4 Ways to Tell Your Agent Is Useless
When you are looking to buy a new home, a real estate agent is an invaluable asset….most of the time.
If you have the misfortune of aligning yourself with an ‘ineffective’ agent, you’ll wonder why you didn’t just do the job yourself. Just like a great agent can make your life a whole lot easier, a poor one can make it pretty difficult and end up hurting you in the long run.
Here are 4 ways to tell your real estate agent is useless:
1) Doesn’t Ask Questions If a Toronto real estate agent is going to do a top-notch job for you, he or she must have a complete and thorough understanding of what you want. If they don’t know what you want they can’t get you what you want, which would make them, well…useless.
If your agent doesn’t take the time to ask you questions like these, find yourself a new agent:
· How much do you want to spend on your future home?
· Will spending that amount leave you house “poor”?
· Have you been pre-approved for a mortgage, if so, how much?
· How long have you been looking for a home?
· Do you have a preferred area of town you want to live?
· Do you have a preferred time frame in which you would like to move?
· Will your children be going to Public or Private school?
· How important is Public Transportation?
· Do you prefer a two-storey, bungalow, detached, semi-detached, finished basement?
· Are you aware of what your closing costs will be and have you budgeted for that?
You get the picture. Lots of questions equal lots of knowledge and lots of understanding about your needs – and that should be the focus of any good real estate agent.
2) Doesn’t Listen
An agent that seems to disregard your instructions and requests is even more annoying than one that doesn’t ask enough questions. If you’ve made it clear what you want and where you want it, but the agent keeps showing you wrong properties in the wrong areas for the wrong price, you’ve got a useless agent.
It’s also essential that your agent takes the time to preview some of the homes you’re going to see, just to ensure they meet your criteria. That way, you can be informed of any of the home’s features that might not fit your criteria ahead of time and you can decide if it’s worth a look.
3) Doesn’t Make Time
An agent that is consistently looking and setting up viewings for you is obviously making an effort to work with you and your requirements. However, an agent that doesn’t seem to have time for you is really doing nothing at all. Busy agents don’t have all the time in the world to be at your disposal, but you should expect calls and emails answered in a timely fashion.
The whole real estate industry runs on a tight schedule, so you need to know that you can reach your agent when you need to. If the question or request you have is time-sensitive and you have to wait a couple days for a response, you have hooked up with a useless agent.
4) LAZY
Unfortunately there are agents out there that just don’t work very hard. Watch out for agents that continually send you to open houses as opposed to arranging private showings. How can you be provided comments, advice and suggestions if you aren’t even going through the house with your agent?
Make sure if you do like the house that your agent does a follow up visit with you.
Watch out for the “fax offer”. Now, sometimes Buyer agents don’t have a choice and have to fax the offer at the insistence of the Seller. But, if not your interests are best served by your agent being there in person to Present your offer and offer you constent
updates on the situation.
Finally, beware the “this is the house for you”…… When you start to hear that at every home you go to, run for the hills!!! We promise that your Slavens agent will never be a useless agent! Our agents are dedicated professionals who will work hard to find you the perfect Toronto home for sale. Contact us today to set up a meeting with a Slavens agent.
