A comment from reader seattle price drop in yesterday’s post got me thinking. In discussing what kind of research to do for an impending real estate purchase, spd suggested:
Step 2) Interview several realtors. Do this with an eye to finding out who will be truthful and represent your interests well when the time comes to buy.
I just got back from a talk with a realtor. I walked in off the street, no appointment.
I asked questions like:
- how’s the market between this year and last?
- Where do you think this market is going?
- How many people took out ARM’s in this area?
- Do you think we’re heading for a lot of foreclosures?
Many of us would like to eventually purchase a home, once the market settles down, so the subject of how to select a real estate agent (or whether to go through an agent at all) is definitely a relevant one.
Personally, I’ve got a black list of people I’ll definitely never work with, consisting of the various agents that have emailed me or left comments on here basically telling me how stupid I am not to jump into real estate NOW.
So are you using this interesting time in the market to screen agents for the future when you are ready to buy? What kinds of questions would you suggest asking to separate the wheat from the chaff?