I've fired 7 realtors. One I didn't fire was John Erickson. I used him twice. The best recommendation I can offer is to find a realtor who lives in the area that you are looking to move into. Down to the exact subdivision if you know that much.
Some of the more desperate realtors, especially new ones, offer buyers part of their commission, if that is something you are interested in. All things are negotiable.
I would definitely fire a realtor who wasn't responsive. One time (in another state) I called a realtor, it rang, and then went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. Within a few minutes he called me back and said "I got a phone call from this number, I'm sorry I missed it, I didn't see a voicemail, is there something I can help you with?" THAT is the type of response you want- the one you get when you're not even looking for it. I hired him.
I have nothing against the profession and I get a lot of grief for my opinion, but most of the hours of what a realtor does is "show you around". Here's the grief part- a German Shepherd can be trained to do that. In competitive markets realtors will spend thousands of their own dollars to sell a property. Newsflash- they don't do that on Hawaii island. Most of them don't even answer their phones or emails evenings or weekends.
I remember (in another state) when we were selling the mother-in-laws house when she was dying of cancer and because the hospice situation was like $9000/month we were willing to sell low. The realtor we hired was looking at up to a $25k commission for a house that literally sold itself. She called us up in the evening and explained that she was showing the house in the early morning and needed us to clear the driveway of snow. Mind you, the house was a 2 hour round trip away from us. I told her, you're making $25k for showing the house once or twice and you can't figure out how to get the driveway plowed? Go get a shovel. She was EXASPERATED.
But the driveway got cleared, and the house sold that day. Don't get confused of who works for whom. Especially if you're the buyer. The realtor makes it sound like the seller pays the commission. That is absolute nonsense because the buyer is paying the seller. Try negotiating a sale price and after all parties agree demand another 5% reduction because "the seller pays the commission" so you want it paid out of funds that don't come from you. Yeah thats what I thought.
Some of the more desperate realtors, especially new ones, offer buyers part of their commission, if that is something you are interested in. All things are negotiable.
I would definitely fire a realtor who wasn't responsive. One time (in another state) I called a realtor, it rang, and then went to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message. Within a few minutes he called me back and said "I got a phone call from this number, I'm sorry I missed it, I didn't see a voicemail, is there something I can help you with?" THAT is the type of response you want- the one you get when you're not even looking for it. I hired him.
I have nothing against the profession and I get a lot of grief for my opinion, but most of the hours of what a realtor does is "show you around". Here's the grief part- a German Shepherd can be trained to do that. In competitive markets realtors will spend thousands of their own dollars to sell a property. Newsflash- they don't do that on Hawaii island. Most of them don't even answer their phones or emails evenings or weekends.
I remember (in another state) when we were selling the mother-in-laws house when she was dying of cancer and because the hospice situation was like $9000/month we were willing to sell low. The realtor we hired was looking at up to a $25k commission for a house that literally sold itself. She called us up in the evening and explained that she was showing the house in the early morning and needed us to clear the driveway of snow. Mind you, the house was a 2 hour round trip away from us. I told her, you're making $25k for showing the house once or twice and you can't figure out how to get the driveway plowed? Go get a shovel. She was EXASPERATED.
But the driveway got cleared, and the house sold that day. Don't get confused of who works for whom. Especially if you're the buyer. The realtor makes it sound like the seller pays the commission. That is absolute nonsense because the buyer is paying the seller. Try negotiating a sale price and after all parties agree demand another 5% reduction because "the seller pays the commission" so you want it paid out of funds that don't come from you. Yeah thats what I thought.