The key to a successful real estate transaction is to have the right people on your team. Find out the right questions to ask when interviewing your real estate partners from the FOCUS on NoVA Real Estate team.
Something a lot of people don’t do is interview their real estate partners. They sit down and talk to one agent and just move forward with the
process but if you’re working with someone on a huge purchase such as your home or selling your home it’s great to make sure that you ask the really important questions upfront to make sure that it’s going to be a good fit for you and your real estate agent.
There are three topics that you want to be covering when you first meet a real estate agent.
EXPERIENCE
- How long have they been in the real estate industry or in the real estate market?
- Are they a full-time or part-time real estate agent?
- What areas they cover, both on the seller side?
- Have they worked in your neighborhood, in the surrounding areas or neighborhoods similar to yours?
- On the buying side, are they familiar with the different neighborhoods that you’re looking at so they have some of that insight as to what that neighborhood would have to offer that might fit your needs?
COMMUNICATION AND AVAILABILITY
When working with a full-time agent typically they tend to have a little bit
more accessibility in regard to communication in their timing to be able
to work with you as opposed to a part-time agent sometimes has another
job so their hours may be limited. That does not mean that one is better than the other, it’s just a question to ask to find out when their
availability is going to be.
Ask them about their clients. How many clients do they work with at a
time? This could give you a great idea as to how accessible they’re going to be or how hard it is to get something scheduled with them. Also talking to them and asking for past client references so you can go to someone who has worked with them to really ask some of those nitty-gritty questions as to how the process went and any potential ups or downs that may have may have happened during a transaction process. Also ask if they have a contractor list that they would be able to help you find a contractor that could be needed for jobs around the house, whether it be getting a home ready to sell (Do they have people that you can work with to get it ready to go on the market?) and on the buyer side, if there are items that come up during home inspection that you would want to get fixed.
PROCESS
Lastly the third item, which is probably the most important, is what is their
process?
Ask them about what the process is going to be like working with them specifically their communication style: do they reach out and talk to you every day; do they do it via phone text email; meet in person; or do they touch base once a week.
What is their process for searching for homes: Do they set you up on a portal and have you look?; Do they look specifically for a home and send it to you once they found the one or the one that they think is going to be the one?; or do they do a combination of all of above?
Finding out how that search process goes is huge because the biggest thing is you want to make sure you’re seeing all of your options that fit your needs without being inundated with getting listing after listing after listing. When it comes to showings ask if they go out and preview a home prior to taking you to it to make sure it’s going to be a good fit. Do they attend all the showings with you on the buyer side? They typically do but sometimes agents will have you go and search at different open houses and then if it is the one they’ll go back and and go through with you. Either of those is fine it all just depends on everyone’s schedule.
In regard to a listing agent, if you’re selling your home does the agent hold showings if a potential buyer gets in touch: do they show the house themself or do they rely on another agent to show it for them? How many open houses do they typically hold on a listing?
Once a contract is ratified on a home, find out what their policies are on attending the different inspections, their process for the financing contingency and the appraisers coming out to do a value on the home.
All of these are huge points to ask about when you are interviewing your real estate agent to find out if it’s going to be a good fit. The interview is also a good time to let your assumptions and needs be known to make sure that it’s going to be a great working relationship.
If you have any questions about Northern Virginia real estate, reach out as we are happy to help.
