Many people spend less time picking a real estate agent than they spend deciding where to eat lunch. Real estate agents are like belly buttons: Everybody has one! Everybody knows or works with or is related to, plays tennis or softball with, goes to the movies, lives with, even sleeps with, a real estate agent! So what?
The first cousin of a friend of the lady who does your hair or your uncle’s boss’s daughter of his golf buddy or your kid’s teacher’s husband is not someone to hire just because of those relationships. Your home, or the home you’re planning on buying, might be the biggest asset you have, and the person you hire to entrust that asset to should be interviewed and carefully selected.
It was the house they raised their kids in, and they still loved the place, but now the kids are all grown and off to College. How many people would hand over $200,000 to a co-worker’s cousin or a friend of a friend to handle for up to a year? Would you? But how many people have you heard complain that they’re unhappy with their real estate agent, but they can’t change because it’s their friend or a family member or their boss’s family member?
Don’t hand your home over to someone just because you “know” them. Do your homework. Interview them. Get references.
Here are some questions you should ask them: