sum of money, that may just be the way they trying to get in to get the listings.
The most important thing imho is that they have evidence to back up what they think your home needs to be priced at - not what you want it priced at.
Someone just did a thread about how they picked the highest producer and were completely disappointed.
If you don't know anyone that has had a good experience. Look for agents that blog. You can get a feel for their personality and skills by reading what they write. You can type "real estate blogs and your town" in google or you can head to ActiveRain Real Estate Network which has a lot of real estate bloggers on it.
AND I would look on Realtor.com or your local MLS and look at listings. Look at the photos and descriptions in the photos. Good agents will have good pictures, with good descriptions. Pick someone who DOES good marketing, not just someone who tells you they will.
Someone just did a thread about how they picked the highest producer and were completely disappointed.
If you don't know anyone that has had a good experience. Look for agents that blog. You can get a feel for their personality and skills by reading what they write. You can type "real estate blogs and your town" in google or you can head to ActiveRain Real Estate Network which has a lot of real estate bloggers on it.
AND I would look on Realtor.com or your local MLS and look at listings. Look at the photos and descriptions in the photos. Good agents will have good pictures, with good descriptions. Pick someone who DOES good marketing, not just someone who tells you they will.
That is a really good suggestion! Call some title companies and ask if they have some good referrals.
Someone just did a thread about how they picked the highest producer and were completely disappointed.
If you don't know anyone that has had a good experience. Look for agents that blog. You can get a feel for their personality and skills by reading what they write. You can type "real estate blogs and your town" in google or you can head to ActiveRain Real Estate Network which has a lot of real estate bloggers on it.
AND I would look on Realtor.com or your local MLS and look at listings. Look at the photos and descriptions in the photos. Good agents will have good pictures, with good descriptions. Pick someone who DOES good marketing, not just someone who tells you they will.
Reading blogs on AR will definitely reveal the agent's personality!
What is the best way to get a real estate agent? Our contract is going to be up soon and we want someone else. We had interviewed other agents previously and asked all the questions but now our contract is up. It seems like picking a needle in the haystack-we have asked others prior.
We need someone honest and aggressive, since our house has been on the market almost six months and the only advice our agent says is to lower the price, to "make it attractive and seem like a bargain."
So, in summary, how do you find out how good a real estate agent is? Should you go with the highest producer?
Thanks-we need to get this house sold!!
It seems to me there is ANOTHER issue in your decision to change agents. The "only advice" your agent gave you is good advice...
If there is another area of frustration between you and your agent - then you need to include THAT when selecting someone new. Sometimes personalities don't match up and a change is a good thing...but if your ONLY problem with your agent is that they told you to lower the price to make it seem like a good bargain - you have a good agent who is telling you the truth about the market...and you'll likely have similar problems with whoever you hire next as well.
I agree 100% with Silverfall's suggestion (would have 'rep'd' you but I have to spread it around first!)
Aggresive marketing is the way to sell a home along with the price. you cant expect to get the same amount of money for your house like 3 years ago. you need an honest agent who can give you a good market evaluation on your home and market the home the right way. if you have any questions let me know.
Besides referrals, I always recommend working with an agent that "knows" your area. It is a lot easier to represent and sell a home when you work in a particular area. You may want to check out recently sold homes or homes under contract that are similar to yours, see how they were marketed and check out the agent that you were attracted to.
You do realize that no amount of marketing can induce someone to buy an over-priced listing, don't you? What marketing has your agent actually done for you? Is it actually sub-standard? Or has your agent done everything that he or she should but your house hasn't sold because it's over-priced? This happens all the time, the original agent spends lots of time and lots of money marketing a house that the seller is convinced is worth more than the market will actually pay. They get annoyed with their agent because they don't want to hear that the house isn't worth what they "need" to make out of it. So after months of work and expenses, they pull the listing from the original agent and give it to someone else (typically with a price reduction) after which it sells, instead of making the price reduction the original agent has told them for months they needed to make. So the original agent gets nothing for all their work.
So I'm asking, on behalf of your agent, what has he or she done in terms of marketing? Has feedback for your house been that it's overpriced? Or have people not even been looking at the house (which could mean lack of marketing or that it's overpriced). Have you had other issues with the agent aside from the fact that the house hasn't sold?
Thanks for all the replies. All feedback on the house has been positive, only one agent said it was overpriced, we since lowered it since that feedback. We have listened to our agent and have set the price where she recommends. She tells us it isn't selling because people are buying on cul de sacs (our is not), people are buying houses not on the main road of the neighborhood, and other things like that.
I am not a real estate agent and have not seen the insides of other homes for sale in the area, I don't know all the comps and look to the agent for guidance on things to change in the house (staging it).
We even thought of putting in more wood flooring or granite to make the house more desirable to buyers. The thought being rather than lower the price 10k and waiting to sell it, why not upgrade with that 10k we would lose anyways, and leave the price the same.
I like our agent as a person, but sometimes I just feel that we are getting excuses or being told things that we would want to hear. Our house has been on the market since January, and it was only this month that she suggested lowering the price, otherwise it has been our idea to try and get it sold. I think she has done all the marketing, MLS, realtor.com, print ads, craigslist, but other than that I don't know
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