Today I'm gonna talk with you a little bit about what you need to know and how you can choose your realtor to make sure that you get the best realtor for you. Recently I was in a listing appointment and these folks had come to me by way of referral. Past clients of mine had recommended that they gave me a call. When I was sitting down with them, they let me know that they were gonna be interviewing other realtors as well. So I was gonna be competing for the job of selling their house, and it all came down to, how I stacked up against these other realtors. And one of the things that I wanted to emphasize to them is experience.
Experience
Experience plays such a big role in the realtor that you choose. But how big of a role does it play? So in the beginning of my career, I used to get low grade anxiety when people would ask me about how long I had been selling real estate. And now after 10 years of selling real estate, it's something that I don't fear at all, in fact, I'm proud of what my experience has been. And so I think at a certain point, there's probably a point of diminishing returns, on experience. So my first tip to you, is find a realtor that has at least three to four years of selling experience.
And it's not just necessarily how many years they've been selling real estate. It also comes down to, how much business are they doing in those years? Inevitably, at some point throughout the year, I will get a realtor tell me about how long they've been selling real estate and never in my years of selling real estate, have I seen this or done that, and they use it kind of as a trump card. And it always bothered me in my early years of real estate, and I vowed not to do it myself because I quickly realized that the realtor that sells 30 homes in one year quickly catches up on that realtor that has been selling homes for 30 years, but maybe not doing the same amount of volume.
Figure out not only how many years they've been selling real estate, but figure out how many homes they're selling in that year, and a bonus tip would be, figure out what kind of homes they're selling, what their clients look like, the price ranges that they work in.
Marketing
When you are sitting down and considering hiring a realtor, you need to understand the marketing that they are going to do for you. And this specifically applies to sellers which I think is relevant as we reflect back on our listing appointment. Marketing is like one big puzzle. We have multiple pieces that we plug together to create the cohesive whole.
I mean, I've seen too many realtors come out with their hot new listing, with photos they've taken on their cell phones. And while iPhone takes wonderful photos, it's not the same as having a professional photographer that shoots houses day in and day out. So we need to think about how our photos, our video, our coming soon sign, our online advertising, how that all comes together, to create a cohesive marketing strategy for you.
So make sure you understand what your realtor's gonna do for you when it comes to marketing. You need to understand how they are gonna get you the best result possible and how their marketing plays a role in that.
Personal Fit
My third and final point that I think you should consider when hiring your realtor is personal fit. It's something that's often overlooked, but it's one of the most important things that you can consider when you're hiring a realtor. There are certain clients that have not hired me because maybe they didn't connect with me, but at the same time, most of my business comes by the way of referral and repeat clients. And the beauty of that for me and for my clients is that we get to work with people that we enjoy spending time with. It's not a difficult relationship to be in, and that is very important.
I think that you need to do some research ahead of time, if somebody says, "Hey, I think you should give Cory a call, if you're thinking about making a move." It's easy to find me online, and it should be easy to find any realtor online. You can hop online, you can read the reviews that other people have written for them. If they've got a one star review out of five, that's probably a telling sign that you shouldn't work with them. But if they've got glowing reviews, and they've got a good, strong online presence, and you can get a sense of how they work and where they work and how they treat your clients, then that's a great stepping stone into picking up the phone and giving them a call to at least interview them.
Make sure you feel comfortable with them, you trust them, and that you think they're gonna have your best interests at heart.
I've had the pleasure of working with mostly past clients and referrals for quite a few years now. And when you get to work with great clients, and they refer you more great clients, it makes for a pretty awesome job. And I feel very fortunate to be able to work with the folks that I do. If you're considering making a move, then I would love to connect with you and chat some more about that and why I've been so successful at helping so many folks over the years. Hopefully we'll chat soon.