Everyone is talking about the real estate market lately, because it’s hot, in Texas, and across much of the United States. Spring is no exception. Here, the typical value of homes is $268,164 according to Zillow, and home values have gone up more than 17 percent during the last year. What that means is home sellers are ready to take advantage of a market where they could be getting more for their homes than the list price. For buyers, competition may be fierce to land that dream home, and that’s why it’s important now, more than ever, to work with a real estate agent who you can trust. To find the right real estate agent, is like hiring any other professional, you may have a lot of questions to consider, and there are some strategies to find the best person to do the job.
Call a friend
To save time, rather than starting from zero, you can ask friends and neighbors for recommendations. What’s key here is to be sure you are looking for someone who knows the market, and even better, the neighborhood where you want to buy or are selling. You want to look for an agent who has experience buying or selling homes of comparable value to the one that you are looking for. It can be ideal to ask for an unbiased opinion, by getting a referral for someone who may be a friend or an acquaintance but who is not necessarily family.
Do your homework
If referrals don’t give you any leads, you can start researching agents on your own, such as by using an aggregation tool from the real estate experts at HomeLight. An online search can help you find agents in your area, while at the same time seeing the transaction history of these agents. Some data to look at is: how many homes they typically sell in a year, or how many people they’ve helped to secure their dream home. Even with referrals, you’ll want to do this type of research to get a picture of the qualifications for agents you are considering.
Ask the right questions
Online research can be helpful, but it doesn’t give you the full picture of who might be the best agent to help you achieve your real estate goals. A phone call lasting even just a few minutes for everyone who you are considering can reveal details that online data can’t. Some questions to ask a real estate agent are: How many clients do you typically work with at once? How can we expect to communicate with each other and stay in contact about updates? What is the average timeline for selling or buying a home in my market right now? If selling, what is included in your services (i.e. marketing, photography, staging, etc.)? Once you’ve talked to everyone who you are interested in, you can see who resonates the most with you.
Picking a real estate agent who is on your side depends on a lot of factors, and this is the best way to sell or land your dream home. With a solid strategy, you can hire someone quickly to get the job done.
Guest article provided by HomeLight.
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