How do I select a good real estate agent?

The "make" and "model" and "year" of their car!

I went to a bunch of open houses. I ran into one guy at several houses over a few weeks and liked the conversations I had with him. When I was ready for an an agent I gave him a call.

As a consumer (not an agent), my suggestion would be to go to the web sites of the major agencies in your area and read the various biographies which are posted by the Realtors. Pay attention to the length of time residing in area, the level of education, and to the number of continuing ed efforts for each agent. Look for an agent who is full time in the field -- real estate is full of part time personnel who do not have the hours to do the job correctly. Pay attention to the specialties they list -- some are more skilled at selling, some at representing buyers. Finally, read up on the role of a Realtor and whether buying or selling, be sure to have a good attorney by your side at settlement.

They took over where horse traders left off so I suspect there's not much between any of them !

ask friends and family that have recently sold or bought who went the extra mile +5

Are you buying or selling? I found the agent that helped me buy my house at an Open House for a property I didn't like, but she took the opportunity to get to know me and shee seemed to get what I was looking for.

Hi,

I found that the easiest place to find just one agent per town or city that I was looking for was to go to http://www.e-agent.biz.

On the main page of their site they have an interactive US map that allows you to select the state you wish to find a realtor. Now, they do not have coverage everywhere but most of the 50 states they have several agents in most key markets. I live in Washington State and I found an agent in North Carolina pretty easily. It was cool, I filled out a form as a buyer for the North Carolina agent and since I needed to sell my 1 bedroom apartment here in Seattle my information was also sent to the local e-Agent in Seattle to list my existing property. Very cool and easy! Both agents also contacted me within about 15 minutes of me filling out the form. So rare to find realtors who will respond to inuiries quickly and I really needed it in this case because the Job I got needed me there in less than a month.

I have also used Yahoo's Real Estate section but it took to long to get to the area to find an agent and then I was redirected to some site called http://www.homegain.com. Anyway, e-Agent was easier and unlike lending tree I got to choose just one agent to work with, I mean you can only close a deal with one realtor so what is the point of having 5 contact you...?

Thanks!

Answer Bag Rookie

Just go into Realtor.com, then select the city where you are looking for a realtor, it will give you a list of companies and realtors with their picture, You can get a good feeling when you are looking at all the pictrues or ask a friend o a co-worker for a referral, if you need one in NJ let me know I can refer you one, any other place Georgia, let me know if you any help on NJ or Georgia. FSBO (for sale by owner) this is the buyers market, if you really want to sell, you wont' sell by owner, buyers are looking for bargains, let the Real Estate Agent do his job, he will give you a better advice on how to prepare the house and how to price it/

In this market, and as a former real estate agent, I suggest you try to sell it yourself. Save the commission, 'cause, they are attempting at this time to sell 100's of houses, and you can concentrate on just one.

You don't. Do the legwork on your own. They're all con artists.