Talk to your friends, family, coworkers, and people you trust. Ask them if they have had good experiences with any realtors.
Once you have a couple of names and numbers interview all of them. Look them in the eye and get a feel for them. Ask them for references. Tell them you want to talk to the past 10 clients, regardless of they were sellers or buyers. Get that contact information and FOLLOW UP. Call those people, and see what they say.
Calling or emailing on references is a big pain in the butt but it is useful.
Now this is secondary but since you are buying rather then selling when you interview these realtors you may want to check about other intangibles. See if they have insights into interest rates, and your own affordability. Ask them what their outlook is on the market and why they believe it will go up or down. See what sort of thoughts they have about your own financing… Any good buyers agent will really go over your budget with you more for their own protection then anything else. The reason I say this is because many buyers have biggers eye then stomach… that is they want to see homes that in reality they cannot afford. So the agent shows them lots of homes only to find out they cannot afford it. This is the agents fault, not the buyers fault.
Anyways it is tough to find a good agent because there are alot of lame ones out there.
I am sure I will get pummelled for even answering this post.
Rustico please let me know if you see any slants.. 🙂
