Choosing a real estate agent
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‘Trust and communication are critical for success’
If you’re planning to buy and/or sell a home this spring, you may be looking for a real estate agent and are wondering how to nail down one right for you.
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“My No. 1 tip is to ask friends and relatives about the realtors they enjoy working with. Real estate is a relationship business, and these sorts of recommendations go a long way towards finding your dream home,” says Ontario Real Estate Association President Rick Kedzior.
If you’re a buyer, consider driving around the neighbourhood in which you’d like to live and make note of companies represented on ‘For Sale’ signs, suggests Gillian Oxley, a sales representative with Royal LePage Real Estate Services Oxley Real Estate, Brokerage in Toronto.
“Once you see a sign or several from the same company, you might call the company and ask who the top agents are for that area.”
INTERVIEW SEVERAL REALTORS
Kedzior recommends interviewing at least three realtors to determine who’s the best fit for you and what you’re looking for. “It’s important to have a good understanding of who they are and their working style.
It’s also important to consider if they have specialties in a certain market or region,” he says. “Realtors offer different skill sets and expertise that reflect the needs of their local markets and clients. Understanding their expertise will help you make an informed decision.”
Having a good relationship with your realtor is important, Kedzior maintains. “As a relationship-based profession, trust and communication are critical for success,” he says. “Buying or selling your home is likely the biggest financial transaction in one’s life, so it’s necessary the realtor at your side makes you feel comfortable and confident in the decision-making process.”
When selling, everyone wants to get the best price possible, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you should give extra weight to the agent with the lowest commission or who recommends the highest listing price, Oxley maintains.
“Find out from the agent what they invest in the home to help you get the highest price. Remember, in real estate, the agent invests first before being paid so an agent who is prepared to commit to the sale of your property is important,” she says. That might include complementary staging, help with preparation and decluttering, photography and videos, and an advertising campaign that includes social media.
Oxley’s brokerage pays for the seller’s home inspection before going to market to identify and address any potential red flags. “We get multiple quotes from our valued suppliers and provide the information to the client so they can make an informed choice on whether they want to invest in their home to present a better offering to buyers,” she says.
HIRE A STRONG NEGOTIATOR
It’s also important to remember you want to hire a strong negotiator. “If the first thing they do to win your business is cut their commission in half, then you should be on alert. Our job is to get you – the seller – the most amount of money in the least amount of time with the lowest amount of stress possible,” says Oxley.
An agent who inflates the price of your home to win the listing, meanwhile, is doing you a “disservice because the market will respond with fewer showings and a longer sales cycle, which will generally include a price reduction from an inflated price.”
If you interview several real estate agents, you should receive a range of suggested listing prices. “There is a range because what one buyer will pay up for another buyer may not value and would offer less. In a balanced market…it is wise to generally price in the middle of the range of value and hold for your buyer.”
There are several things to be mindful of before signing a contract with a real estate agent. Sellers, for example, should know how long the contract is for and why.
“Anything beyond 120 days in Toronto is unusual but sometimes a house might have a longer sales cycle so be sure to understand the ‘why’ if the agent is asking for a longer contract and be comfortable with this,” Oxley says.
She advises asking the agent to explain what the holdover provision is because it may impact you if the agent doesn’t sell the house and you hire another agent to take on the listing. A general holdover is 60 to 90 days. Buyers, meanwhile, should be fully informed about the Buyer’s Representation Agreement (BRA), including the length of the contract.
Interview questions
Gillian Oxley of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Oxley Real Estate, Brokerage recommends asking the following questions when interviewing real estate agents:
- How long have you been working in the industry?
- Have you won any awards for being a top producer? What is your ranking within your company and the industry as a whole?
- How many homes have you sold in the area in which I’m looking and/or how many homes have you bought for clients in that area?
- What will you invest in the sale of my home?
- How will you market my home? Where will you promote it and why?
- What commission do you charge and how does it work?
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