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Old 02-27-2013, 04:56 PM
 
355 posts, read 911,115 times
Reputation: 470

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If there is a specific neighborhood or area you are looking in, I would find a specialist for that specific area.
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Old 02-27-2013, 06:12 PM
 
7,280 posts, read 10,917,839 times
Reputation: 11491
Forget Zillow or Trulia.

Forget how many "awards" a REA has. Walk into a car dealership and see how many awards they have. Doesn't mean a thing, you are buying one house, your home.

If you are moving as part of a job move, get hold of some of the people in the company living where you'll live and get some referrals.

Go look at the houses sans agent if you need to. You can look without an agent and many often do just that. You look, check out possibilities and continue your search for a good agent.
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Old 02-27-2013, 08:11 PM
 
Location: Beautiful place in Virginia
2,679 posts, read 11,715,707 times
Reputation: 1360
Best thing is to find a realtor who understands what you want. One who suits your personality. One who doesn't try to get you to spend more than you need. I'll give someone a try after speaking to them and getting to know them.
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Old 02-28-2013, 08:19 AM
 
11,113 posts, read 19,477,898 times
Reputation: 10174
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mack Knife View Post
Forget Zillow or Trulia.

Forget how many "awards" a REA has. Walk into a car dealership and see how many awards they have. Doesn't mean a thing, you are buying one house, your home.

If you are moving as part of a job move, get hold of some of the people in the company living where you'll live and get some referrals.

Go look at the houses sans agent if you need to. You can look without an agent and many often do just that. You look, check out possibilities and continue your search for a good agent.

If the house is listed, how do you suggest looking without an agent ? What we call "going behind the sign" ?
Don't think so.

And Realtors don't hang their awards in the car dealerships, last I checked. My trophies and plaques were right on my office wall, and since I retired 3 years ago, they are in my den now.
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Old 02-28-2013, 09:23 AM
 
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
6,957 posts, read 22,266,300 times
Reputation: 6469
Bear in mind that the reviews are only of agents who pay to be "featured" on Zillow.

In my area all of the agents all have 5 stars, imagine that!
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Old 02-28-2013, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Denver, CO
410 posts, read 1,291,215 times
Reputation: 296
I would take a personal recommendation from someone you know over any ratings on the internet. Just because someone has done a ton of business doesn't that make a good realtor. I know many in my city that are "top producers" that wouldn't be recommended by their clients.
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Old 02-28-2013, 11:25 AM
 
Location: Columbia, SC
10,940 posts, read 21,914,344 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jgreco5 View Post
Zillow ratings can be fabricated, there is no verification process. I would go with a reference from a friend over a zillow rating. Where in Florida are you looking?
Ditto, those agents probably bought placement with Zillow and/or may have put in their own feedback. Check out some listings in your area and see whose name pops up a lot and has good photos and a nice description of their homes on the local MLS.
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Old 02-28-2013, 12:55 PM
 
2,957 posts, read 5,885,489 times
Reputation: 2286
Call the Realtor your co-worker recommended and see if you get a good vibe/ think they are solid given your conversation. That's your answer.
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Old 02-28-2013, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Ocala, FL
6,428 posts, read 10,260,812 times
Reputation: 7830
My best suggestion to anyone wanting to use Zillow for anything is to keep in mind that the site provides general and not specific advice/information. Take it for what it is worth and never read anything more into it. Zillow is not a professional source for real estate information. I have seen listings that have closed several months ago despite showing active in their site.
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Old 02-28-2013, 01:14 PM
 
815 posts, read 974,562 times
Reputation: 2107
Quote:
Originally Posted by blazerj View Post
Call the Realtor your co-worker recommended and see if you get a good vibe/ think they are solid given your conversation. That's your answer.

Well, I did contact the realtor my (former) coworker recommended yesterday via email.
I have yet to receive a response.
Ironically, every realtor from Zillow that I have contacted in the past has responded within a few hours, even during evening hours and weekends (and I wasn't expecting them to respond so quickly).

I appreciate everyone's good advice.
The search continues......
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