How to Find a Realtor

If you are taking the time and initiative to read this guide, you know better than to simply trust that the first real estate agent who crosses your path will be able to adequately handle the complex details of your real estate purchase. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many people. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, 70 percent of people complete a real estate transaction with the first agent they made contact with.

In order to find the very best real estate agent for you, first ask friends or family who have moved to the area you are considering for referrals. If you don’t have anyone to contact in the area you are considering, try doing an internet search, such as “Orlando real estate agent,” and investigate the websites of several agents that come up. Also pay attention to agents you see advertising on Zilllow and Trulia. These will often be the most engaged and tech savvy agents.

Also, try contacting the chamber of commerce for the city you plan to move to and see if they have any recommendations. It is a good idea to contact at least a few agents in the early stages to get a feel for what to expect down the road. Be open and forthright with them if you have used the services of another agent before contacting them, so that there are no surprises for anyone later.

Ask the agents questions about their qualifications, years of experience in their market, and whether they have helped other people, particularly boomers like you, relocate to their area. They should be able to offer you written testimonials from satisfied clients. Also, since you will be new to the area, make sure the real estate agent has a strong network of local service providers such as attorneys, home inspectors, and lenders to recommend to you.

Buyer Brokerage
Buyer Brokerage is a type of agent-client relationship that you could engage in. The Exclusive Buyer Brokerage Agreement, if presented to you, is a document that essentially binds you to a certain agent, for a certain amount of time, to look for a certain type of property.

The thing to be careful of is that the agreement is usually written with you, the buyer, being held responsible for paying the agent’s fee if the seller does not agree to pay it, or paying for any shortfall in the amount required by the agent. It should be noted here that not all buyer’s agents operate in this fashion, but several do.

I’m all for working with a buyer’s agent, someone who has only your interests, not the sellers, at heart. However, because compensation is usually offered through the seller, you should request that they delete the clause requiring you to pay them their fee if the seller will not. The only exception should be in the case of the agent finding you a for-sale-by-owner property that does not offer the agent compensation.

If you wish to be shown for-sale-by-owner properties, be clear up front with the agent about how much you are willing to pay. Most agents will ask for a percentage of the sale price, usually two to three percent, but you’re better off paying them a flat fee to help you. For example, if you agree to pay a percentage, the agent makes out better when you pay $300k for a house than they would have if had they helped you negotiate a sales price of $270k.

Special Designations
As you search for an agent, you may find that the initials after their names are beginning to look a little like alphabet soup. John Smith, GRI, ABR, MBA. Jane Smith, CRB, CRS, e-Pro. It can be helpful to know what some of these letters (which abbreviate different designations that the agent has earned through experience or education) stand for. If you see an agent who has letters after their name that I haven’t mentioned, just ask what the initials stand for. I’m sure the agent would be more than happy to tell you about it.

Graduate Realtor Institute – GRI
GRIs have obtained their designation by attending a minimum of 90
hours of classroom instruction on topics including contract law,
professional standards, sales and marketing, finance, and risk reduction.

When working with a REALTOR® who has earned the GRI designation,
you are working with someone who has shown that they are dedicated to
their profession, knowledgeable, and adequately trained to help your
transaction go as smoothly as possible.

Council of Residential Specialists – CRS
Before obtaining the CRS designation, REALTORS® must have a considerable amount of experience, have conducted a certain volume of real estate deals, and must have completed rigorous educational requirements. Less than four percent of all REALTORS® are members of the Council of Residential Specialists, making it a very elite group of agents.

Certified New Home Salesperson – CSP
This is a designation that you might see when shopping for new construction homes. The CSP designation is offered to new home salespeople through the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Salespeople with the CSP designation are trained to relate to their new-home seeking customer’s wants, needs, and desires, and to guide them smoothly through the sometimes rocky road that is new construction.

Accredited Buyer Representative – ABR
ABR stands for Accredited Buyer Representative. An agent with this
designation has been specifically trained to work with different types of
buyers, such as buyers of new homes, e-buyers, and relocation buyers.
As with most of the other designations I’ve mentioned, the ABR
designation is earned by completing extensive education requirements
and possessing a proven track record of working with buyers.

Resort and Second Home Specialist
A REALTOR® with a Resort and Second Home Specialist designation can successfully guide you in your purchase of a second home or investment property in resort towns and communities. Training for this designation includes courses on creating wealth through investment real estate, managing second home and investment properties, and the essentials of international real estate. They are also trained in 1031 tax-deferred exchanges, also called “like kind” exchanges, where you can avoid paying taxes on the sale of an investment property by using the profit to purchase a property of equal or greater value. This is becoming a popular designation due to the rapid rise in second and vacation home ownership.

E-pro
If you prefer to do a large part of your home shopping online, or at least your initial research, and you would rather converse with and vet an agent through e-mail versus over the phone, than working with an e-pro may be for you. E-pros are trained to answer e-mails promptly and professionally, offer extensive property listings and other information to you electronically, all the while respecting your time and your privacy. While any REALTOR® should be able to send you pictures by e-mail of properties you may be interested in, e-pros can do that and much more. E-pros have taken the extra steps to acquire the training and expertise that will benefit the internet consumers of today.
The Rest of your Real Estate Team

In addition to your REALTOR®, you may want to have one or more of the following people on your side during your search for, and purchase of, a new home.

Attorneys
In several areas, perhaps the place you currently live, attorneys are required in all real estate transactions. Not so in some states such as Florida. However, this does not mean you should not use one, especially if it is a complex transaction, or there are clauses in the contract that you do not understand. It can certainly make you feel more comfortable having a set of trained eyes on any contract you sign. One point I would like to make, however, is that if you are buying real estate and would like the counsel of an attorney, use an attorney based in that specific local area, preferably one who specializes in real estate.

I’m sure the attorneys where you are currently living are very competent and would never purposely misguide you, but for your protection, it’s better to use an attorney who deals with real estate transactions in the local area on a daily basis. You wouldn’t use a medical malpractice attorney to defend you in a DUI case, would you? Then don’t do the same with your real estate transaction. The best way to find a real estate attorney is through a referral from your real estate agent. They should give you a list of more than one attorney to check out on your own.

Tax Advisor and Accountant
When deciding to purchase a home in a retirement community, there are a number of tax considerations you should discuss with your tax advisor or accountant. Among the many concerns is whether you should pay cash for your new home or get a mortgage so that you can get the tax deduction on the interest. This is not an easily answered question, and the answer will not be the same for everyone. But your tax advisor or accountant should be able to help you decide what’s best for you and your situation.

Financial Advisors
Buying real estate anywhere is both a financial and an emotional decision. Naturally, you will seek the guidance of as many people around you as you can. For some people, this includes seeking the guidance of their financial advisor.

Most financial advisors put their clients’ interests before their own and should be highly regarded for the contribution they can make in developing an individual’s financial strength. However, just as in any other industry, the financial advisor industry does contain some unscrupulous people who have a tendency to look out for their own interests, rather than those of the client’s. If you have done all the research you can do regarding your decision to purchase a home and feel comfortable with it financially, you should not let the advice of a financial advisor or stockbroker stand in your way.

When consulting with your advisor or broker about a real estate purchase, remember that they are usually compensated based on how much money they are directing for you. If they could stand to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars from your portfolio because you want to sell some investments to pay cash for a new home, they may not be happy about parting with your money. If you sense any personal motive in their advice to you on this matter, take your money and run, don’t walk, to find another advisor.

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