How to Select a Realtor

When it comes to accountants, doctors and lawyers, people do a relatively good job of researching their options before making a decision. Generally speaking, these types of professionals handle very important matters that involve risk - whether it be financial, medical or legal - and which need to be handled properly. On the other hand, people often choose Realtors in a haphazard fashion with little research or background checking. We all know people who sold their home with their "uncle that just got a real estate license," or purchased a home through their "next door neighbor because he seems like a nice guy."

At the risk of sounding self-important, I would argue that the selection of a Realtor can be as important as the selection of these other professionals. Here are my reasons for saying this:

• The consequences - both legal AND financial - of a typical real estate transaction are usually quite significant. In most cases, the purchase or sale of a home is the single largest investment transaction most people will ever make in their lifetimes. The difference between truly professional representation and what passes for "normal" representation in real estate is often measured in thousands, or TENS OF THOUSANDS, of dollars
• In public accounting, medicine and law, there are significant barriers to entry. People have to have college degrees, and they have to pass very difficult examinations. In real estate, the barrier to entry is VERY low. I've been selling real estate for 15 years, and I've known only one - ONE! - person that has failed to pass the real estate test on their first attempt. Contrast that with public accounting (I'm also a CPA), where only 10% of all people who sit for the CPA exam pass on their first try
• In public accounting, medicine and law, there are strong "self-policing" mechanisms in place. In contrast, the "self-policing" function within real estate is weak. I can speak from first-hand experience, as I am a member of the Professional Standards committee of the Western Wayne Oakland County Association of Realtors (in lay terms, this means that I am a judge in cases brought against Realtors by the public or by other Realtors). Here's the bottom line: the perception within the industry is that the "bad guys" never get penalized, so no one files complaints. Which means the bad guys can continue to be bad guys without fear of reprisal
• The "range of competency" in real estate is RADICAL. While there are certainly outstanding professionals in most companies, the hard reality is that the average person with a real estate license in the United States made an income of something like $9,000 last year. One of the largest offices in my market has 250+ agents, and the average agent in that office sold $300,000 worth of real estate last year - that's less than the average sales price of a SINGLE HOME in the community in which that office is located! The industry is loaded with part-timers and people who got a real estate license on a whim, in large part because it IS so easy to get a license. The obvious point: there are MANY, MANY people out in the world with real estate licenses that lack the experience to serve ANY client properly. Accounting, medicine and law, on the other hand, are serious professions in which lower-end practitioners typically have very short careers. In real estate, these people can hang around for decades, stumbling along doing one or two deals a year in an incompetent fashion

I hope that I've at least made you think about this a little bit. I am NOT suggesting that you should only work with a Professional One (the company that I own) agent. I AM suggesting that you work with an agent that is a professional one! For more information on things you can do to locate a quality real estate professional, read "Do Your Homework" on our website at http://www.professionalone.com.