How to Find an Ethical & Honest Realtor

In light of the recent Gallup Poll where only 17% of the public rated Real Estate agents favorably in terms of honesty and ethics, it begs the question, "How do I find an honest and ethical Realtor?"

This is a great question. For example, if you're looking for a home in my home town of North Brunswick, you couldn't simply open the phone book or google "Honest Ethical Realtor North Brunswick". After all, how would you know? How would you avoid getting this guy?

While there are no guarantees, here are a couple of things you can do:

1) Research prospective agents on the Internet. Check out their website and/or blog, as well as other Real Estate sites, such as Realtor.com, Homes.com, and Trulia.com.

2) Find out what other people’s experiences are with that agent. A great source of information is http://www.incredibleagents.com/.

3) Visit Open Houses. This is a great opportunity to interact with agents on a preliminary basis before committing to anyone in particular.

4) Select three agents and interview each one. During that process, have a list of questions to help determine their qualifications and ability to best serve your needs.

Finally, if you're unable to find a Realtor you feel you can trust in the area you are searching, you can always ask another Realtor for a referral. This is a great way to get a professional recommendation from someone who knows the business, but isn't trying to earn your business.

If you have any other questions or thoughts, feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to help!

Public Rates Honesty & Ethics of Realtors

In a recent Gallup poll, Americans rated the ethics and honesty of different professions. Nurses came up at the top, along with pharmacists and high school teachers.

What was a bit of a disappointment was the real estate agents ranked so low. Only 17% of people surveyed rated them as very high/high, while 25% rated them as low/very low.

It's a sad state of affairs when a majority of people feel that can't trust the very people who are guiding them in making some of their most significant financial and life decisions.

At the same time, we, as Realtors, need to do a better job of setting a higher standard and earning the trust of the general public (and it certainly doesn't help when NAR come out with bogus statistics). It's our fault as a profession if the public doesn't view us highly.