What Makes A Good, Trustworthy Agent?
Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 11:16AM Bouncing off a conversation at FBS and my post yesterday, I'd like to explore what makes a good agent. We all know what makes a bad agent -- just read Zillow discussions for about a week and you'll discover everything you ever needed to know about bad agents, and more. It's been a sport the last few years to trash RE agents, a sport in which I've particpated. So, ok, a lot of it's true -- now what?
What makes a good agent? Anyone who wants to add to this in comments is welcomed, because I'm sure I'll leave out some important aspects of competence and trustworthiness.
I'll pretend I've been given the task of developing criteria for a site that wants to help the public decide between experienced agents who achieve results and inexperienced agents who don't (this will be part humorous, part serious).
Dear Agent, please complete the following criteria test so that we can determine if you will be accepted into our
Best Damn Agents In The Country Program.
How many years have you been working full time in real estate?
How many closed transactions have you had in the past 2 years?
Listing sides?
Buyng sides?
Both?
Do you have a parttime job outside real estate?
Answer this multiple choice question: A blog is....
A. A Web Log
B. A muddy spot in the back yard
C. Coldwell Banker's policy and procedures
How many online transactions have you closed in the last two years?
How may buyer and seller prospects do you have in your database?
Write an essay no less than 300 words describing your marketing plan.
Write an essay no less than 200 words describing buyer representation.
Write an essay no less than 100 words describing your best gimmicks to sell a home
Have you ever completely read a book?
Do you have a website?
How many people visit your website daily?
How many monthly leads do you get from your website?
The correct ways to follow up on a lead are:
A. Call them 5 times a week
B. Send them daily drips about proper linen selection and gardening tips
C. Email them and offer services - call if you have permission
How many agencies have you worked with since being in real estate?
HTML stands for -- How To Move Listings True or False
SEO is:
A. a fuel efficient car used by frugal agents
B. Standard Exceptions Overview (related to agency disagreements)
C. A discount brokerage started in San Francisco
D. None of the above.
Give ten good reasons why we should accept you:
Add more if you like. The point is that there is criteria to begin separating good from less than good, or plain old bad. Whether this is useful or not, I'll leave open. But playing what-if, what-if a site set out to accomplish a recommendation list, what's the best way to determine good? I believe most of us could come up with a system that could detect quality. It most likely would develop into something more complex, and less humorous than mine, no doubt, but it can be done.
Reader Comments (2)
I'd like to see your serious attempt.
I was mostly serious. As an aside, and it's just a personal preference for testing, but good essays on wisely chosen topics, plus a few sales's statistics would just about tell me everything I need to know about an agent.
As I started writing this, I got a call from a Californian moving to Savannah -- he found me through Google search using "Savannah Ga buyer agent" -- he has been looking for six weeks and got frustrated, decided to use a buyer agent -- so these are the systems/networks that once improved will add much value to buyer and sellers. He happened to come through Google, but what I hope for is such calls from different connections in a network -- hopefully before the consumer wastes weeks going in circles.
How to improve the network is the big challenge.