Choosing the right Waterloo Region real estate agent to help you sell your home is a crucial part of the process. Buying a home in the Waterloo Region is made far more efficient by working with a buyer's agent is a great strategy too, and in this case doing so won't cost you anything.
But as one Google search turns up so many real estate agents, real estate teams and 'alternative selling' options, how are you supposed to make the right choice?
Interviewing several local real estate agents before making a decision is often a smart idea, and doing a little ‘detective work’ into their past performance does not hurt either. Check their Google My Business page as well as their website, and taking a peek at their social media presences can be very helpful as well (more on the importance of those later.)
Sometimes, however, what seemed like a good fit at the beginning of the Waterloo Region home buying or home selling process between client and agent turns out, as the days and weeks go on, to not be quite as harmonious after all.
However, there are many ways to gauge if your agent is doing a good job. Here we look at some top signs of a bad, at least for you, real estate agent.
Communication is Stalled
If you are buying or selling your Waterloo Region home, it’s perfectly natural that the venture is on your mind pretty much every day. And while you can’t expect your real estate agent to check in with you every day if they do not have a potential buyer for you or a great new listing for you to consider, if a week goes by, and they haven’t checked in, then that’s not a good sign.
He or she should be touching base with you regularly to keep you up to date on the work being done on your behalf, and they should be willing to do that in the way that works best for you, as in phone calls versus texts, or Zoom calls versus personal meetings. And if they don’t then it may be time to make a change.
They are Not Great Leaders
By definition, a real estate agent is supposed to be a real estate expert. It’s their job to offer solid advice and guidance throughout the buying or selling process. If your real estate agent agrees with you on every point – especially asking price – this is the sign of someone who’s just eager to please–not someone who’s committed to doing the best possible job at representing your interests in the real estate market.
As real estate agents, we want to ensure our clients are happy, but that included that they are happy with the end result of their transaction. So, if a home seller is pushing a little too hard to set an asking price that we know, as experienced local real estate agents, is unrealistic we will tell them so (nicely)
They Aren’t Marketing Your Home Enough
Most real estate agents will use all the tools at their disposal to market your home to the public and help you find a new one that meets your needs. Some, however, will do next to nothing and rely on other real estate agents to market your home to their clients.
You have a right to expect that a real estate agent will get great photographs taken of your property, get a great property video made - see one of Team Pinto's below for an example - write good listing descriptions and market it anywhere where it might draw interest.
These days this should include real estate websites, social media channels, local print listings and more. A good agent is aware that the way real estate is successfully marketed in the 21st century is very different than it was just a few years ago. So if a real estate agent says they are not very tech-savvy, or their business social media pages haven't been updated in months and/or their website looks like it dates back to the AOL days, it's not a good sign.
Sure, your home might sell without this extra effort with the right market conditions, but is that really the kind of person to whom you want to pay a commission?
They’re A Bit Too Pushy
As we mentioned earlier, a good real estate agent will offer their advice and expertise. However, if you feel your agent pushing you in any particular direction, this should send up a red flag. Especially when you’re buying a home, there is no real reason an agent should want you to buy any particular home over another.
If you get the feeling this isn’t the case, you could be being steered toward homes listed by your agent or your agent’s brokerage, which can produce additional commissions for your agent. That’s against the rules, but that does not mean it does not happen.
