It is getting easier to investigate realtors on-line.

We’ve already seen that www.neighborcity.com allows you to research an agent’s recent sales history.  The realtor-groups that pool all the team’s sales under one agent are still deceiving (Redfin and most top-producing agents), but at least you have some way of verifying that somebody has been successful in getting people to the finish line.

In a different twist, www.homelight.com allow you to search your preferred neighborhoods to find an agent, and then screen by price range, and agent characteristics too.

The data provided by both of these websites is less than 100% accurate – the actual sales counts fluctuate, and homelight says that one of the areas I work is Castle Park?  But at least there is independent data available.

The best gauge of how an agent can help you is simply the number of closed sales – that verfies the agent’s skill and ability to successfully juggle all the wide-ranging variables encountered in each sale.  An agent who sells at least 1-2 houses per month is nimble, and experienced in navigating this market.

The only common thing about agents is that each of us has gotten at least 70% correct on the state’s 150-question multiple-choice test.  Other than that, you are left to believe what the agent tells you – unless you do some research on websites like these.

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Jim the Realtor
Jim is a long-time local realtor who comments daily here on his blog, bubbleinfo.com which began in September, 2005. Stick around!

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