How do you find the best buyer real estate agent?
Once you've decided to buy a home, so you need a competent and trusted advisor at your side.
Your Realtor is an essential partner in completing the purchase of the most valuable investment you will own. Since every real estate agent is a unique individual with different local knowledge, negotiation philosophies, and values, you may not work well with the first one that crosses your path. You need to find an agent who will work well with you and has a complementary working style.
There are a lot of agents out there. So, how do you choose? Here's how to find a real estate agent who's right for you.
Ask for a couple of referrals, but take them with a grain of salt
Go ahead and ask your friends for a recommendation, but don't fall into the trap of picking an agent purely based on a friend’s introduction. Your friend is likely recommending them based on a single purchase or sale, or simply because they ‘know a guy’ or gal. That’s why a friend or family recommendation may not be that reliable. Plus, the old mantra of location, location, location applies to real estate agents by extension.
“You want an agent who is very familiar with the neighbourhood you want to move to,” says Alaina Burnett, a Realtor specializing in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Burnaby, BC. The reason is simple: If they’ve specialized in the neighbourhood, they’ll be familiar with recent sales, and, therefore, they will be able to negotiate the best price for the home you want to buy. The agent will also be able to use your requirements to determine which part of the neighbourhood best fits your needs and recommend other nearby communities that may also suit you.
So, a better question to ask your friends than “Know any real estate agents?" is, “Know a real estate agent who knows [insert the neighbourhood you want to move to] neighbourhood really well?"
Try the Match Finder App by Mortgage Sandbox
Mortgage Sandbox developed the Match Finder app to match people with local, pre-screened real estate agents and mortgage brokers based on aligned values. We believe that aligned values lead to better working relationships and a more successful home buying experience. Our algorithm finds values-aligned agents who specialize in your neighbourhood. If their work area is too far away from your home, then they get ranked much lower in our platform. This helps introduce you to agents predisposed to work well with you, who are better able to understand your priorities, and who are also well-acquainted with your neighbourhood.
If you’re thinking of buying a home, try our platform today. It’s totally free with no commitment.
Test their responsiveness
Once you have some potential agents, email them and sit back and wait. This is your first test of how they conduct business: how responsive is the agent? Ideally, you should get a message or callback within a couple of business hours.
“If it takes longer than four business hours without a decent explanation, I would be cautious,” says Alex Mackenzie, a North Vancouver agent specializing in the Lonsdale area. Imagine if there are competing offers for the home you want to buy and they miss the deadline, or if there’s a problem with the home inspection and they fail to report it to you before completing? You don't want to be left in limbo by your agent. You’ll want to be kept in the loop. Additionally, how well someone communicates is a good indicator of their ability to build relationships, which will be vital in having a good experience buying your home.
Do you want to learn about buying a home? We’ve crafted a simple home buying guide to make the process easier to understand.
Probe their experience
Your initial conversation with a prospective agent should be like any job interview: Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions right off the bat. A good agent should know market trends and any dancing around the numbers could be a red flag. You should ask the following:
Q1. How is the market in the neighbourhood I want to buy in?
You want them to tell you if it is a buyer’s market, balanced market, or seller’s market for your property type. The condo market can be a seller’s market (i.e., seller advantage), while houses may be in a buyer’s market. They should have a good idea of what the price is for the size of home you want to buy.
A good test of their local knowledge is to ask about local amenities (nearest grocery stores and parks) and neighbourhood secrets like a great coffee shop. You want to feel confident that they understand how the market is trending in the neighbourhood, and you also want them to know the ‘ins and outs’ of the area.
Q2. What types of homes have you sold or helped to purchase?
You want someone familiar with the type of property you’re trying to buy. Is it a condo, a townhome, or a house? They are very different types of homes, and for each, you will be looking at very different features.
Q3. In which neighbourhoods have you sold or helped purchase homes?
Your real estate agent must have some experience with homes in your area. Local knowledge allows an agent to highlight the features of the surrounding area that best suit potential buyers and make your home even more irresistible. Whether it’s North Vancouver, BC or Burlington, ON, having a pulse on your neighbourhood is an important consideration when choosing an agent. It’s also important that you have some background knowledge on your local real estate market.
Have a look at our local real estate updates before interviewing a Realtor. We cover most major cities in Canada.
Assess their ‘agility’
Agents that are proactive, prepared, and organized are best placed to help you negotiate a winning offer on your dream home. Often the highest price doesn’t win so researching and understanding all the factors at play is critical. And the way to assess an agent's ability to do that is to ask these questions:
Q1. What is your strategy for finding the best property for us?
This question allows you to understand how the agent will narrow down the search. Will they ask for your requirements? If yes, will they rank them and look according to your priorities. This should be standard practice, so listen to see how comfortable they are talking about this question.
Q2. We’ve written down our requirements. What concerns do you have?
In an ideal world, you will find a home that meets all of your requirements, right away, and at an excellent price. In reality, you have to balance some trade-offs. You’re testing for transparency, straightforward communication, and insightful advice. The agent should highlight potential challenges based on their local knowledge.
Q3. What do you do to prepare before proposing a viewing to me?
Do they view a home themselves before recommending it to you? Do they review condo board minutes before suggesting you see the property? How well does the home match your requirements? Do they typically provide a list of homes they disqualified and are recommending you not view?
You don’t want to be running around, viewing every home for sale. The agent will be paid a healthy commission, and so you should expect that they only suggest homes that are likely to be the winner.
Q4. What do you do to prepare for bringing me to open houses?
You will want to pour over all the features of each home before you see it. However, it’s great if your agent can provide some up-front analysis of the homes that they recommend you view, so you are better positioned to compare them. It’s also another good test of how much due diligence they typically perform on behalf of their clients.
They are the real estate professional in this business relationship, so they should be doing most of the due diligence.
Q5. When there are multiple offers, other than raising the price, what might you do to raise my chance of winning?
At this point, you want the agent to instil confidence in you that they are a winner. You want to know that they have experience using the incentives, other than price, that sellers consider in an offer.
We’ve compiled all the questions mentioned and a few other bonus questions into a PDF that you can fill in as you prospect potential real estate agents to help you buy a home. Click below to download it.
A buyer agent isn’t FREE
When purchasing a home, it’s common for buyer agents to say there is no cost for their help finding a home. That is not true. The home seller pays the buyer agent commission, and that means buyer agents get paid more when you spend more. This curious quirk of the real estate industry is why trust and aligned values in an agent relationship are paramount. To fully understand real estate commissions and the trade-offs, check out our full report on Realtor commissions:
Happy Hunting!
When you are buying what be your most valuable asset, you need a great agent. You want a local specialist who is predisposed to work well with you. Taking a little extra time to find the right Realtor will lead to a better working relationship, a less stressful selling experience, and ultimately a better home for a better price.
