The Santa Barbara Groups Real Estate Blog

When selecting a REALTOR®, you want to find one you are comfortable with, but there are many other factors to consider. Are they committed to being a full-time agent or just part-time? Do they have a proven track record of success? Are they in a productive office with lots of other productive agents to network with and get you a jump on new listings? These are some basics that just about everyone considers when choosing an agent, but there are other important factors that most don’t consider.

One big factor is the agent or brokerage’s reputation within the real estate community. Santa Barbara is a small town and the real estate community is even smaller. If you are working with an agent or brokerage that has burned a lot of bridges, you may come up against some resistance from the listing agent because they are concerned about getting into a deal with the agent you’ve selected. Choose wisely and it can have the opposite effect where the listing agent wants to make a deal. In a competitive market, all things being equal this can be the difference between success and failure.

Be carful of gimmicks and ploys to earn your business. If an agent needs to resort to these tactics, it is usually a way to make up for some sort of inadequacy. You may find yourself doing all the grunt work of scouring the market place yourself, which means you’re missing out on opportunities that never make it to the internet where the general public finds it. A good REALTOR® will be proactive in the search for your home. Meaning, they will network on your behalf asking other agents for up-coming or pocket listing. They will solicit home owners in the locations you desire, searching for a home owner who wants to sell. There are many tricks of the trade that they can bring to the table…and if they are not doing this for you it may be time for a change.