Top 5 Qualities of a Good Realtor (and Why You Need One!)

It’s no secret that many young adults want to buy a house. However, with high housing prices and high interest rates, few people have had the resources to do so recently. I know that’s certainly been the case for myself and my partner. With interest rates starting to fall, many of us prospective home buyers are feeling a bit more hopeful. If you’re in the same boat, you might be wondering how to go about buying a home or looking into the feasibility of doing so. One of the most important steps as part of this process is finding a good realtor.

In this post, I’ll go over the steps to take before finding a realtor. I’ll then discuss what you should look for in a realtor and why you need a realtor for new construction homes. At the end, I hope you feel more confident about finding a realtor that’s right for you.

What You Should Do Before Finding a Realtor

Before you seek out a realtor, make sure you’re financially ready to buy a home. Buying a home is a significant investment. And, contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t always pay off, especially once you account for phantom costs like maintenance and selling costs. Indeed, depending on your local market, it may actually be cheaper (and a better investment) to rent instead of buy and invest your cost savings.

Towards that end, run your numbers before contacting a realtor. Financial advisors recommend that you spend 28-32% of your gross monthly income on housing costs. If you pay more than that, you’re considered cost burdened. Being cost burdened can make a huge difference for your financial wellbeing. It impacts your ability to save for retirement, pay for emergencies, and make ends meet.

Remember that that 32% should also include phantom costs like home repairs, taxes, HOA fees, and insurance. For many of us in high cost of living areas, that percentage is unrealistic. Nevertheless, it’s an important target to keep in mind. If you go much higher than that, you’ll need to make sure your other costs are as minimal as possible.

So before looking for a home, try using a calculator that can help you determine how much home you can afford. I’ve provided a home buying calculator in another post. Alternatively, I like Nerdwallet’s “How Much Home Can I Afford?” calculator and their “Rent vs. Buy” calculator.

With these calculators, you enter in the home price, down payment amount, prevailing interest rate, estimates of costs like taxes (which vary depending on your real estate market), and how much debt you have. They’ll then tell you the home price you can afford and whether it’s actually cheaper to rent or buy.

A Caveat about Real Estate Numbers

These calculators are handy tools. But remember that they are just a rule of thumb. The best numbers for you may vary. Indeed, you’ll also encounter this when you find out how much you qualify for with your mortgage lenders. In both cases, you should assess whether you can comfortably afford that amount given your other obligations. For example, if you pay thousands of dollars a month in childcare costs, you may consider a cheaper home.

Likewise, if you’ll be really stressed with a high house payment each month, you may want to consider a cheaper house for better peace of mind. I found that to be the case for me. We qualified for a higher amount with our mortgage lender than I was comfortable paying. Just because you can pay a certain amount, doesn’t mean you should if it makes you uncomfortable or requires big sacrifices in areas you really care about.

At What Stage Should You Find a Good Realtor?

Once you’ve run your numbers and decided to move ahead with your housing search, you should consider finding a realtor. David Sidoni, host of the How to Buy a Home podcast argues that first-time home buyers should actually search for a realtor well before they’re ready to start searching for homes. There are some good reasons for this.

A good real estate agent can help you better understand the real estate market, what’s involved in a real estate transaction, and how to create a realistic vision of your perfect home given your income. All of these things are helpful to understand before you start looking at houses so that you can prepare yourself emotionally and financially.

That being said, real estate agents don’t normally help people well before they’re ready to buy a home. Moreover, they’re not compensated until you buy a home. So if you want to seek the advice of a real estate agent before you’re ready to start looking, you want to make sure you’re clear on each other’s expectations and timeline. 

More conventionally, you’ll wait to find a realtor until you’re ready to start looking at homes. Even if you are ready to buy a home, you should still clarify your timeline and expectations. Make sure your realtor know if you have a flexible timeline and are willing to take time to find the right home. Or clarify if you want to find a home as soon as possible. Likewise, make sure they understand the highest price you’re willing to pay, your preferred price range, compromises you’re willing to make, and compromises you’re definitely not willing to make.

Qualities of a Good Realtor

Which leads me to the qualities of a good realtor. There are too many qualities of a good realtor to list here, so I’ll focus on the most important ones.

A Good Realtor Respects Boundaries

First, a good realtor will respect your boundaries. They won’t push you to pay more than you’re comfortable, to buy before you’re ready, or to make compromises you’re unwilling to make (like waiving a home inspection when one is important to you). 

If your expectations are unrealistic, they may encourage you to reevaluate some of your decisions. However, they’ll always keep your best interests in mind and should never make you feel pressured into a decision. If your realtor makes you feel uncomfortable or keeps pushing you after you’ve made a firm decision, consider finding someone else.

A Good Realtor Has Experience

Second, you ideally want to find an experienced real estate agent, especially as a first-time home buyer. Home buying is super complex and full of confusing terminology and processes. You want to make sure you have an experienced realtor to guide you through the process and offer the best advice possible. 

Plus, an experienced agent will have the know-how to work with the seller’s agent and the mortgage lender and get you the best deal. Consequently, make sure they have (successful) experiences with first-time home buyers before moving forward.

A Good Realtor is Honest and Upfront

Third, a good real estate agent is honest. This, coupled with their knowledge and experience, will help you make an informed decision. Their honesty and knowledge should be on display in the beginning stages of your search. For example, notice at your first visit of a home what they point out. Do they note the pluses and minuses of the home? Do they show you that spot with water damage or bring up the weird floor plan? 

If you’re buying a home for the first time, these things might not be obvious to you. With the help of a realtor who is experienced and honest, you should feel like you’re getting a good idea of whether buying a particular home is a good idea for you.

A Good Realtor Listens

Additionally, the right realtor listens to you throughout the entire process. As you look at homes, you’ll get a better and better sense of what you like and don’t. A good realtor will pick up on that and, as much as possible, show you homes that fit your preferences.

The Right Realtor for YOU Is Someone You Like

Finally, the right realtor for you will be someone you like spending time with. While this might feel like it matters less than some of the other qualities, you’ll be spending a lot of time with this person, probably on nights and weekends. At the end of the day, you want someone who you enjoy being around to make this stressful process more fun, or at least bearable.

Why You Need a Realtor for New Construction

New build homes are extremely prevalent, particularly in large cities like Seattle. And that’s like to be even more of the case in 2024. Many new construction projects have started over the past couple of years to respond to the housing shortage. Moreover, with home prices stagnating or even declining in 2023, some builders may be waiting until interest rates come down so they can sell their homes at a higher purchase price. All of this is to say that there’s a good chance you’ll look at a new construction home if you’re home buying in 2024.

It may seem like a good realtor is somewhat less important for a new construction purchase. After all, they shouldn’t need to point out any damage or hidden issues, right? And new construction homes have a builder’s agent. So can’t you just use them? If anything though, a good realtor is just as if not more important for assessing a home purchase in a new development.

For one thing, many new construction homes were built hastily and with an eye towards cutting costs. There might be more quality issues with those homes than you expect. For example, a friend of mine recently toured a new build home. His realtor, however, pointed out that the walls were extremely thin… thinner than they should be. Sure enough, you could easily hear everything happening in the neighboring townhouse.

The Builder’s Agent vs. The Buyer’s Agent

Additionally, while you could use the builder’s agent, they’re ultimately looking out for the builder’s best interest, not yours. That means they’re probably not going to point out flaws with the new construction process, walk you through all the fine print of the real estate contracts you’re signing, or work to get you the best deal.

Plus, your realtor can help connect you to mortgage lenders and a home inspector. However, the new construction realtor’s network, including their preferred lender, may also not have your best interests at heart. They can help you with the logistics of the buying process. But you’ll be best served by getting your own agent rather than relying on the builder’s sales agent. 

And make sure you bring your agent with you to the builder’s sales office. Some people find that if they don’t bring a realtor with them on their first visit, they are restricted from being able to use a buyer’s agent at all!

Good Realtor Caveats

It’s important to remember that no matter how good the realtor, they can’t determine what’s right for you. You know your financial situation, values, and preferences better than anyone. Plus, for a real estate agent, a successful outcome is that you buy a home. For you, a successful outcome may sometimes be that you learn more about the housing search process but don’t move forward with buying a home.

When Andrew and I looked for condos in Spring 2022, we ultimately decided that the best decision for us was to stop looking and instead continue saving money towards a home that would suit us more long-term. The interest rates were getting too high and with high housing prices, we couldn’t find something that worked for us. We had a wonderful real estate agent who was very understanding of our decision. 

However, it’s important to know that you may have a great realtor who encourages you to buy a home even when you’re not ready because, from their perspective, that’s success. So make sure you’re always evaluating what’s right for you and, if relevant, your partner.

Final Thoughts on Finding a Good Realtor

It’s vitally important that potential buyers find a good realtor. A good realtor can save you so much money in the long-run by helping you evaluate the worth of a home compared to the sales price, assess additional costs you might not have considered (like the water damage you didn’t notice), and connect you with the best lenders, home inspectors, and other professionals.

Moreover, they will help you clarify your vision and preferences and understand how to balance your budget with what you’re looking for. And they’ll be enjoyable to spend time with as you spend hours and hours of your free time searching for the right home.

So spend time finding a realtor that’s a good fit for you. You might consider interviewing a few different people. I even have a realtor interview you can use in my Home Buying Bundle. Don’t just go with your cousin who started out last month because you’re worried about hurt feelings. Are those hurt feelings really worth thousands of potential dollars? I’m guessing not. So do yourself a favor and spend a little time on one of the most important components of your housing search. Finding a good realtor.

Have you bought a home and had a successful (or not so successful) experience with a realtor? Let me know in the comments if you did so we can all learn from your experience!

I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing with others. Interested in related content? Check out my posts on the lessons I learned as a first time home buyer, the numbers you need to know before buying a home, how to save for any goal, and what to do when interest rates are high.