Flipping Rich

I met on online friend of mine Erika in person Friday night.

One thing we talked about that seems like a good topic here is “how do you feel out your realtor, or get a good idea of how well they know what they are doing?”. Great question!

So here are a few little tips. This will grow by the way, its just my first thoughts.

First, if you are buying a house, has the person representing you in that purchase been through the same process, or own their own home? No joke, plenty of real estate sales people do not own their own home. And while it far from a requirement on the knowledge side, it certainly helps. If you are buying your first home and want to do some improvements, how experienced is your realtor on making/doing those improvements. Folks, Im not talking about painting. How about boilers/furnace, roofing, putting in new copper plumbing (if the house currently has galvanized plumbing), electrical service improvements, kitchen remodel, tile and the list goes on.

During your inspection some of this will be pointed out. And if you have a good inspector they will take the time to explain any concerns, and how to address those concerns. But shouldnt you have a heads up before investing the $350 (or so) on the inspection?

If you are buying a condo, what kind of experience does your agent have with condos? In the Twin Cities a bulk of the inventory is from condo conversions, especially the first time buyer price ranges. There are some new components to look for for condos. Has you realtor owned a condo? Have they put their own money into a condo conversion, or helped a developer through the process? Its a small percentage of realtors that have actually done any condo conversions, or represented with their hands on the process, in a condo conversion.

If you are buying a rental property how much experience does your agent have? Do they own rentals? Anything from a single family rental to apartment buildings, anything will help. However if you are looking for something large make sure your representative has experience with that product. Having done both single family rentals, and apartment building rentals, I can tell you its a whole different ballgame!

This almost seems too obvious, however I have talked to many people that have bought a product from an agent that has no experience, and the results are bad. Of course we only hear about the bad situations, there are plenty of success stories too.

A few other clues. How easy is it to get in touch with your agent? If you leave them an email, or voicemail, how quick to you get an answer?

Does your agent have another job? An appliance realtor? Probably not a good sign if they are.

I want to stress that I do not think this is so important, but an indicator that requires some investigation, how long has the agent been in real estate?

Lastly, for now, how resourceful are they? If you ask a question do you get a blank stare, or brush off? Can they get information to you quick (even if they dont know the answer right off)? Or worse, do they claim to know everything.

Those are just a few preliminary clues.