Realtors are amazing salespeople that live a rather demanding and exciting life. They are required to be diverse, given that they mostly juggle different skills like consultancy, marketing, and legal in the course of their career. Sometimes a buyer and a realtor’s interests are aligned. However, there are situations where the right advice for a client is not aligned with the realtor’s monetary incentive. Many successful realtors today achieved this feat through transparency and having their client’s best interests.

How then do you ascertain if a realtor truly has your back? A buyer can learn a lot from a realtor who is helpful, professional, and transparent, and so can you. Here are the things that can prove whether or not your realtor is really helping you.

1.        Why?

The most important question a realtor can ask a buyer or seller is why.  Truly understanding the motivations behind a decision will help them determine the right course of action for your agent. Your agent should want to know if it is a push or pull situation. Is something driving the buyers out of their current living situation or is there something that the buyer finds appealing in a different area ( a job transfer, change of commute)? It is important to note that sometimes, the answer to the why question has nothing at all to do with real estate. It could be more personal. For instance, owners could be moving because they are “unhappy” in their current home.

2.        Full Disclosure

Your realtor is doing you a disservice by not being fully upfront with you. Hence, a key requirement of a realtor’s job is to be completely honest with a client about certain factors that are important in the course of buying/selling a house, which in turn can influence a client’s choices.

–   The long term

The real estate market is quite unpredictable. No one knows when the rise and fall will occur. It is important that buyers don’t only think of their present needs alone but also think of how they could possibly change. As a general rule of thumb, if you are going to be in the house for less than three years, it’s probably best for you to rent. If you’ll be there more than five years, then you probably should purchase. If it’s 10 or more years, then you certainly should be purchasing. Three to five years is considered the gray area.

–   The value of the house

This is a great question to ask your realtor when purchasing a house. In other to determine this, you first have to consider neighborhood catalysts. Are any major employers moving in or out of the area? Are there any other changes happening (new developments, transportation routes, etc.)? Second, with respect to the house itself, if the house appeals to you, then it most likely will appeal to another buyer when it’s your turn to sell. If your needs/wants are more mainstream, then you will likely have a larger pool of buyers. If your needs/wants are more custom, then you should be prepared to have a harder time selling when it’s your turn.

–     The deal

The flipside of real estate is that when you think you are getting a great deal at your purchase price when it’s your turn to sell, your prospective buyer will benchmark the value of what you paid for it. So whatever reason there may have been for you getting such a good deal (e.g., motivated seller, you are a skilled negotiator, etc), your buyer will want to capture that discount in his purchase, too.

3.        Expertise 

Realtors are not equally skilled or experienced. It is imperative to spend some time interviewing any realtors you might use, asking how long they’ve been in the business, whether they do it full-time or on the side, how many homes they’ve sold, what their strengths are, and so on. Ensure they’re familiar with the town and/or neighborhood where you’re planning to buy or sell a home. Request for references, too, and/or look for reviews about them on real estate and other websites.