Recently I was contacted by a past client who had decided to relocate to a nearby city and needed my assistance selling her home. She knows that selling her home here was the easy part, her challenge was that she didn’t know any Realtors in her prospective city, and didn’t have a clear idea of how to choose one. She asked my professional opinion about picking a good Realtor. I was able to provide her with a short list of Realtors that she should interview before committing to one. But more importantly I told her to make sure the potential Realtor had a strong command of the following five traits:

 

 Great communicator

 

Consistently the number one complaint about Realtors is their lack of communication. Whether buying or selling a house, great communication skills are essential to maintaining a proper flow of a transaction. Communicating with the Realtor on the other side of any transaction is of paramount import. An agent with good communication skills can save a transaction that may be hitting rough patches, as some transactions will. When there is a new Realtor on the other side of a transaction, a good communicating agent can help the new agent with advice on how to approach different situations that arise and properly communicate with their client. I’ve had many situations where the new agent on the other side was ready to give up on the transaction when all was needed was a little more communication between parties.

Communication with a client who is selling a home is no different than a buying client, neither should ever feel like they have been left out of the loop. Sometimes a home garners multiple daily visits and has multiple offers on the first day, other times a home sits on the market without any action for uncomfortable amounts of time. Both situations can be stressful for the seller and with proper communication a Realtor can make a stressful experience into a happy, satisfying one.

The best communicating agents will keep their clients rolling on the smoothest path possible. They will keep their clients focused on the things that matter and let go of the things that don’t, all the while staying in contact with all of the cogs of the wheel of a transaction.

A good communicating Realtor will make update calls to their sellers and buyers, making sure they know exactly what is going on with their prospective transactions. These small touches keep the client’s nerves calm as well as frustration levels.You can never discount the way that we utilize communication, it’s the cornerstone of any relationship. As I always say, a happy client is an informed client.

 

 

 Great Listener

 

 

Are you looking for a large home on a large lot near town, but your Realtor just showed you a micro home in the boonies? Many times, I have found that my clients don’t really know what they want, their ideas are all over the map…literally. But when I listen to them, I help them clarify what they want.  A Great listener will learn what their clients need and want, through their ideas, comments and body language, distilling all of the information and painting a picture of what their client’s ideal home would be.

A Realtor must pay attention to everything their client says. The easiest way for a Realtor to get necessary information is to listen to the content of the conversation. It’s how you tell your Realtor what you like and what you don’t, It is made up of the words we use to communicate. A Realtor who listens will take in all of the words and use them to formulate a plan.
A great Realtor will also understand the subtext of a conversation. This is what is usually referred to as “reading between the lines”. Many times this is the most important part of a conversation and is the driving force. We’ve all had conversations when we were sure that the subject of a conversation wasn’t really what was really being talked about. For example, if a Realtor has had a home for sale for an unusually long time and they receive a call from their clients asking about possibly staging or updating something in the home, the call isn’t about staging, it’s about the sellers’ concern that the house hasn’t sold yet.
A great Realtor will identify this subtext and address it, promoting a straightforward conversation about what really is at hand.
Great listeners will not only make their clients feel comfortable, they will also more often than not save their client’s time by getting to the heart of their client’s needs sooner than a passive listener would.

 

 

Great Negotiator

 

 

 

It’s something most people will run into when looking for homes, you find the one you want! This is a very exciting moment in the process. Thoughts race through your mind, what should we offer? Is it priced fairly? Your agent calls the sellers agent and finds that there are several offers on the property already. What are you going to do? The great Realtor will have spoken with the listing agent and found out what their client’s primary goals and objectives are. Possibly, they want to lease the home back for 30 days, maybe they need to have a very quick close of escrow. Do the sellers want to keep the drapes and the fireplace logs?

The great negotiator will find out what gives their offer a leg up on all of the others. Then they will run a complete list of comparable properties based on recent sales in the area. You and your Realtor will come to a price that you both agree will give you the best opportunity at winning.

Sometimes the offer with the highest price isn’t the offer that is accepted. A great negotiator will always have your best interests in mind and by making an offer as clean as possible, giving you the best opportunity to get your offer accepted.

The best negotiator will have an ability to work with the other party in searching for creative win-win ideas to bring all of the parties together and has a willingness to tolerate disagreement and confrontation. Great negotiating begins with painstaking preparation, planning, and persistence. Armed with these, the Realtor is ready to negotiate for their client.

 

 

 

Is Proactive

 

 

 

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines. Real Estate is filled with them, they are integral and unavoidable. An agent who takes control of situations and has their finger on the pulse of the transaction will provide better opportunities for their client. They will confront challenges and find resolutions for them while at the same time managing the uncertainty that can positively generate changes. A Proactive agent will see all problems as opportunities, and tackle them before they become too large to overcome.

 

A proactive agent will call a listing agent before they bring their clients to visit a home in order to uncover any information that might not be in the MLS. This can save a lot of time for everybody, possibly revealing an unknown deal maker, or maybe eliminating viewing a home that already has sold but hasn’t been properly entered into the MLS.

 

When facing unexpected events, a proactive Realtor will react with creativity, trying to find alternatives that bring direct solutions.

 

A proactive Realtor will either answer your call or message immediately or at the very least, let you know when they will be able to communicate with you. A proactive Realtor will attend the home inspection, enabling them to understand and be able to relay the important parts to their clients as well as being able to communicate to the other agent more knowledgeably during the negotiation of repairs.

They will use their experience and knowledge to head off possible issues and make sure that their client is comfortable and prepared for the potentialities that occur in all transactions. The proactive agent will make sure that all bases are covered, before they need to, making your transaction all the more pleasant.

 

 

 

Great Execution

 

 

 

The Realtor with great execution will make your real estate transaction flow smoothly through each step of the home buying or selling process, leaving the impression that their job is fairly simple. The fact is that couldn’t be further from the truth. A great Realtor will have to navigate through all of the moving parts of a transaction, making sure that everything comes together at the right time. What goes on behind the scenes is truly mind boggling, hundreds of steps must be followed and not missed, otherwise, there could be delays…or worse.

 

The Realtor with great execution will have clear goals for their clients that are supported by their overall strategy. They will measure progress toward their goals with their clients on a regular basis and have clear accountability for that progress.

A Realtor with great execution will have a wealth of knowledge about Real Estate that can only be gained through experience and hard work. They will know exactly what is selling and what isn’t, and more importantly, WHY. They will have a great team that they can refer their client’s to; developed over years, this team will include the best lenders, insurance agents, home stagers, handypeople, painters, inspectors, and home warranty companies that the Realtor has worked with.

 

Realtors come in all different types of business styles, some will suit you, others won’t. But no matter the Realtor you choose for your purchase or sale, choose one that will make things happen, not let things happen. The best Realtors all share high levels of the five traits above and if your Realtor is lacking any of them, you may need to make a shift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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