There’s a difference between working with an agent and working with an agent you know you can trust with your life – or your home, which, between the peace of your living experience and the expenditure of your nest egg, does cover quite a bit of a client’s livelihood.
Good realtors know the language, lingo, and lay of the land – literally. They are your intermediaries, communicating between you to your source whether they’re buying or selling, and they’re there for more than just convenience and ease, their job is to protect you, connect you to your best options, provide you with accurate information, and deliver you your best results and return on investment.
Financial wellness guru Dave Ramsey says in the realtor segment of “RamseyTrusted” that a good agent is there to “guide, support, teach, and serve” their clients. At Bartlett Real Estate we would add “honor” to that equation to provide an added layer of certainty where our clientele feels both valued and sure amid a life-altering transaction.
How can you be sure? Here are some of the top ways you can measure the worth of a “good” real estate agent, all of which are characteristics we strive to live up to and provide unwaveringly to each and every buyer and seller through all our years of service.
1. Communication – Being Proactive, Reactive, and Keeping You in the Loop
The great unknowns are some of the greatest pain points in any situation – relationships, health issues, a job hunt – and they can be silent killers when it comes to buying or selling a house or property. An agent who you knows is not “on it” and keeping you “in it” every step of the way is alleviates much of the stress involved in such a high-risk deal, and positions you to make highly informed decisions that reflect your personal preferences rather than handing the decision making over sight unseen. This applies not only to you, but to all you engage with during the buying/selling process. An agent on top of their game will be proactively moving the needle in your desired direction, chasing leads and managing communication with all parties without delay.
2. A Good Ear
As the saying goes, God gave us two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk. Realtors and their clients know the consequence of getting this equation wrong. If you’re fighting to share a thought or opinion and feel you’re being “told” by your realtor more than they’re hearing you, it’s time to change agents. Bartlett Real Estate knows it’s our job to fully understand your goals, wants, concerns, and we keep this at the heart of our relationship with you by making sure we’re asking the right questions to get you the best results, and listening effectively to what you share in response.
3. Adaptability and Staying Client Driven
The ability to “read the room” can put anyone in the driver’s seat to best support and understand the people around them. This is an especially valuable tool in an industry when you’re reading the “3BR 2 Bath” room and being able to unpack your client’s needs. Any agent worth their license is not in this for the portfolio but for the person – and a person with a good testimonial will always build a stronger portfolio for the agent anyway. Good agents treat their clients and vendors as top priority, serve with character, and are able to pivot quickly in the fast moving world of real estate.
4. Honesty
Honesty is the best policy – and it’s our bedrock. Not only in the spirit of full disclosure, being forthcoming, and not hiding any cards or pursuing what’s best for us rather than the client, but for us at Bartlett Real Estate, it’s a non-negotiable way of life. We’ve unequivocally built this company on biblical principles and have made no secret of our commitment to doing business and treating our clients with a “do unto others” and “love your neighbor” approach. This trickles down even into gray areas like simply keeping your needs and interests above our own.
5. References, Ratings, and Realtor Rankings
Really, that translates into experience and the means to measure it. Good agents and agencies willingly provide you with their most recent listing of clients as references. This is on top of the basic portfolio of having at least four years’ experience in their field and the best of that bunch ranking in the top percentage of their market or measuring from the number of homes they close per year. With online ratings, as with any product, it’s sometimes recommended to remove the “emotional” element of both the highest and lowest reviews and let the consistent median speak to overall dependable impact and influence in the life (and purchase) of a realtor’s client(s) and sales.
We would love to connect with potential buyers and sellers with measurables on how we perform in each of these areas as an agency, and how you don’t have to take our word for it. Our clients and our track record speak for itself, and we’d love to let what we’ve built speak to you as you seek the best for your upcoming homebuying or selling experience. We’re at the wheel handling the heavy lifting, but we keep you the driver and we care about where you want to go – safely, efficiently helping you find “the way home.”