Must-Ask Questions When Interviewing Buyer Agents To Buy A Home

Better agent hires mean better homebuying experiences

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What’s On My Mind This Week: Bad Agent Hires Lead To Bad Homebuying Experiences

In my latest Tracy Talks Real video, I continued my series Hire Buyer Pants On Fire - Exposing Lies, Myths & Misconceptions That Lead To Bad Agent Hires. My latest video explores questions to ask your buyer agent candidates to smoke out bad agents because sadly, there are a fair number of both in our low barrier to entry industry.

My suggested interview questions are not the fluffy questions you find on the web. In fact, I couldn’t find my Question #1 on any other list and I looked at dozens! Skip those lists and use mine, written by a longtime homebuyer advocate who wants to see you win. 🏡💪

How Many Agents?

One of the biggest mistakes I see homebuyers make is not interviewing multiple agents and sometimes not even interviewing the one they hire. This is crazy to me but I think this comes from the old thinking that if you don't have to pay the agent, why should you care how good they are. Hopefully with buyers now having to think about their agent and agent compensation upfront, they will also get serious about who they're hiring.

I recommend you interview at least three agents. Interviewing multiple agents will give you more insights into buying a home in your area than any Zillow article can. And you'll have more choices for picking the exact right agent for your unique situation.

But Tracy, where do I find three good agents that won't waste my time? I know that sounds like a tall order and I cover this topic in detail in my Buyer Agent Game Plan™ course, but let's just say for today that asking for recommendations on social media is a strategy with a lot of pitfalls and booby traps.

I can personally help you find qualified agents in your area and the agents I turn up will be highly qualified. Learn more about this service in my Learning Center.

But First

Before you even interview your first agent, you first need to think about your budget, your target neighborhoods, target property types and timeline for buying because one huge goal of interviewing is to find an agent with the expertise that YOU need, not the expertise that your best friend who recommended the agent thought was important.

An agent who is good for YOU is 10x better than just a good agent any day of the week.

In fact, getting ready to interview is so critical, I developed a special Get Ready Checklist Bundle to help buyers define their needs, resources and objectives. This is a bundle of resources designed to help buyers really think through what they have and what they need, to get them ready to interview agents and buy a home.

16 Core Questions To Ask Your Buyer Agent

I have a list of 16 core interview questions and want to touch on my favorite five today. Some of my questions are trick questions. All are designed to get to the heart of whether the agent is the right agent for you or whether they are trying to BS you.

Question #1 - Have you ever been fired by a client? This question gets right to the heart of how difficult an agent is to work with. Maybe there is a valid story behind the firing. You evaluate, but naturally this is a red flag if it happened.

I looked at dozens of interview question lists online and not one bothered to ask this question. Isn't this something you will want to know? What else is missing from those internet lists? Skip them and use mine, based on my long experience advocating for buyers.

Question #2 - How will you decide what properties I will see? Listen very carefully to the answer. This is actually a trick question. The agent should not be deciding what properties you see. You should be deciding. Be very suspicious about any agent who gets too enthusiastic about telling you how it's "gonna be."

What you need for your best homebuying outcome is for you to be defining your needs with the agent finding and forwarding all matching properties for you to pick what you see. You don't want an agent who holds back lower priced properties because the commission is lower.

And this goes right to the heart of being ready, because if you’re not, you risk losing control of the process and an aggressive agent will step into the void and start telling you what to see and buy. This is highly unlikely to lead to a happy homebuying outcome for you.

Question #3 - How do you stay updated on local market trends? Notice the question is NOT whether you stay updated, but about the specifics of how. If an agent cannot describe a workflow for staying updated, this is a big red flag.

A related or follow up question is to ask whether your target neighborhood is a buyers market or a sellers market. If the agent can't answer this question, this is another big red flag because the answer literally dictates your offer and negotiation strategy.

Question #4 - What are your opinions about dual agency? Be wary of any agent who thinks dual agency is okay. That is a sign of an agent who doesn't value your success over his or her commission.

Even if the candidate you're interviewing is not part of the listing agent's team, blessing dual agency in any capacity might mean the agent doesn't have the right mindset to rigorously protect your interests and negotiation position. I talk more about dual agency in my recent video covering 5 lies agents tell homebuyers.

Question #5 - How will you make my offers stand out? Even in a robust buyers market where buyers are calling the shots, you still want an agent who has strategies to help you put your best foot forward. If you're competing against even one other buyer and your offer is sloppy, the listing agent will be telling the seller you and your agent will be hard to work with to close the deal.

Sellers care a lot about closing deals and the sooner the better, so pick an agent who understands the importance of making you look good and can articulate sample strategies to do the same.

Big Consequences When Skipping Interviews

I want to emphasize the importance of going through the exercise of identifying and interviewing multiple agents. If you don't, you lose the insights of several local experts and knowledge that comes from a diversity of answers. You don't want just any agent. You want the right agent who understands you, your buying objectives and is a hyper local expert in your target neighborhood.

There is just such a unicorn out there. It's up to you to find and identify that person. A bad agent hire can lead to devastating consequences, from losing out on homes you love to overpaying for mediocre homes. Home buyer remorse is real and there has been an uptick in recent years. I don't want this for you and I'm sure you don't want it for yourself. Do your homework upfront and set yourself up for success.

Final Thoughts

Those are my five favorite core interview questions from my list of 16. Get the rest of the list in my Fast Action Workbook titled Agent Interview Questions & Spreadsheet. In that resource I walk you through setting up the interviews, the questions to ask and a spreadsheet and strategy for scoring candidate responses.

Does interviewing multiple agents sound intimidating? Next week I’m going to describe a ridiculously simple system for finding agents, picking candidates to interview, scheduling & juggling interviews and evaluating results.

This week’s video is not to be missed if you are getting ready to buy a home.

Leave me a comment on the video. I’m very interested to hear about your own experiences with buyer agents.

Watch this week's Tracy Talks Video here.

Related to this article:

• Buyer Agent Game Plan™

• Find Me Agents

• Get Ready Checklist Bundle

• Agent Interview Questions & Spreadsheet

• Industry Insider Exposes 5 Real Estate Agent Lies

Introducing Buyer Agent Game Plan™

The new homebuying rules call for new strategies to pick the right agent to help you bring about your happy homebuying outcome.

My game plan blueprint describes exactly where to find good agents to interview and how to conduct multiple interviews efficiently. The program teaches you how to evaluate interview responses “apples to apples” and how to hire without burning bridges.

All of this translates to buyers hiring the right agent best-suited to their specific needs, resulting in happier homebuying experiences. Most educational content on this topic has been created by agents who want you to hire them to represent you, resulting in certain biases in the information presented. I developed this course for you, not me. I urge homebuyers to take advantage of my long career, love of buyers and consumer-forward focus to learn about finding, vetting and hiring great agents.

Don’t end up being one of those bitter people venting your frustrations on social media later because you recklessly signed on with the wrong agent and didn't course correct. Knowledge is power and this knowledge-heavy program was designed with buyers in mind by me, a longtime broker and consumer-focused attorney. Avoid the biggest homebuyer mistake of all time — hiring the wrong agent.

More at buyeragentgameplan.com. Buy your next home with confidence!

Fast Start Guide: Getting Started Under The New Homebuying Rules

I’ve been watching the commission reform lawsuits closely since the beginning. One year later, I’ve summarized everything you need to know to get started if you’re buying a home in the post-lawsuit era. Find this fast start guide in my Learning Center.

I’m also busy putting the final touches on my forthcoming book - The Secret Handshake (Play The Home Buyer & Home Seller Game Smarter). This has been an exciting project.

I find myself increasingly obsessed with helping consumers understand residential real estate on a deeper level and how to make more lucrative choices, including how to find, hire and vet agents. Join me on this journey? Hop over to the Learning Center and click the follow button under my bio. You’ll be notified when new offerings are added to the Center.

Do You Need Help Finding Agents?

Whether you are in my backyard here in Los Angeles or someplace farther away, I am available to help you find agents to interview. There is a nominal fee for this service, but I will find and vet three agents for you to interview in your local market, as well as provide a list of interview questions and my proprietary strategy for interviewing and comparing multiple agents with ease.

Complimentary Home Buyer Resources

Please enjoy these resources:

Ignore These 5 Things On A Home Tour - Don't let cosmetic bells and whistles distract you from things you cannot change about a property.

Buying In A Low-Inventory Market - Buyers have to be very strategic and ready to go when competing with other buyers in a seller's market. Don't miss these tips!

Don't Fall Prey To Wire Fraud - wire fraud is real. Be ready to recognize it and know your best practices to avoid it.

Follow Local Trends - Long time readers know I like me some trends! 🤓 This resource explains how market trends impact your home buying and home selling choices and strategies.

Benefits Of A Buyer CMA - Wondering how much to offer when buying a home or how much to list for when selling a home? Learn about Comparative Market Analyses (“CMAs”). They aren't just for sellers!

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Content Authenticity Statement

99.9% of this week’s newsletter was generated by me, Tracy Thrower Conyers. AI created my nifty rule book image. 😊

Legal Stuff

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Until Next Week…

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