9 Attributes Your Real Estate Professional Must Have

Look for a real estate professional that’s pro-active. Don’t settle for someone that just waits for the apple to fall into her lap. Go for that realtor® that acts on leads by following up with them.

What if they’re excellent among their peers? They should be working to meet with you even if you are uncertain about who you will be hiring.

If an agent is politely checking on you periodically this is a good thing.

Follow up is one of those attributes that spills over into the transaction side of the process.

Great follow up skills will better ensure that your details won’t fall through the cracks when the going gets tough.

See if she’s good at setting appointments and is prompt on attending them.

Is she well-prepared during the first few meetings? Is she ready to answer your questions? She could answer your questions if she had the time to review essential figures related to your property, neighborhood, and the overall local market.

Do you feel like you’re a priority to this agent. In your mind are they behaving like the real estate professional you envisioned? Then she might be the right one or you can check it to see how to choose the right agent.

Your real estate professional or realtor® must have a vivid picture of the way you want the deal to go. Sellers and buyer want the deal to be closed as soon as possible. Does your prospect show positive signs that he/she is onto efficiently achieving this goal?

If your real estate professional prioritizes closing your deal faster, he/she prepares everything that is needed to remove the obstacles along the way. Your agent must know how to deal with conflicts before they confront you. Ask your prospective realtor® how they handle home inspection issues that pop up on the reports. Does he speak to you before the marketing process?

Does he show you the value of disclosing rather than hiding issues with your property? Hiding potential problem is never wise. Be extra careful with this because these problems might cost you more than you can imagine. Buyers need to know the issues before going on the process of home buying. The home inspection report will reveal them so that you know what you are walking into. The cost to have a home inspector go through the property is nominal.

Also, letting the buyers know about the issues can help you have an excellent buyer-seller relationship. What an active agent does is proposing a solution that could make the two parties meet halfway. It might not be a winner-takes-all situation for you, but at least you got a good deal out of the whole process. Research shows honesty in real estate marketing is one of the keys to arriving at positive solutions. Even in the most heated parts of real estate contract negotiation, there is room and need for balance.

While realtors® are best in objectively dealing with real estate deals, your agent must be excellent in making and maintaining their good relationship with you. It also goes the same with their past clients. Is your agent good about communication? Can he/she keep updates through appropriate channels like phone, text or email? Does he/she always let you know where you stand?

Also, your real estate professional should be the one calling you and not the other way around. If you find yourself begging for information about the deal you hired them for, then you are likely in an undesirable position. Good agents always return phone calls too and are good listeners. No matter how many clients they juggle at a time, you shouldn’t feel like you are an afterthought.

Series of canceled meetings are also a bad sign. Your agent should know how to honor our time correctly. Unless it’s emergency, last minute cancellation is never good. Putting relationships first is critical in having a sustainable real estate experience.

Relationships Translate Into Victories

You have to win. The other side might be able to win too.

Either way, you need to get all that the market will give you at the end of the day.

So hire wisely.

There will be pluses and minuses to any property. Pros and cons will be lying on the different corners of the rooms, waiting to be evaluated. Your agent must know how to emphasize the excellent selling points. Displaying them in their most attractive light is a good idea. Any good professional agent will also have a problem-solver mentality, turning negatives into positive will be a no-brainer for them.

Example:

Let’s say you have a solar-powered home in Scottsdale. We find the perfect buyer. An appraiser gets assigned to the transaction who has never appraised a home in your area with solar panels. This could go really bad if not properly navigated.

Here. John explains the need for an expert. In this case a certified green energy appraiser is the right professional for the job.

Choose Experts Not Rookies

Having an appraiser assigned to the transaction who is not competent is not going to benefit anyone. So it’s important to know how to vet them out so that all of the hard work done to bring you together with this buyer doesn’t fall apart.

For starters, having attention to detail is a notable characteristic. It’s one of the keys to achieving a win-win deal with the buyer. If your agent can turn the negative into positive, then both of you can benefit. Considering this situation, the buyer should also get his/her money’s worth. Letting the buyer have a ‘grudge purchase’ is not the point.

While the saying ‘customer is always right’ is excellent around the block, this phrase doesn’t hold true when it comes to the real estate market. Often, your real estate pro should know best. As professionals in this field, agents have seen the odds in home buying in all angles. Active agents must understand your needs and with all their knowledge, must also be able to adapt to your needs. Can your realtor® grasp the connection with your home? Are you trying to sell your family home or investment property? These fundamental questions might be pretty easy, but they can draw the line between a flop and a successful real estate deal.

Ask questions about how your real estate professional handles his profession such as:

✅ Is the realtor® trying to learn everything he/she can about you?

✅ Is your agent letting you have variable options depending on your needs and preferences?

✅ Do they care about learning all things real estate? The jargon, the overall market, the particular neighborhoods, the houses for sale, all the essential statistics?

✅ Is he knowledgeable about innovations in business, architecture, and amenities?

✅ Do they have the low-down about the local individual property and location?

You’ll see what this section is talking about once you focus on how your real estate professional caters to your needs as a buyer or seller.

The idea of bettering oneself is a common idealism for most people. For a real estate professional, this should be a constant mantra. Since the process of real estate marketing and pricing is a volatile matter, seasoned agents know how crucial it is always to seek self-improvement to further better their craft.

See if your real estate professional maintains a positive attitude. It’s also important to see if they performed well with their previous clients. Knowing how they can handle criticisms is also advisable.

Know Thy Agent

Be sure your chosen agent is one who presents themselves with dignity in both attire and persona. Make certain that this is someone you are comfortable talking to. Remember, you will be having quite a few conversations with this person. The last thing you want to do is hire someone who you don’t jive with.

All success stories take time, and this is so for real estate professionals too. From lead generating to finally selling a property, everything consumes time and effort. Find out if your real estate agent indeed took time in bettering him/herself over the years.

Real Estate Professional Skill and Education

Find out if your prospective agent is investing in their growth. Ask some (or all) of the following questions…

• Is your Arizona real estate license up to date?
• Do you have any designations that establish you as a professional who is going above and beyond?
• Does your brokerage invest in you?
• Do you invest in your own training?
• On a scale of 1-10 how skilled are you at online digital marketing?

Some of the most effective agent professionals belong to the best teams. It’s one of the advantages of working in a team; everyone’s effort reflects everyone. A reputable company speaks so much about its agents. It doesn’t matter whether your real estate agent works under a big name brand agency or not. If your realtor® knows how to build a business network, he/she can still make the inroad into the buyer population that you will need if you are selling your home.

Most of the time, successful agents also make efforts in building mutually-beneficial relationships with loan officers, home inspectors, appraisers, attorneys, buyers, and sellers. One of the best ways to find out if your perspective choice has this quality is to look into their profiles. Look them up in sites like LinkedIn, Google Reviews etc.

Taking Full Advantage of Available Resources

Your chosen pro should also know how to maximize available resources. One of which is technology. See if the one you have in mind has a well-run website or social media platforms. These sites are great primary sources of leads and referrals, and effective realtor® know this very well. They don’t just leave this job to the ‘IT’ guy. They invest in internet marketing platforms because they want to pursue a career in the most efficient way. The agent needs to be an online marketing expert if they want to represent their clients effectively.

When you were looking for a trustworthy real estate professional in a certain area, was there a name that continually pops up?

If yes, that’s good news. While hiring an agent from a big brand name, having someone that has built his personal reputation based on his past clients is a total plus.

In addition, agents who gave an excellent impression to their previous clients are a rare find. If you’re looking for a real estate property in an area where you’ve got no family and friends to ask for advice, going online is also a good choice.

Some sites have a list of pros in an area. Look them up and scan through the reviews. Be sure to pull up sections with honest reviews. Then you’ll know who performed really well.

Knowing someone without actually meeting them has become possible today. All thanks to social media platforms and websites, you can now feed on the information available online. Not only fan girls of the best artists in the world can take advantage of this.

First, see if your real estate professional has a website and other social media presence. Twitter, Google+ Pinterest, and Instagram are some of the many sites you can visit. These sites are an excellent help in marketing properties. If your realtor® has them, it becomes more meaningful to invest in his/her marketing plan. If your agent has these sites, more buyers can see your property. So, the more people who can view your property means more chances of people making an offer.

What’s the best takeaway of all these?

You can save time and effort in selling your home. Your real estate professional and those websites can do the job for you.

Now that You Know the 9 Attributes Your Real Estate Professional Must Have, You Can Start Looking for One. For Starters, Read the Following Best Tips to Find a Realtor:

✅ Make a List of Questions

As a seller, you would want to have the highest price in the shortest span of time. Selling a home on your own doesn’t often go well. This is why finding a local pro that knows the in and out of a job is essential. Before you start interviewing agents for the job, list questions that could give you an idea of how they will go about achieving your goal. Questions that could find out if they’re a neighborhood expert or how out of the box their marketing plan is.

✅ Have They Explained the Home Selling Process

If you’re a first time seller, getting to know and understanding the home selling process is essential. Let your realtor® explain the process thoroughly. Know what to expect. Take note that overpricing is a no-no. It can make your property sit in the listing longer than it should have been. Having a timely closing is one of the main goals.

✅ Note recommendations

As discussed above, having a realtor® that’s been recommended to you is a good thing. If you don’t have friends or family recommendation, see what people online are talking about. Some sites list agents and their previous client’s reviews. If you can, talk to the agent’s recent clients. Their testimonials might answer all your questions. Note them all to see who has the best reputation as far as you can tell.

✅ Ask About Photos and Video

The visual representation of your property as seen on the internet is crucial. Adding excellent photos and videos that best mirror your property pulls potential buyers a step closer to sealing a deal. Ask your agent for examples of photos he/she has posted.

With all the names that pop up whenever you search for real estate agents online, it’s almost impossible to see which of them are the best. All thanks to the diversity of social media platforms, you can now tell which of them took time in making their presence felt online. These platforms speak for the agent first before they can even meet you in person.

Agents in the Eastern US

• Bill Gassett – Massachusetts
• Chris & Karen Highland – Frederick Maryland
• Lynn Pineda – SE Florida
• Kyle Hiscock – Rochester NY
• Petra Norris – Lakeland FL
• Jeff Nelson – Alabama
• Eileen Anderson – Connecticut
• Anita Clark – Georgia
• Ryan Fitzgerald – Raleigh NC
• Paul Sian – Cincinnati OH

Agents in the West US

• Conor MacEvilly – Seattle
• Joy Bender – La Joya Cali
• Sharon Paxson – Newport Cali
• Debbie Drummond – Las Vegas NV

Across the Pond

• Xavier De Buck – South Africa

How To Use An Influencer Event (Market Luxury Real Estate) – by Joy Bender

16 Real Estate Questions You’ve Been Afraid To Ask A Realtor – Lynn Pineda

10 Things To Expect From Your Real Estate Agent When Selling A Home – by Kyle Hiscock

Difference Between Real Estate Agents Who Work With Sellers or Buyers – by Bill Gassett

Tips For Picking The Right Realtor – by Paul Sian

Things to Consider When Selling a Home in 2019 {Infographic} – by Ryan Fitzgerald