When you're moving to Brownsville, Texas, you want your real estate search to go as smoothly as possible. You know you need an agent, but all your previous experience has been in Mississauga real estate. You don't know any Brownsville agents, so you'll have to interview one and make a decision. The only problem is: what makes a real estate agent good, anyway? Is it her record? His attitude? We'll give you some tips on telling the bad from the good that can be applied to choosing any agent, buyer or seller, anywhere in the world.

References

Since "good" is a subjective term, the most telling indicator of a whether a real estate agent is good or not comes from the opinions of other people who have hired her in the past. She should be able to provide you with the contact information of people she has previously sold Haliburton real estate to. You could also use the internet to do a sort of background search by combing comment boards for mentions of her name to see whether she's been generating complaints that she hasn't told you about.

Record

A good real estate agent is one who gets things done for his client. His statistics (you can ask for them or they might be posted on his website) can show you how good he is at that. Find out how long it generally takes him to sell a client's new home in Ontario, how many buyers he has to go through before he hits on the right one, and how much of a difference there is between the listing price and the price he gets out of the buyer. If there's a big gap, he's likely an excellent negotiator.

Attitude

There's no point in hiring someone you aren't comfortable with. The only way to suss out your agent properly is to interview her in person. She should be attentive to your needs, have a real passion for property, a work ethic that leads her to stay on top of new developments, and most importantly: actually care about you. If she cares, she'll likely go that extra mile to make sure you see those Rockwood homes for sale you had your eye on. If you talk to her and come away feeling confident, she's good.

Money

In the real estate business, you often get what you pay for, so make sure you ask not only what he will be charging in commission to handle your home sale in Whitby, but also what services he provides and how much time he will be able to devote to your transition. During your interview, make sure to ask him what his plan of attack would be for your home sale to make sure he'll be worth the price.