Video: How to Find a Quality Real Estate Agent

LOS ALTOS — Host, Sarah Rutan: When it comes to buying a home, a quality real estate agent can make all the difference in securing a successful outcome. Today we’re in Los Altos with Diamond Certified Expert Contributor Howard Bloom of Intero Real Estate to learn what to look for.

Diamond Certified Expert Contributor, Howard Bloom: So, you want to buy a home. Well, hopefully I’m going to be able to give you some insight into some important things to consider when you’re looking to purchase. The number one most important decision is choosing the right agent to represent you. You want an agent who is highly experienced, who knows the ins and outs of your neighborhood that you’re looking. The difference between hiring the best and hiring the worst is zero, because the seller’s agent pays the commission. It doesn’t cost you any more to have the best and you shouldn’t settle for anything less than the best.

So, where do you find these agents? I love Diamond Certified. They require their participants to submit a list every six months of all their clients. Diamond Certified then does a random sampling interviewing, and if they score high enough the participants are able to continue. I also love sites that provide the reviews. Look for the agents that are working in your area, that have four-star, five-star review, read the reviews in detail. You are going to see a lot of consistent patterns about what people say. So, you want to make sure the agent knows the area where you’re looking, that they sell a lot of houses there, they understand the pricing, they understand the trends. If they understand all those things, they’re going to be able to get you a better deal.

Make sure the agent’s values align with yours. Do they put your interest as number one? You don’t want an agent who is like going to want to just sell you the first house and get it done, get paid, move on. Quality agents, they want to establish long-term relationships with their clients and they want you to be a raving fan and to tell all your friends what a great job that they did for you.

Host, Sarah Rutan: To learn more from local, top rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified Expert Reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.