While this is not the best indicator of excellent service and professional success, experienced and dedicated agents generally will have a few awards and designations. A few examples of Real Estate Designations are as follows:

• Certified Residential Specialist – CRS
• Accredited Buyer’s Representative – ABR
• Certified Residential Specialist – CRS
• NAR’s Green Designation
• CRB Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist – CLHMS Design
• Seniors Real Estate Specialist – SRES
• At Home With Diversity – AHWD
These designations are earned with online classes and some have an annual fee to keep the
designation current.

Every agent has to be associated with a principal broker in Oregon and a managing broker in Washington. Some agents work on teams and others may be solo with their own agency or with a larger brokerage such as eXp. Busy agents will employ a transaction coordinator to assist them with each transaction. Most busy agents will also have a website designer and manager, social media manager, and possibly an office manager. They will also have their preferred mortgage broker/lender and Escrow and Title company.

 Most agents will work with all price levels, whether buying or selling. Some specialize in luxury homes only, while others may focus on condominiums, second homes, mobile homes, or foreclosure and short sale.

If you are a first time home buyer, this is an excellent question. Buying your first home is exciting, but can also be a daunting task. Agents who have worked with many first time home buyers have a special process to make sure the buyers feel confident, educated and supported from beginning to end.

Every successful agent will have a multitude of reviews and references that they can send you or that are visible on their website and social media. If they do not have any, then you might want to continue your search.

Common answers to this should be experience, communication, successfully closed transactions, negotiation skills, list
to sale price ratio, areas worked, number of 5-star reviews, Percentage of agent success level in their designated mls area.

Almost all agents will be paid after closing. The escrow company will send their portion from net proceeds to the agencies brokerage. The selling agent (buyer’s agent) and listing agent will generally split the transaction 50/50 for a commission rate of 4.5%. If the listing agent has a higher commission, the selling agent still receives on average 2.25-2.5% and the listing agent receives the remainder. Before asking a listing agent their commission, please take a look at commission rates on our “traditional listing” page.

This is an excellent and important question, because each agent will have different services on offer. Every agent has the duty to provide a standard excellence of care, but there are several additional things available. Staging, home warranty while the house is listed, pre-inspection, and mailers are examples of additional services available. These will more than likely come at a premium of commission as they are not commonly paid for by the listing agent and come at an expense. All agents will have some
marketing and will provide open houses upon request. The most important thing an agent can offer is expert knowledge, advice, CMA (comparable market analysis), knowing the current market intimately, the ability to explain the process in detail and come through with all promises of expert excellence of care, and the ability to be flexible, available when needed, and have excellent negotiation skills.

Successful agents are very busy, but they have earned that success because they have made it their policy to be available for their clients. If you call or text at an inopportune time (such as if they are in an appointment), they can let you know with a response to your call or text that they are busy at the moment but will call or text as soon as possible. For the most part, your agent should not be unreachable for more then three hours at a time during the business day. Most agents do work weekends, so unless they
specify, those are not off limits.

Most agents work seven days a week, but will take time off for family and personal life as well. For the most part, the normal working hours for an agent will be between 8:00 am – 6:00 pm, but for specific cases, there will need to be evening calls or texts. Every successful real estate agent knows their hours must be flexible to accommodate their clients and the nature of business.

Real estate timelines wait for no one! But agents are human, and will need some time away. In this case, the successful agent will
have back-up. This may be their principal broker on a small team or another fellow agent they may be paying to take over their transactions while away. Your agent should ensure that whomever is taking over their work load while away is thoroughly familiar with each client and their transaction. The transaction coordinator will also be available for help. Your agent may
also tell you that although they are away, they are only a phone call, text or email away.

Another excellent question! Some transactions will flow smoothly and close without a glitch. Others can run into any type of conflict, whether it be inspections, Title, timelines, or the inability for both parties to agree. The answer is an agent that has experience, patience, knowledge and excellent communication and negotiation skills. There are always ways to resolve a conflict, and your experienced agent will have been through enough transactions to have learned many solutions while at the same time have valuable communication skills to be able to explain, calm and solve.