10 Questions To Ask A Real Estate Agent When Looking At Homes

Table of Content

• Celebrity Homes
• Questions Are a Homebuyer’s Friend
• What Will the Housing Market Look Like in 2023? A Buyer’s Guide
• Questions To Ask A REALTOR® Before And During The Home Buying Process
• Smart Questions to Ask a Real Estate Agent When Buying
• What is the sales history of this house, and how would it affect my offer?

These are the questions to ask a real estate agent in person after you’ve sent the email pre-qualifying them as your real estate agent. Their answers will go a long way in helping you find a good realtor. The answer to this question will help you get a better idea of whether the agent is attuned to your side of a real estate transaction. Ideally, you want someone who is passionate about your deal, whether that’s finding the perfect house with a picket fence or selling the condo you’ve outgrown. An experienced agent should have any one of these at the ready to deal with any situation.

We offer special real estate plans to cover the home you're buying or selling. On the other hand, it’s possible that the owner is moving because the schools have declined in quality or because the neighborhood is no longer as safe as it once was. If this is the case, it’s important that you get to the bottom of the reason that the seller is moving.

Celebrity Homes

But it’s also important to get a sense of who they are as an individual to avoid personality clashes. Here are some questions to ask as you evaluate an agent who might help you buy or sell a home. In the competitive real estate market, standing out above other buyers is vital to getting the house you want. An experienced agent should have one or more tried-and-true strategies to employ in different scenarios. Getting a feel for the ratio of buyers to sellers will give you some indication of your agent’s area of expertise.

You know you’re getting the building itself, but beyond that, it’s not always clear what’s included when you buy a house. This question helps clarify what the sellers are taking with them (Window treatments? Appliances? Light fixtures?) and what they’re leaving behind. Once you have the answer, you can get a better handle on what you’ll need to spend to make the home livable, and that may affect what you’re willing to pay for the property.

Questions Are a Homebuyer’s Friend

To get a sense of what properties around yours are selling for, search Zillow, Redfin, or Realtor.com for recently sold homes. You’ll pay property taxes every year, though often on a monthly basis, rolled in with your mortgage payment. They cover things like local schools, road maintenance, and other essential services in your area. Make sure they’re in line with the taxes on other properties in the neighborhood. The current homeowner is probably your best source of tax information. Although it’s not illegal for REALTORS® to represent both parties, this is a good question to ask your real estate agent.

The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts, who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Home inspection, and the appraisal of the home at least being what the seller says is the value of the home. Before signing any offer, make sure the contract has the contingencies you want in it to protect your interests.

What Will the Housing Market Look Like in 2023? A Buyer’s Guide

These charges are customary and are provided so that you may compare them to other service provider charges. It may be necessary for you to obtain a mortgage or title work for the sale or purchase of your home. We are pleased to recommend that you arrange financing through Rocket Mortgage® and title work through Amrock. An agent will often be able to see problems with a home that a buyer may not catch, so take advantage of their experience and expertise. You can’t expect a realtor to know exactly how long it will take to sell your house, but their estimate should be based on data. You might be tempted to skip reference calls to save time, but it only takes a few minutes and it’ll tell you if there’s any reason not to work with the realtor.

They will also have established relationships with other real estate professionals. Garrett Callahan is a freelance writer who writes on the ins-and-outs of buying the perfect home. For over six years, he has written extensively on travel, history, and culture, and he spent the past two years researching the home-buying process as a first-time homeowner. Based in Massachusetts, he is an admirer of historic homes and loves an old house with a good story. If you're a buyer, you'll sign a buyer's agent agreement and the buyer's agent will be paid commission from the proceeds of the sale.

Questions To Ask A REALTOR® Before And During The Home Buying Process

If you’ve ever moved into a new home only to have the water heater give out that very week, you know the importance of checking the age of appliances. You should also ask about the age of the condenser, furnace, and plumbing – and whether they’ve been regularly serviced. If the property you’re considering has had additions or major renovations, ask the seller for details about who did the work and get their contact information. Even if you need to know something as simple as what color they painted the walls, you’ll be glad to have it. The easiest way is to ask the seller for a copy of their CLUE report, which includes a seven-year record of insurable incidents that have happened to the house. If utility costs seem high, you may want to look into greener alternatives in your area or investing in Energy Star applianceswhen existing equipment gives out.

While sellers of existing homes are nearly always willing to negotiate the sales price of their home, this isn’t always the case with builders. You can search for agents in your area at realtor.com/realestateagents, where you can also read real estate agent reviews from previous clients. A good buyer’s agent provides clients with a comprehensive questionnaire to help them pinpoint their home-buying criteria, so ask for this survey in advance. Also, your agent should be able to tell you whether your list of “needs” is realistically affordable in your area. For example, if your agent is tied up and you need to see a property ASAP, someone else on the team can step in and show you the home, or handle last-minute problems in lieu of your agent. First, understand that houses with “stigma” typically sell well below their fair market value.

If your agent is paid a commission, they might nudge you towards the high end of your budget. And if they haven’t closed a deal in a while, there might be more pressure on your transaction . Real estate agents typically work on commission, meaning they only get paid when they close a deal. What you’ll pay and when depends on whether you’re buying or selling a home.

The right agent can net you thousands more through negotiations, and in most cases, they cannot reasonably negotiate for you when they also represent the buyer. Depending on the market and your location, it can take anywhere from a few weeks to months to close on a home. But this doesn’t mean that every buyer will be waiting that long because 51% typically buy a home in less than three months. Knowing whether your potential agent works part-time or full-time can make a big difference when it comes to how experienced and qualified they are to help you. When an agent has too many clients at one time, it means that you could be competing for their time and they may not be available when you need them.

A good agent will also have your best interest at heart and should try to find you the best deal and answer any questions you have during the entire process. Developers tend to offer more incentives during the beginning and end of a project, or during economic downturns that may slow the pace of sales. Then you’ll want to learn a few questions to ask a real estate agent—the go-to pro whose sole goal (at least as far as you’re concerned) is to help make your home-buying dream come true. An online search can give you crime statistics, but to get a real sense of the neighborhood’s energy and feel, you’ll need to ask someone who’s lived there. As with the question about why the sellers are leaving, the type of response you get may tell you a lot.

Here, we’ll go through the best questions to ask before you hire a real estate agent to help you find your ideal home or sell your property. While most agents help both home buyers and sellers, the very best tend to specialize in one or the other, since the specialities are quite different. To buy a home, you should team up with a buyer’s agent—someone who specializes in working with home buyers.