1. Find Out How Long Have They’ve Their License
When it comes to the real estate market anywhere, experience is a huge advantage. While there are no solid guarantees, if you have an experienced real estate agent, you have a much higher chance that your agent has seen everything before. They’ll also be much more confident that they know how to deal with any problems that may turn up during the buying or selling transaction.
Now, you shouldn’t totally cut out new agents when you start looking. However, if you do decide to go with a newer Westlake realtor with less experience, you really want to make sure that this agent has a more experienced team or a mentor they can turn to. If they do, this can help reassure you that they can get advice or help from more experienced people if something turns your ordinary transaction into something more difficult or time-consuming.
2. Knowledge of the Westlake, Florida Area
When it comes right down to it, you want a Westlake realtor that knows the Westlake area very well because this knowledge can help you get quick answers to any important questions you may have. If you have kids, you’ll want to ask about the school district. If you’re brand new to the area, make sure you ask what a rough estimate is for property taxes because this can heavily influence whether or not you’re willing to buy a specific lot. The sooner you get this information, the more successful your house hunt will be.
3. Yearly Transaction Amount
When you start to vet your potential real estate agent’s experience level, you want to ask them how many transactions they’ve successfully completed this year. While the exact number doesn’t matter, you’ll get a good impression as to how well a particular Westlake realtor is doing with keeping their business consistent. The goal is to find an agent who works in the industry on a consistent basis instead of sporadically or part-time. Chances are, these agents will have much more expertise to help you buy or sell a home.
4. Experience Levels With Your Specific Transaction Type
If you’re buying or selling a common residential property, you won’t be as concerned with this point. However, if you’re in the market to purchase a specialty piece of real estate like an investment property or commercial building, you’ll want to have a Westlake realtor working with you who has experience in this specific type of transaction. This goes doubly for anyone who wants to make a specialty sale on their property, like a foreclosure or a short sale.
All of these specialty transactions have very unique concerns and procedures attached to them, and not every real estate agent you look at will have the required experience to navigate them. Knowing you have an expert to turn to with any questions can give you greater peace of mind.
5. Best Interests
A professional agent’s job isn’t to say yes to you throughout the transaction process. They are there to function as a guide throughout the transaction, and this means that the Westlake realtor will point out the good and bad, even if you don’t necessarily want to hear it. If you can find an agent who does this, you know that they’ll have your best interests in mind during the buying or selling process.
If you’re a buyer, you should know that your agent isn’t supposed to give you their opinion on whether or not you should buy a particular property because it’s supposed to be completely your decision. However, they should point out any concerns they have about the property to make sure that you know about them before you submit an offer. Listen to see if the agent gives you feedback on the house or property that includes both bad and good traits.
For the sellers, you want to focus on how the Westlake realtor talks about your property’s list price. A good agent might tell you that your desired price isn’t realistic for the area. Either way, they should have comparative market analysis results to show you to give you a good idea of the fair market value for your property or home.
6. Availability
This criterion is slightly harder to gauge unless you actually work with an agent. However, real estate doesn’t just run during normal business hours. Your agent should be available during normal business hours to handle any logistics involved in the buying or selling process, and you should also be able to get ahold of them after hours if you need it. A good agent will be reachable at both times during the day and evening hours to handle any problems that come up. You should ask yourself if they’re easy to reach. If they seem to be constantly unavailable or don’t get back to you, this could be a good sign that it’s time to look at another agent.
Find a Reputable Westlake Realtor Today
Now that you know the biggest things to look for when you’re looking for a reputable Westlake realtor, you can confidently start looking at profiles online and calling or emailing any that look promising. Try out a few different realtors and see which ones seem to want to work with you, answer your questions, and who have the experience to guide you through the buying or selling process.
