The vast majority of real estate agents are very hardworking people whose goal is to serve you by getting the best home on the market for you. Along the way, however, there are a few agents who are simply incompetent or unscrupulous, or who really don’t work very hard at all. Since you’re very likely to work with an agent when you buy a home (around 85 to 90 percent of all homes for sale are listed with agents), you need to be sure you get a good one.
Most people think picking real estate agents is like picking apples out of a barrel. There are going to be a few shiny ones here and there, a few bad ones on the bottom, but overall they are going to be pretty much the same. Unfortunately, that’s simply not true.
Yes, there are always a few bad apples, but the real distinction has to do not so much with ethics as with ability. Some agents are able to help you, but some are not.
It’s important to understand what I mean by “ability.” I’m not talking about understanding the laws of your state with regard to the licensing of agents or the selling of real estate. Today, in all states agents must pass strict tests as well as continue their education to make sure they understand what their legal and fiduciary responsibilities are. In this sense, the overwhelming number of agents are capable. It’s when it comes to serving your needs that many fall down.
Are There Active versus Inactive Offices?
Just as there are two types of agents, there are also two types of offices: the active office where sales are constantly happening, and the inactive office where the agents sit around and commiserate with one another about the slow (to them) real estate market. There are a few good ways to tell the two types of offices apart:
How to Identify Active from Inactive Offices■ An active office almost advertises heavily. Check the ads in your local paper.
■ An active office usually has quite a few agents and they always seem to be scurrying around, not sitting at their desks drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.
■ An active office usually has promotions going on to induce greater activity from agents. Walking in, you will often see “salesperson of the month” and “lister of the month” awards—TVs or trips to Hawaii for the best producers of the season, and so on.
■ Other agents will know of the active offices and often will speak of them grudgingly as people who are always getting the deals done.
■ This is just a personal observation, but I have found that active offices usually have a secretarial staff. The agents are out there selling; the staff handles the paperwork. In an inactive office (without many sales or much revenue), it seems the agents are stuck with all the secretarial duties.
Just keep in mind that the 80/20 rule still applies even in an active office. It’sjust that in an inactive office, the hot 20 percent aren’t there.
How Do I Find an Active Agent in an Active Office?
If you walk in off the street and into an active real estate office (see above), chances are actually against your getting an active agent.
2 comments:
Nice informative post buddy.
I would like to point out one thing that the process of property investment is very different to that of buying a home for example, for you and your family to live in. There are many other considerations that must be taken into account before making this big step.
The buy to let investment boom of recent times has seen many more competitive mortgage deals become available, adding fuel to an already blazing fire. Many borrowers have found that they have come unstuck whilst jumping on the bandwagon without properly researching the proposed venture.
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