When you’re buying or selling your home, you want to make sure it goes smoothly. It’s such a large purchase. You are going to be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars no matter what and the best way to protect yourself is to hire a great real estate agent.
There is a little trick to hiring a great real estate agent but most people never do it. Most don’t even ask. When you’re speaking to a potential real estate agent, ask if you can speak to any of their top clients. Don’t just get a list and never call them. Actually pick up the phone and call these people.
As an agent myself, I can tell you that we are only to give you the best clients we’ve had. The ones we know who will rave about us. We’ll think about who is the right person to talk to you based on your situation. Do you know who can’t do that? Agents who haven’t done a good job for their clients and don’t have people raving about their services ever.
If a potential real estate agent that you want to hire cannot come up with a couple names of people willing to talk to you then you need to seriously consider what that means. All this help you decide between a few great agents? Probably not. We are going to only show you our favourite clients after all. It’s going to separate the great agents from the bad ones though.
Not every agent keeps a list of people with them when meeting potential clients. That’s more because no one ever asks for it. It might also be because they wait for a new request and then consider which of their past clients would be best to speak to. For example; if you were buying a home for your child to live in while attending Georgian college, wouldn’t you rather speak to someone else who did that? What value is there in speaking to a member of the armed forces who had their agent help them buy a home during their HHT?
Next time you’re hiring a real estate agent, ask them for references. It’s simple, but effective.
