Buying or selling a home can be a stressful time, and you rely on your real estate agent to help make the process as smooth and painless as possible. But sometimes, you can choose a bad real estate agent in Ventura, making buying or selling your home even more frustrating than it needs to be.
If you’ve never bought or sold a home with a real estate agent before, it may be difficult to know when you’ve chosen poorly. And sometimes, all the recommendations and reviews in the world won’t warn you that you’ve decided to work with a bad real estate agent in Ventura.
There are some things to look for to determine whether the frustrations you’re experiencing are normal or the sign of a bad real estate agent in Ventura:
COMMUNICATION ISSUES
While it’s normal that your real estate agent can’t always answer your call, text, or email right away (They work long hours and have to juggle a lot of clients!), how can you know when to draw the line about communication issues?
If you contact your real estate agent and don’t receive anything – not even acknowledgement that your message has been received and they’re working on getting you an answer – for 24 to 48 hours (or more), you might have a bad real estate agent.
At the very least, your agent should let you know they got your message and will get back to you soon with more information or schedule a time to talk in more depth.
DOESN’T LISTEN
When choosing a home, or trying to sell the one you’ve got, your needs should come first.
If you say you only want to look at homes in a certain neighborhood or with a specific number of bedrooms and bathrooms, your agent shouldn’t bring you scores of homes to look at that don’t meet these criteria. While it may not always be easy to fulfill all your requests, especially if you have a strict budget or the housing market in Ventura is hot, your agent should work to meet your needs as best as possible and thoroughly explain if your criteria can’t be met.
An agent who doesn’t listen to your needs and really takes them into consideration during the home buying or selling process isn’t in it to help you. If you feel you aren’t being heard, it’s time to find a new agent.
PUSHY
Your agent knows the market and the home buying or selling process better than you do, so you can expect to be gently steered in a direction that makes sense if your expectations are way out of line.
However, if your agent is constantly showing you homes outside your budget “because you’ll love them” or is pressuring you to accept an offer you know is too low, you may have found a bad real estate agent in Ventura.
TOO MUCH ATTITUDE
Real estate agents are master marketers with lots of confidence, and this can sometimes come across as arrogance.
While some attitude is to be expected when dealing with real estate agents (They are people, you know!), if you feel your agent is put-out by being asked questions or tries to steamroll your wishes, they’re not a good fit.
YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE
One of the most important things that you should get out of the home buying or selling process is that you feel comfortable. After all, you’re exchanging a great deal of money and putting your credit on the line.
If your agent makes you feel uncomfortable, whether that’s by pushing you to make a purchase you’re not completely sold on, or they just act poorly, it’s time to find a new agent.