FINDING A REALTOR

Dan Morrison, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, will be on hand at the upcoming Homebuyer Forum to address the topic of finding the right real estate agent. Here are some of his tips on finding a fit among the 13,000 licensed realtors in Greater Vancouver:

1. Don’t pick the first person you meet. “Find someone who you feel you can trust and has your needs at heart, who knows the area you want to buy in and types of product you want to buy. It breaks my heart when I see situations when somebody is working from out of the area, who doesn’t know the area or that type of product properly.”

2. Make sure that the realtor is available when you are. “If your realtor can’t be there to show you the inventory, how can they properly advise you on the transaction?” Find someone with experience. “Problems do happen, and you want someone who can mitigate the problems and solve them in your best interest.” Ask friends and family for referrals, “especially if they live in the neighbourhood you want to be in, or have bought the kind of product you want.”

3. See who’s active in the area. Ask for a special presentation. “Even if they don’t ask for it, a good realtor will give a presentation to the buyer to let them know how they work, and what their commitment is to you.”

4. Check their website. “When was it last updated, is the information current, are the links working? Are they actually in business, in other words? Is there a Twitter feed or a blog? Are they posting things regularly?”

5. Is it OK if they dress in an Adidas track suit? “Every buyer is different. Some will have higher standards. I typically wear a suit and tie, but lots of my colleagues don’t. It’s whatever your comfort level is.”