Your Agent: What You Should Expect

As a Buyers’ agent, I interact with a lot of first time home buyers who are just entering the real estate market and have never worked with a Realtor before. In addition, I come across a fair amount of people who have spent time working with another agent and have come away empty handed and frustrated. If you fit into either of these groups, it might benefit you to have a clear understanding of what to expect when you work with a real estate agent. Read on for some tips about what you should expect from a high quality agent – and some advice as to what you shouldn’t expect.

Information

Your agent’s number one job isn’t to open up doors for you – it’s to educate you about the market, answer your questions, and provide you with professional advice. If you are a first time home buyer, your agent should walk you through the entire buying process before you ever sit down to write an offer. She should provide you with information about the comparable sales in the neighborhood; her opinion of value and her thoughts on offer strategies.

Support

Once you have an accepted offer, your agent should guide you through every step of the escrow process. She should be present for all inspections and should provide you with reminders about what you need to complete on your end. She should keep you informed about all communications with the listing agent and work with you to negotiate through any challenges that come up.

Availability

In the age of smart phones, email, and text, it should be pretty easy to get ahold of your agent. Getting back to my clients quickly is a top priority for me – I try to respond to all inquires within 2 -3 hours if at all possible, and I generally respond to email early in the morning and late at night. A great agent will try to accommodate you as much as possible, but just try to be respectful and realistic with your expectations about response times.

Scheduling Showings

You just saw an awesome new listing pop up on the MLS, so you call you agent and ask her to meet you at the house in 20 minutes. As much as your agent is probably dying to show you that hot property, we need as much notice possible – 24 hours is ideal – to show properties. If the property is still seller occupied, we will need to set up an appointment before going over. Occasionally, a vacant property will pop up and we may be able to rush over there and show it on short notice. But expect that generally we may need a bit more time to get things set up.

Ethics

A professional agent should uphold her responsibility to represent you and your interests to the best of her ability – it’s very important for you to feel that you can trust your agent. However, your agent needs to trust you as well! If you ask her to do something unethical or illegal, don’t expect her to accommodate your request. The best client-agent relationships are based on mutual respect.

If you’d like more information about what to expect from a real estate agent, feel free to contact me!