Would you look for a different realtor? How did you find yours?

[moonsky]

We were introduced to a current one by Dh's aunt. She is one of her friends through the bookclub they are members. We haven't used much of her service yet except getting few listings and answers for general questions.

Thanks for internet. I looked at other real estates websites, i.e, Redfin, Metrolistmls, zillows and found out that she didn't send us qualified houses with lower prices. Instead, they were all almost max of our price range. Also, she often sent us the ones that had been in the markets for several month, not new listing. I just check her credential. She has worked for five years.

Her website looks great and advertised that she is the top 1% of realtors in the city. She is really pretty based on the pic she put up there. We haven't met her in person.

So far, I don't trust her as she didn't answer all my questions and her incomplete listings. I have got a lot better info by posting questions here and City-data forum.

Am I expecting too much? I feel like she hasn't worked hard. She hasn't shown us any houses yet as we don't live in the area. WWYD? I don't want to upset Dh's aunt but I don't think she is doing a good job.

[newg]

that's tough..........when we bought and sold our first house and then bought this one we used a realtor that is married to one of DH's old college roommates...........I think we would have burned some bridges if we hadn't used her (he's a cooky guy and would have held it against us) and in the end (both times) felt we did more work finding houses and selling ours then she did..........

How close is your aunt to this lady....how close are you to your aunt??
If you're close with her, could you talk to her about it.............maybe mention you don't feel a good connection with this lady and want to find someone else?

using family/friend realtors is tough..................

[writermama]

We fired a realtor under similar circumstances. He had been recommended by friends of ours in the area when we were relocating. Before we made a trip to the area to look at houses we told him what we were looking for. We traveled to meet with him and look at the listings he selected for us -- none of them remotely fit the description we gave him. We felt like we were being hustled ... that he was showing us houses just above our price range and old listings that he needed to move. He wasted our time. And since we had to fly to the area and had travel expenses, he wasted our money too.

Since this is a friend of your aunt, it may make it more tricky, but I wouldn't keep a relator who you don't think is really working for you.

[AnnieW625]

We met two real estate agents at separate open houses. The first one we met sent us listings for a couple of weeks and while he was nice he was an older gentlemen and we didn't really mesh with him well. We told him we probably weren't going to be looking for a couple of months and that we'd contact him again once we knew we were ready to look.

Well about two or three weeks after we made this decision we happened to stumble on another open house and had a chat with the realtor. We really liked her, she was close to our age, from our target area, and was very friendly to deal with. About a month after that she took us on a tour of homes and kept us on her list. The following day we found our home (totally out of the blue as we were in no rush; but in the end glad we bought when we did because had we waited any longer we would've had to rent until last year because prices were just soo high!) and we were super happy with her.

I would not use a realtor that was a family friend or a family member. It's soo much easier when there is someone neutral involved. We'll definitely use our realtor again if we decide to sell and buy another property.

[BeachBum]

I would start by asking the agent why she hasn't shown you x,y,z listings? Perhaps she knows something you don't about the properties?
If you aren't satisfied with her answer then just cease contact with her. I don't think you really need to "break up" with her, just stop talking with her about things.
That's just business IMO.

[moonsky]

I would start by asking the agent why she hasn't shown you x,y,z listings? Perhaps she knows something you don't about the properties?


I was going to do that but Dh told me not to. In stead, we emailed her the missing ones and asked her to include everything which we already did tell her that and it is also common sense.

[moonsky]

How close is your aunt to this lady....how close are you to your aunt??
If you're close with her, could you talk to her about it.............maybe mention you don't feel a good connection with this lady and want to find someone else?

using family/friend realtors is tough..................

I am not sure how close they are but Dh' s aunt and uncle talked very highly of her. I am not closed to Dh's aunt-in-law. She is very nice though and always came and chat with me at all family functions. We haven't lived near the family. So, we only met them once or twice a year since marriage(almost 6 yrs ago).

[SnuggleBuggles]

I don't get too worried by the 1st round of offerings because sometimes they are just being used to see what you really like. The problem would be is if she doesn't listen after you see them and ask for something different/ newer/ etc.. At the end of our search with house #1 I actually was driving around and found the house I wanted to see and had my agent set it up.

We found our agent because it was the company that dh's company liked to use for relocations and a friend of our's moved their 1st and used her. She was a gem. The 2nd time I just called the co. I wanted to use and took who answered the phone. The co. had a great reputation and the agent turned out to be a family friend (small world!).

Beth

[SnuggleBuggles]

A good part of my doesn't actually like using "top agents" because they usually have a higher case load than some that might be able to devote more time to you. That could be a mistaken impression as I know some really work hard and make you feel like the 1 and only client. I just wouldn't use that as a measure of a great agent- or great for you.

Beth

[Mommy_Again]

I really think you need to speak to her live, on the phone. In addition to allowing her to explain her rationale, it will let you get a better "feel" for her - her personality, her knowledge, her experience, etc. A good realtor should make you feel comfortable and convey their expertise in the industry and current market environment. If you are not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from her and she doesnt have a good reason why she didnt provide you with the info you wanted the first time, just tell her that you and your DH are going to take some time to re-evaluate your needs and you'll be in touch if you need any further assistance. Don't waste time and money on someone who you know isn't right just because a family member is involved - this is way too major of a purchase. Surely you can invent some excuse why you cant use her - is it a job move? Blame it on the ole corporate relocation restrictions.

[arivecchi]

IMO the best thing you can do in the home-buying process is inform yourself - so easy to do with the internet these days. I would not just rely on your realtor. It is your decision and your money at the end so you need to make an informed decision. The fact that you are only being presented with houses in your upper range would trigger alarm bells for me. I would interview a couple of agents and go from there.

[Indianamom2]

I've only bought one house thus far, but I wish I had switched realtors. I never felt like she listened to what we wanted. She was nearing retirement age and I think she was just *done* in her mind. We ended up finding the house we eventually bought.

If I had it to do over, I definitely would have changed realtors. If you aren't being shown what you want (repeatedly) or you feel like she just isn't listening, it's not worth wasting your time.

[MoJo]

Both of ours were referred to us by friends who had actually used the realtor in the home-buying process, and that worked well for us.

The first thing I'd do is point out to the realtor that you want to see listings for all homes in your price range, or all homes that meet certain criteria. Our first realtor started only showing us homes that were in a $10,000 band of price ranges until we said that we'd like to at least see the listings for ones that were priced lower. If an attempt at communicating exactly what you want from the realtor doesn't work, I'd find another. (And I'd tell my aunt why. The realtor may be a great friend, but a poor realtor, or a realtor whose real interests are a different type of business than what you are giving her.)

[tmarie]

No--I would start interviewing other realtors. If you have friends or know people who have recently moved, ask for strong referrals. My mom was a broker and owned her own real estate business in another market, so when I went to look for a real estate agent to sell our last house, I shopped around. It was very eye opening to see what kind of presentation the different agents made (some were just obviously more in tune with the market or obviously trying to get us to sell our house for a lower price than it was worth/buy a house at the top of our range instead of helping us shop for the best deal, and how often they were open to having open houses at your house (I ended up going with a broker who was willing to have one every 2 weeks--if she couldn't do the open house, she paid one of her colleagues to do it for her). It is also important to look at what price range the agent's other clients are buying and selling in. If your range is below her average sale, some agents won't invest as much time in you b/c her commission will be smaller than her other deals. That said, good agents work hard for all of their clients regardless of price range. They know that superior service will result in repeat business and referrals. GL!

tmarie