With Victoria’s booming real estate market, many people may be thinking of putting that “For Sale” sign up on their lawn or start looking at buying a new home.
But you don’t want to pick the first realtor you come across to help sell your home or buy a new one.
Picking the right realtor is just as important as selecting the right home – it takes time, patience and research.
Guy Crozier, president of the Victoria Real Estate Board, says choosing the right realtor can help you get exactly what you want in such a hot market.
“You need to have a realtor that’s really on top of things because good homes are selling really quickly,” says Crozier.
“You need to have someone, who can work quickly in this market, who’s able to establish a good value when they see it and they need to be able to show you why a house is priced well.”
But where do you find them? Crozier says start with the people around you.
Reach out to professionals you know such as your lawyer, accountant, as well as friends, parents or work colleagues who have had good experiences with certain realtors.
“We’ve got 1,200 members and they’re all different and all work differently. So finding out who your family has had success with and who they’ve enjoyed working with is a big part of it,” says Crozier.
If you’re interested in a home in a certain area, find out which realtors have had success in buying and selling specifically in that region.
Aside from personal references, good realtors will also be competent and trustworthy.
“You’re going to work with this person for a number of months, first of all you want a level of competency. You want to know that they can do a good job for you and they understand what your needs are; whether that be understanding the needs of what you want, the location you’re looking at, the price range you’re drawn to and they need to have a plan to go out and pursue that and get that for you,” says Crozier.
The ability to co-operate and have good relationships with other realtors is also important to consider, especially when the market is hot and you can almost certainly bet that when you find a home that’s reasonably priced you won’t be the only person scoping it out.
“You want to know that [realtors] are going to work well together and that your offer has a good chance of getting accepted,” says Crozier.
“So you’re going to need good advice on how to structure your offer, you’re going to need good advice of what the value of that home is and you’re going to need a realtor that is able to go in there and do their best to secure that deal.”
Good realtors will also help you get things ready ahead of time such as getting pre-approved for mortgages, having an inspector lined up and doing research on the property that will help speed up the process.
“You need to have all your ducks in a row and you need to move quickly in a lot of these things,” added Crozier.