After all these years, I’m also still looking…
Just kidding, but I do acknowledge how hard it seems to be to find a good agent. Especially as a first time homebuyer, when you’re not sure what you’re looking for, or what to even ask.
I can’t promise a magic formula, but I can share with you what I’ve learned over the years, and what my approach would be if I was in your shoes.
Selecting A Real Estate Agent
Word of mouth is always a good place to start. Ask your friends, family, and colleagues. Ask what they liked about their agent, and how issues were handled.
A little internet research, or asking an AI chatbot can also give you some good options as well. Just make sure to check the source, and look at the age of the reviews. I personally had a very frustrating experience with an appliance tech that had over 60+ 5⭐ reviews, yet was extremely incompetent over an easy fix. On a closer look, none of the reviews were over 4 months old, even if the accounts looked legit. Fake reviews are becoming more and more sophisticated.
Once you have a few different contacts, schedule interviews with them, and get a feel for each person. Look for the following green flags:
- Curiosity. Are they trying to find out more about your situation, or are they busy talking about how great they are, and how many sales they’ve had?
- Authenticity (and care). Are they censoring themselves, or expressing authentic opinions and genuine care? If you suggest a terrible purchase idea, do they indulge you, or do they cautiously and politely try to walk you off the edge? A good agent has a vested interest in their client’s long term satisfaction with a home purchase (care), vs just making a quick commission.
- Education vs execution. Do they give input and help shape your choices with their experience? Or do they just execute on your stated information? You’re paying for expertise, not for automation. Finding a listing theses days is easy, but knowing how to negotiate on it is a separate skill.
- Great communication. Your agent should communicate consistently, and in a way that works for YOU. Is their communication is inconsistent, your transaction will suffer, and small issues are likely to become big ones. I don’t care how reputable they are, if they’re too busy to help you, find someone that isn’t. Buyers are rarely the issue, I promise you. A good agent will fire you, and let you know why. A bad agent will ghost you, hoping they’ll still make a commission once you’ve worn yourself down.
There are some specific things you should ask about during your interview, such as:
- their knowledge about a specific location if that’s what you’re targeting
- thoughts on the current market values and trends
- availability for showings to make sure it works with your schedule
- whether you’ll work with them, or be passed on to team members or assistants
- what their brokerage fees are
- their negotiation style (have then run a hypothetical scenario)
- do they have mortgage lenders, home inspectors and title companies they recommend?
- the preferred duration of your contract with them, and why.
My two cents:
Availability for showings is usually not a problem, until you’re under contract and realize your agent has limited availability on weekends, or it takes them a few days to schedule each showing (absent any seller roadblocks). Set expectations upfront.
Assistants or team members doing the actual work with you point to a good marketer, and not necessarily a good agent. Your home purchase may end up as one of the many in an efficient system that the agent has in place to spit out commissions, not buyer satisfaction. Find someone with the knowledge and the time to walk you through the process.
Any brokerage fee on top of the normal negotiated commission can be waived. Your agent’s commission should already be generous enough that they can cover that fee on your behalf.
The company an agent keeps will tell you quite a bit about their priorities. Recommending a mortgage company with which they have a marketing agreement (such as Zillow, Redfin etc) means you’ll likely pay more on your mortgage than if you were to shop around. The good news is that you don’t have to use their “preferred” lender. The bad news is that your agent probably cares more about their referal partner than of protecting your interests.
Signing Legally Binding Paperwork
Your agent will invest their time and resources in helping you find a home. Because of this, they will require that you sign a legally binding form which will protect their interests, and outline your agreement.
In Utah, the form is called the “Exclusive Buyer Broker Agreement & Agency Disclosure”. It details important things such as how long you are required to work with your agent, and the amount of commission you agree they will be paid. This has to be signed before an agent can start showing you homes (it’s a newer legal requirement).
Keep in mind that everything is negotiable, and you don’t have to blindly sign what’s put in front of you. There is even an addendum to the form that can be used later on to modify it (assuming both parties agree).
The duration of your contract is negotiable, but you won’t be able to use another agent to represent you during this period.
Up to 3 months with the possibility of extending it is more than a reasonable time frame to start with. You can even have a contract limited to a specific home showing, or County. If you agent agrees, you can do a single month to test things out.
What you don’t want to do is agree to a 6 to 9 month contract without knowing if your agent of choice is a good fit, or even competent. Spend some time with them, and see how they work before committing on a longer term.
Terminating Or Changing a Contract With An Agent
This one is tricky, but not impossible. Like mentioned above, there is an addendum to the exclusive buyer-broker agreement that modify terms, so it’s not all set in stone.
You can’t unilaterally decide to terminate the contract.
If you’re having issues with your agent, you should first talk to them. If that’s unsuccessful, you should then contact their real estate broker. Depending on the issue, the broker will likely try to match you with a different agent in their brokerage that could be a better fit.
In the rare cases of extreme incompetence, fraud and or misrepresentation, you can threaten or even get the Utah Division of Real Estate involved.
If you got so excited by the prospect of going under contract on a home that you skipped reading the paperwork, you’re not alone. It happens all the time.
Most transactions still close if they’re under contract. Other buyers may postpone their home search until the contract expires, at which point they hire a more researched agent. A few select buyers learn so much from the botched transaction that they decide to get their real estate license and do better.
Mortgage loans are my jams, but I maintain an active real estate license for my professional development. If this was helpful to you, or if you have more questions, I’d love to hear from you.
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