How To Find The Right Real Estate Agent Or REALTOR®

A real estate agent helps people buy and sell property. These licensed real estate professionals help buyers and sellers find new homes or sell their current ones by guiding them through the process and representing them in the real estate transaction. It’s not mandatory that you work with a real estate agent when buying or selling a house, but their real estate knowledge and local expertise can help make the experience much smoother (and potentially less expensive) for you.

There are two general “types” of real estate agent that you’re likely to work with: buyer’s agents and seller’s agents. Let’s take a look at some of the key differences between the two. 

Buyer’s Agent 

The buyer’s agent, also sometimes called a selling agent, represents the home buyer in a real estate transaction. A buyer’s agent helps find homes that their client might be interested in and helps them make an offer on any property they might want to buy.

Should their offer be accepted, a buyer’s agent will also help walk the buyer through closing. Their job is essentially to advocate for the home buyer and make sure their purchasing experience goes smoothly.

Seller’s Agent

A seller’s agent, also known as a listing agent, represents the home seller in a real estate transaction. It’s the seller’s agent’s responsibility to list the seller’s home at a competitive price as well as work to attract interested buyers to the property.

Listing agents help stage properties to assure they look their best for buyers and may also host open houses in hopes of attracting interest. Seller’s agents also help evaluate offers on the house to help the seller decide which offer might be in their best interest.

Whether you’re a home buyer or a home seller, working with a real estate agent can make the process of finding or selling a house much easier. But how do you go about finding an agent? Different real estate agents specialize in different things, so it can be hard to know what agent will be right for you.

Let’s go over a few tips for finding a great real estate agent or REALTOR^®. 

1.     Talk With A Mortgage Lender 

Before ever speaking to a lender, many hopeful buyers start working with an agent to find properties they might be interested in. But it can be a smart decision to tackle this the other way around. If you speak to a mortgage lender before doing anything else, you can get preapproved for a mortgage and establish the maximum amount you can borrow beforehand.

Getting preapproved can be extremely helpful. It can help you establish your budget, proves to sellers that you have the funds to back up your offers and makes it clear to real estate agents that you’re serious about buying. Real estate agents are paid based on commission, so knowing that you’re serious about your home search can make agents more willing to work with you.

2.     Get Referrals From Your Network

One of the most common ways people find real estate agents is by asking for recommendations from people they know. You probably know a friend or family member that has bought or sold a home. If they had a good experience with a real estate agent, that could be a good starting point for you in your search for an agent.

You’ll be communicating and working a lot with your real estate agent, so you shouldn’t just choose an agent because they worked with someone you know. It can be a great place to start, however, so it helps to ask around.

If you don’t know anyone that’s had a great agent experience or no one is standing out to you, there are other ways to find agents as well. Social media, open houses in your area and even networking events can all be great places to connect with a real estate agent or REALTOR®. Online resources like Rocket Homes^SM Verified Agent network can also help you find the right agent for you.

3.     Research Potential Candidates

Once you’ve found a few real estate agents that you’d consider working with, you should do some research to find out if they would be a good fit for you. Do some digging into their online presence and social media accounts. Reviews are a great thing to read if you can find them online. The experiences of past clients can help you determine what kind of experience you can expect working with them.

Besides getting an idea of their personality and how they treat their clients, you should also see if you can determine what their area of expertise is. If you’re looking to buy or sell a home in a specific area, it’s important to find an agent that knows that neighborhood well and can provide helpful insight.

4.     Interview The Agent 

After you’ve done your research, you should try to narrow down your list of potential real estate agents or REALTORs® to a few names – maybe three to 10. Meet with real estate agents that you could see yourself working with and interview them. Have a video call if an in-person meeting is not possible. An interview can help you weed out which agents aren’t the best fit for you as well as identify agents that you work well with.

When interviewing a real estate agent that you could potentially work with,  ask in-depth questions about them, their work history and what they can do to help you. You want to work with someone that’s not only an expert in the neighborhood you’re looking at, but also someone who will communicate well with you and act in your best interest.

5.     Check The Real Estate Agent’s References 

While interviewing a real estate agent, it’s a good idea to ask for references from homes they’ve recently sold or helped clients purchase. Speaking to previous clients can be extremely beneficial, more so than reading reviews, because you can get a better idea of their experience and ask them anything you might be concerned about.

You can also get an idea of how often and in what ways they prefer to keep in contact with clients this way. It’s a good idea to ask previous clients how their agent responded to problems that may have come up in their home buying process to get an idea of how they might respond to things that impact you.

6.     Determine Their Reliability  

Buying or selling a home is rarely a simple and perfectly straightforward process. Things are bound to come up and complicate matters, whether it’s offers falling through or unexpected problems with a house you’re looking at. It’s important to know that your agent is someone you can trust and rely on to help you out, even when things aren’t working out the way they’re supposed to.

Not all agents operate on the same schedule or with the same set of priorities, so it’s worth it to ask about these things. Will your agent be available to talk to you at a moment’s notice, or will you have to wait a few days for a response.

Knowing how busy your potential real estate agent is as well as their typical response time with clients is crucial. Local expertise and experience are important, but ultimately, you need to work with an agent that also meshes well with you, your personality and your schedule.

7.     Examine Your Contract 

Once you’ve decided on the agent you’d like to work with, it’s important to legitimize your partnership with a written and signed contract that spells out the terms and expectations of your agreement to work together. A clear contract can help avoid any confusion with your agent’s duties and can also set in stone an estimate of the commission they’ll be paid for their services ahead of time.

Now that you know how to find a real estate agent or REALTOR^®, what should you be looking for in one? Just like no two buyers are the same, no two agents are either, so there aren’t necessarily a specific set of strengths every agent should possess. Each agent or REALTOR^® will have their own unique strengths and services to offer.

In general, here are a few things to think about when screening a potential real estate agent.

Market Knowledge And Comparative Market Analysis

A good real estate agent will have extensive housing market knowledge and the ability to do things like comparative market analyses to help you get the best price on a house, whether you’re buying or selling. A comparative market analysis is a report outlining bought or sold homes similar to their client’s in the same area and is used to estimate the value of a home.

Besides having a good grasp on the value of homes in their area of expertise, your agent should also know how to showcase a home’s best features and how the market changes during different points in the year. Ask them questions about the area you’re buying or selling in to get an idea of their knowledge of the local market before committing to working with them.

Experience And Professional Reputation 

A good real estate agent will have the experience and professional reputation to back up their abilities. You can find out whether your agent does or not by reading reviews and contacting references. Your agent’s abilities should speak for themselves through their previous work.

If they’re a good agent, you’ll be able to tell from the experiences former clients had with them. Great reviews and a favorable reputation are a good sign that your agent is someone that will advocate for you every step of the way.

Relevant Certifications

All active real estate agents must have their real estate license in the state that they’re working in. Beyond obtaining a real estate license, many real estate agents are also REALTORS^®, which means they are certified by the National Association of REALTORS^® (NAR) and abide by its code of ethics.

The NAR also offers programs to obtain specialized credentials, such as Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) or General Accredited Appraiser (GAA). Depending on what you’re looking for in an agent, you may want to research different types of credentials to help you find an agent that specializes in exactly what you need. 

Good Communication 

When interviewing agents, pay attention to your agent’s communication skills. Their experience and knowledge will be crucial to you, but their communication style is equally important. You will be in very frequent contact with your real estate agent, so it’s important that you trust them and can rely on them to contact you with updates and keep you informed. 

Strong Marketing Skills

One of the most important things to look for in a real estate agent is strong marketing skills. Your agent will be advocating for you and representing you in the sale, so it’s important that they are strong negotiators. If they’re helping you sell your home, it’s crucial that they know how to showcase it and get your home in front of as many eyes as possible. If they’re helping you buy, it’s important that they can fight to get the best deal on your behalf.

If you’re buying or selling a home and want to work with a real estate agent, you should start searching for an agent as soon as possible. As soon as you know your timeframe for when you’d like to buy or sell a home, you should start looking for a good real estate agent. Generally, a few months (1 – 3) prior to starting the home buying or selling process is a good starting point.

There are thousands of real estate agents out there, so when choosing an agent to help you buy or sell a home, don’t settle. Your agent will be someone that you work very closely with, so it’s important that you trust them to advocate for you and keep you updated throughout the process.

For more tips on finding the right real estate agent, check out our guide to what questions you should ask a real estate agent.