If you have begun looking through Palo Alto real estate to find your next home, you’re embarking on an exciting journey. Shopping for a new home can be a very stressful endeavor, though, especially if you do not have the right resources. To ensure that you find the home of your dreams and to make the process as painless as possible, find yourself a great Palo Alto Realtor.
If you are looking to sell a home in the area, you will also want a Realtor with the skills and qualities to streamline the process and get you the best price.
You may ask, “How does one go about finding such a Realtor?” Luckily, if you understand the qualities that make a great Realtor, finding the best Palo Alto Realtor to help you is not hard. Here are the qualities you should be looking for.
1. Experience
A Realtor who has been in the business for a while and has many sales under their belt is a good choice. A Realtor with experience has learned the tricks of the trade and will share their expertise with you.
If they have been dealing in real estate for quite some time, you can expect your Realtor not only to understand the processes involved with home buying or selling, like the paperwork, appraisals, inspections, and financing, but also the more nuanced side of the process, like matching a home buyer’s desires with reality and knowing how to avoid unscrupulous sellers or buyers.
2. Integrity
Integrity is not an easy quality to see at first glance. It is well worth the effort to ensure that any Realtor you deal with takes their obligation to be fair and honest seriously. Trusting your Realtor's word makes the process less stressful and protects you from expensive missteps.
To find out if a Realtor has integrity, look for reviews of their former clients or, if possible, speak to them directly. Judge the quality of the reviews carefully and take the impression you get from the whole of them rather than the word of a single disgruntled person. Even the best Realtor will likely end up with a client or two who is not completely satisfied. You want to work with someone for whom the positive reviews well outweigh the negatives.
3. Familiarity With the Area
If you are planning to move into an area, you want to know as much about the lifestyle, culture, and people living there as possible. While any real estate agent can pull up data about demographics, schools, and living expenses and relay it to you, a Palo Alto Realtor with first-hand experience of the area can give you much more accurate answers to your question.
Someone familiar with the area can let you know if the home you are considering may be a bit too close to the active nightlife scene for your comfort or whether local weather patterns have any effect on the school schedule. And while any agent can do an internet search and inform you about cultural events like the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts, only a Realtor who has attended can accurately represent it and its effect on the local neighborhood communities.
If you're looking to sell a home in Palo Alto, a Realtor familiar with the area can put your home in the best light and know precisely what positives to highlight to potential buyers.
4. Patience
Finding the right home for you can be a grueling process. You have to consider so many factors, including location, size, your wish list of attributes, the quality of the home, and more. This may require you to visit many homes before you make your choice.
Your Realtor must be willing to view as many homes as you see fit and answer all your questions about each one. You should never feel rushed or pressured into making a decision. To cheerfully go through the entire process repeatedly, your Realtor must be patient and understanding.
Again, this character trait is not something you can easily discover before you begin working with a Realtor. Rely on reviews and be willing to find a new Realtor if you are made to feel like the process is a hassle for them.
5. Availability
The Palo Alto housing market is a competitive one. When you find a home you are interested in, you may need to act quickly before someone else grabs it.
To ensure you can react quickly to a house on the market, you need a Realtor who answers your queries quickly and is willing to set up viewings at odd hours or on short notice. If a Realtor has too many clients or a restrictive work schedule, they may not be available when you need them to be.
6. Tech Savvy
We live in technology-driven times, and business of any kind is made much easier through the use of the internet and technology tools. While a Realtor may not need to be a computer expert to do their job well, they must at least know how to take advantage of the tools of the trade.
They need to understand how to do a deep dive into the Palo Alto real estate market to find suitable homes and know how to communicate effectively with others. They should also have a basic idea of how to get the information that home buyers in the Palo Alto area are searching for in front of them using social media or established real estate sites.
Find the Best Palo Alto Realtor
The Palo Alto real estate market can be challenging to negotiate, whether you are buying or selling. Drew Doran with The Doran Team has the qualities, skills, and experience to make the process as rewarding as possible. Reach out to them to discover how they can make your next real estate transaction a positive experience.
