Tell me about...

J&K10910 · January 2012

Picking a realtor? I have one recommendation from someone in our area that bought a house about a year ago. I had a couple friends have really shitty realtors and it made the home buying process totally blow for them. We don't want that.

So how do I know if a realtor is good or crappy? What questions do I ask? Please don't tell me to go ask on the Nest because I'll kick you.

LP11509 · January 2012

We will probably use the realtor that my parents used here. But, one of my former coworkers mentioned that she read reviews on Zillow, and that's how she picked hers.

http://www.zillow.com/directory/real-estate-agents

That's all I got.

MandK9 · January 2012

I remember that my parents used to find their realtors basically through friends' recommendations. H and I found one that we would like to use in the future, because we went and checked out a house that was on the market that we ended up not wanting, but she struck us as really knowledgeable and friendly, and we checked her credentials through the company she worked for.

J&K10910 · January 2012

I LOVE ZILLOW!

I've looked, and not too many agents in our area actually have ratings, which is kind of lamesauce.

VeggieLove1022 · January 2012

Definitely go from word of mouth recommendations. We didn't, and although I've only worked with one realtor, I think she's awful.

She sets us up for houses just fine, but if she thinks we like a house it's awful. She calls/texts me non stop, "You may want to put in an offer real quick so no one else does!" "Have you thought about what your offer will be?" "Hey, give me a call so we can talk about you putting in an offer!" all day and night.

At work I can't get on my phone easily, and every day I'll have 4-6 missed calls/ texts asking me about an offer. The damn house has been on the marked for over 450 days. I don't think anyone's putting in an offer anytime soon and we haven't even decided if we like the house enough.

september's bride · January 2012

J, when we started looking at homes and talking about a realtor, we actually went to a lot of open houses and chatted up the realtors that were hosting them. We got a vibe pretty quickly on who was genuine and who was pushy, and we ended up hiring a realtor we met that way. We chose him because we gave him an idea of what we wanted in a home, what we wanted to spend, and he drew us a map of areas where we could start looking and places to stay away from (we were new to the city) way before we were prepared to hire him. He even gave us a breakdown in a pros vs cons way of different types of housing in the city, and we'd only just met.

Point being, he made the effort right off the bat, listened to us, and wasn't pushy in just trying to make a sale. He ended up showing us like, 40 houses and wasn't afraid to say, this one's crap, or this one's not worth what they're asking.

Also, like anyone else providing you a service, don't be afraid to ask for references/testimonials. People who do good, honest work have no shortage of people who'll vouch for them.

pirategal03 · January 2012

Ask them what their process is usually like. Will they pick houses for you to see or will you need to research the listings? Will they work as a liason between you and the bank/lawyer/inspector or will you need to schedule things yourself? Does the company have a policy about dual agents? (when we bought our house, the policy was if we used a realtor from their company and bought a house offered by another realtor in that company then both realtors were acting as dual agents.)

Ask if they prefer e-mail or phone call contact, and what they expect their turnaround time to be when you have a question, an hour, a day? Ask if they are available to show you houses on the weekends or duing the week or whenever is best for you (this should never be a no, but you can judge if they're annoyed by Sunday showings or anything like that).

Ask what kind of contract you will need to sign, if any. Many companies will make you sign an agreement that if you see a house while working with them and decide to buy, you must use them for the purchase.

Ask what areas of town they generally work in/are experts on.

Nattie24 · January 2012

Read the reviews on different websites.

I would call and ask the receptionist (call at the end of the day, really no one calls after 4-- I've worked at real estate offices in the past). Who they would want to help them buy a home or sell a home. They know, based on what they see in the office (or sometimes they never see them). It might be strange to ask, but the receptionist might know more than these websites, even if they've never had to buy or sell a home.

J&K10910 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_tell-12?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:7ec67f03-888e-4c73-899d-1312deb99a79Post:fba1779f-923b-428a-8b07-7c642926e383">Re: Tell me about...</a>:
[QUOTE]J, when we started looking at homes and talking about a realtor, we actually went to a lot of open houses and chatted up the realtors that were hosting them. We got a vibe pretty quickly on who was genuine and who was pushy, and we ended up hiring a realtor we met that way. We chose him because we gave him an idea of what we wanted in a home, what we wanted to spend, and he drew us a map of areas where we could start looking and places to stay away from (we were new to the city) way before we were prepared to hire him. He even gave us a breakdown in a pros vs cons way of different types of housing in the city, and we'd only just met. Point being, he made the effort right off the bat, listened to us, and wasn't pushy in just trying to make a sale. He ended up showing us like, 40 houses and wasn't afraid to say, this one's crap, or this one's not worth what they're asking. Also, like anyone else providing you a service, don't be afraid to ask for references/testimonials. People who do good, honest work have no shortage of people who'll vouch for them.
Posted by september's bride[/QUOTE]

I actually love this idea. Thank you!

pirategal03 · January 2012

And also all of what September said.

J&K10910 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_tell-12?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:7ec67f03-888e-4c73-899d-1312deb99a79Post:909fa9e4-4e65-44e1-85da-9451ec65d6e4">Re: Tell me about...</a>:
[QUOTE]Ask them what their process is usually like. Will they pick houses for you to see or will you need to research the listings? Will they work as a liason between you and the bank/lawyer/inspector or will you need to schedule things yourself? Does the company have a policy about dual agents? (when we bought our house, the policy was if we used a realtor from their company and bought a house offered by another realtor in that company then both realtors were acting as dual agents.) Ask if they prefer e-mail or phone call contact, and what they expect their turnaround time to be when you have a question, an hour, a day? Ask if they are available to show you houses on the weekends or duing the week or whenever is best for you (this should never be a no, but you can judge if they're annoyed by Sunday showings or anything like that). Ask what kind of contract you will need to sign, if any. Many companies will make you sign an agreement that if you see a house while working with them and decide to buy, you must use them for the purchase. Ask what areas of town they generally work in/are experts on.
Posted by pirategal03[/QUOTE]

Great questions, thank you!

Interesting approach, Nattie. Thanks!

allisong23 · January 2012

Do you have Zip Realty out by you? We used them and our guy was great, and you get a cut of the commission. You have to do a lot of the preliminary work, but it was worth it.
http://www.ziprealty.com/

kd.joseph · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_tell-12?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:7ec67f03-888e-4c73-899d-1312deb99a79Post:d01c0292-045f-4774-8191-dcc76954967e">Tell me about...</a>:
[QUOTE]Picking a realtor? I have one recommendation from someone in our area that bought a house about a year ago. I had a couple friends have really shitty realtors and it made the home buying process totally blow for them. We don't want that. So how do I know if a realtor is good or crappy? What questions do I ask? Please don't tell me to go ask on the Nest because I'll kick you.
Posted by J&K10910[/QUOTE]

Which area are you looking at Jes? My DH's sister lives in Brook Park and she loved her realtor, they were moving from Dallas.

september's bride · January 2012

You're welcome, and good luck in your hunt! We're back in the market for a new home, and considering going the private seller route. It seems a bit ambitious to me, but if I can suck it up and try, I think we can save a bunch on the realtor's commissions.

In actually purchasing a house, though, I think I'll always go with a realtor. I'm just not savvy enough to look for all the little (and likely expensive) issues they do.

J&K10910 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_tell-12?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:7ec67f03-888e-4c73-899d-1312deb99a79Post:ccaf30b3-e5ae-4259-b09e-dedbc996f993">Re: Tell me about...</a>:
[QUOTE]Do you have Zip Realty out by you? We used them and our guy was great, and you get a cut of the commission. You have to do a lot of the preliminary work, but it was worth it. <a href="http://www.ziprealty.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ziprealty.com/</a>
Posted by allisong23[/QUOTE]

Looks like they're not in MN, which sucks, because we already have a really good idea of what we want which would make doing the prelim work easy.

kd.joseph · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_tell-12?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:7ec67f03-888e-4c73-899d-1312deb99a79Post:261adc68-d064-418c-9394-115fcccbdd79">Re: Tell me about...</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Tell me about... : Great questions, thank you! Interesting approach, Nattie. Thanks!
Posted by J&K10910[/QUOTE]

Also, when I was selling my house, the people I ended up going with were on it about business. She had the comps ready before we met and she always answered me quickly. She had my video loaded within a week of hiring her and sold in 2 months.

But, your not moving to Ohio :) Just telling you what to look for, the guy I fired before was lazy.

aghouston86 · January 2012

Check out http://www.ziprealty.com/

They also have recommendations for realtors in your area, with reviews.

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