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Real Estate in Chantilly Blog

USING THE INTERNET TO SELECT A REAL ESTATE AGENT – PART 4

This series is for you if you are using the Internet to select a real estate agent that you will eventually work with in the sale or purchase of your first or next property.

Brief recap:  I started by suggesting you should first know the level of experience of the prospective agent.  Then we considered the matter of solo agent vs a team.  Last time we looked at the issue of quality.

This time around I’d like to take a brief look at personal chemistry.  By that I mean the sense of comfort and confidence you have with the experience of working with the person you select as your agent.

It is a joy when you work with someone who has well refined interpersonal skills. Even more so when it is someone that you are relying on to get you through as big a transaction as buying or selling a home.

And you don’t need to be a trained psychologist to factor this into your selection process.

How do you do this?  FIrst, as mentioned previously, check out the agent’s website and – if they have one – their blog.  Take a few minutes to see if they have anything like a statement of their service philosophy.   If you look at their website you will typically get some cues on what they are about.

Next, make a personal contact.  You could start with an email.  You can also make a phone contact.  You can either mention that you are considering working with an agent and would just like to interview them to learn more about their approach.   Or, you can keep that as a telephone contact, and then proceed to a face to face meeting if your phone conversation warrants the next step.

If this seems like just a bti more effort than many people will go through in order to make an exceptionally good choice, it is!   But it is worth every minute of your time.

From my perspective, I think at least three “chemistry” factors are extremely important in terms of ensuring you have a good end result with your home sale or purchase

The first, predictably, is your agent’s listening ability.  Your agent should ask good questions and they should listen attentively.   Good agents will do this masterfully.  But don’t assume it is practiced universally.

The second chemistry factor I’d consider is respect.  Hard to precisely define, but you know it when you see it.  It includes understanding and appreciation for you as a mature adult, and it avoids over-control.

The third chemistry factor is your perception that this person genuinely cares about you as an individual. This is another “know it when I see it” kind of thing. It shows up in all kinds of ways, but the main way, I believe, is always having the client’s financial best interests as the foundation for all the decisions made during the transaction.

Personal chemistry does not necessarily mean similar personality sytles.  Of and by itself, personality sytle compatibility won’t get you a great agent.  You can have a perfectly wonderful experience with someone who has a very different personality, as long as they measure up on the other main criteria we have been discussing.

You don’t have to settle for anything less than the right agent for you.   With just a little due diligence you can work with someone who is straight “A” on all the things that matter to you.

It is definitely worth the effort to find that right person.

If you’d like to see this series in video, visit our VIDEO CENTER and scroll down to “The Right Real Estate Agent for You.”

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