How a Real Estate Agent Works for You
Use this guide to identifying the core responsibilities of a top real estate agent.
Finding the best real estate agent near you is the first step on your real estate journey. But what are your real estate agent's responsibilities once you've selected them? If you've already compared multiple agents, then you know a top local real estate agent will fill multiple roles for you, and, most importantly, build a relationship so they become a trusted resource for you. We've assembled this short guide to review what a real estate agent does and help you feel confident your real estate agent is properly working for you, with four buckets of activities from an agent: Process Engagement, Listing Management, Handling Offers, and the Closing Process.
Process Engagement
Whether you're a first time home buyer or veteran home seller, there are many steps to the home buying and selling process, and it's your agent's job to ensure you understand the real estate process. From the start your agent should be engaged with you and explaining the major steps for holding a successful real estate transaction. A top real estate agent breaks down the complex nature of a real estate transaction and makes the many intricacies understandable for the average person. Some specific complexities an agent should explore with you include:
Although every transaction, client, and situation is unique, most transactions have core steps that are present regardless of the specifics. These include submitting/reviewing offers, negotiating with the other party, entering escrow, and the closing process. Some good questions to ask your agent could be: How long does this step take? What are my responsibilities and what should the other parties involved be doing? Are there any barriers I could resolve to ensure we have a smooth closing? And more!
Your agent should work with you to create milestones for your transaction, which can act as both goals and indicators for taking other proactive steps to move your transaction forward. Some major milestones your agent should make clear include finding a property you like, having an offer accepted, and successfully securing hour home financing.
Listing Management
Listings (or homes for sale) are ultimately at the root of every real estate transaction. Your agent will play a major role in the management of listings whether you're a buyer or seller, and the way they approach this element can make or break your deal.
As a home seller, your real estate agent's core responsibility is to manage your listing. They should create and guide the steps before your home goes on the market (such as suggesting repairs, cleaning, and staging) and most importantly help you set the appropriate price for your home. Finally, your agent should market the listing extensively to attract buyers and their agents to the property.
A top agent will support home buyers by helping to narrow their priorities and identify available homes for sale in their local market. This includes working within your price range and identified geographic area, as well as coordinating all necessary scheduling for tours and walkthroughs.
Handling Offers
Once you've either listed your home for sale or identified a home to purchase, the next step is to begin fielding offers. The degree of support your agent should provide at this junction is invaluable! As this is the stage of the transaction where it comes time to actually put money on the table, an agent can help you either earn or save substantially.
Once you begin receiving offers, your seller agent serves as the first point of contact. Offers are coming from a buyer's agent to your agent, so they are the in-between for you and the party that is purchasing the home. Your agent should act as the gatekeeper for whether an offer is competitive within the market and help to set the terms for any counter offer. This often leads to a negotiation with the buyer's agent, with your agent representing your interest.
Your buyer's agent will help you draft and submit offers once you find a property that meets your needs. This offer should be competitive; enough to be seriously considered by the seller while not offering more than is absolutely necessary. If the seller's agent then presents a counter offer, your agent should walk through those terms with you and explain whether or not they're reasonable considerations and why.
Closing
The last and also hugely important step for an agent to support you with is the closing process. If there is a chance for a transaction to fall through this is where it's most likely to happen. With multiple moving parts and parties contributing to a successful closing, your agent should be facilitating all logistics and operations.
As a seller, a top agent will need to work with the buyer's agent to schedule any necessary inspections and support subsequent repairs that may need to occur. Your real estate agent should also manage the closing timeline with the other agent and keep you abreast to any potential changes of the closing date.
Your buying agent will support the closing process in many ways. They can connect you to parties including an escrow company, title company, a home inspector, movers, and more. A top agent should be consistently bargaining on your behalf to move the closing forward and minimize your expenses. This includes negotiating for any necessary repairs or closing credits with the seller.
You're now ready to work with a top agent and hold them accountable for these major responsibilities! If you're still wondering where to start with agent selection, check out our articles about How to Find a Real Estate Agent and How to Compare Real Estate Agents.