There’s a lot of questionable advice out there, from “personal finance experts” on TV or from friends, family. They tell you: interview 3 or 4 or 5 agents, then pick one. When somebody says that’s what they’re going to do, the next logical question should be:

“What criteria are you going to use, to compare them, judge them, and pick one?”

Many admit: they don’t know.

They are going to spend 3, 4, 5 evenings interviewing different real estate agents with no pre-determined way to pick the one they will ultimately trust to handle one of the biggest and most important financial events of their life!

When a company decides to hire somebody for an important job, let’s say one that costs the company $100,000.00 or $200,000.00 a year, they have a pre-determined set of questions – set criteria – they will use to judge the people they interview. They know in advance what they are looking for. They NEVER interview a bunch of people and go with the one they “like”. Or rely on “He or she seemed nice?”. No. They use reason and logic.

To do otherwise is to play ‘Blind Archery’, and that’s dangerous!

Well, you are hiring somebody to do a very important job for you.

You should NOT play ‘Blind Archery’.

You need to know in advance the kind of agent you want. The things that are most important to you. The smart questions to ask.

For example, is the agent’s track record at getting top dollar more or less important to you than the commission s/he quotes you? Is the fact that s/he is a lone wolf and may be constantly and immediately accessible to you more important than his/her ‘success percentage’ – that is, the percentage of listed homes that s/he ever sells? And on and on.