Wilson Realty Group - In The News

How To Pick A Winner When Choosing a Triangle Realtor

Nancy E. Oates , Correspondent

Day in and day out, Christian Hansen, working in information technology sales in Research Triangle Park, makes his customers happy. When he went shopping for a home a couple of months ago, it was his turn to be the customer. Choosing a Realtor who shared his belief in the importance of customer service made him happy.

"If I don't provide customer service, I don't have a business," Hansen said.

Good customer service goes beyond giving the client VIP treatment. In this tight market, everyone in the real estate industry understands the value of a serious buyer. Finding the right Realtor often boils down to compatibility - in personality, values and strategies. But don't overlook market knowledge, creativity and deal-making skills when selecting a Realtor who will get you where you want to go.

Ashley Wilson, Hansen's agent when he bought his condo in downtown Raleigh, works for Keller Williams in Raleigh. In the five years she has been a full-time agent, she has racked up $76 million in residential sales and in 2008 was named to Realtor magazine's list of Top 30 Under 30 agents nationwide.

Jim Allen, who heads a group of 25 real estate professionals at Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston in Raleigh, has flourished through some of the best and the worst markets in his 26 years as a broker in the Triangle. Over the years, he has collected numerous performance awards and currently is ranked among the top 10 Realtors nationally.

"The primary ingredients for a good Realtor are...patience, experience and flexibility," Allen said. "When the market changes, you have to roll with the punches." Here are a few of the ways Wilson and Allen keep their customers happy.

Stand up for clients. On a Saturday morning tour of houses Wilson put together, Hansen sometimes could tell as soon as he stepped into a place that it wasn't what he had in mind. Wilson never urged him to walk through it anyway, just to appease the seller's agent. "When I said I didn't like something, we walked right back out," Hansen said. "The other Realtors, the lender, the law office, these were her colleagues and friends. But never once did I feel she was not on my side, working for me."

Price accurately. The market sets the price of a house, not what your neighbor hopes it will sell for, Wilson said. In a sellers' market, where prices are going up, houses can list initially at a higher price to test the market. But in today's market, with prices edging down, testing the market could be a mistake. "If you are priced above what the market will bear, you're going to constantly be chasing the market," Wilson said. "You'll die the death of a thousand price cuts. We've all had to get real and get right."

Give honest answers. Allen finds the courage to keep his customers informed, even when he tells them things they don't want to hear. If a client wants to write a $250,000 offer on a house priced at $400,000, it's up to the Realtor to say, that's probably not going to work, let's attack this from a different direction, Allen said. "Realtors may be afraid that if they say that to their clients, the client may go work with someone else," he said. "The truth is, if the client is not being realistic, you may not want to work with them."

Go the extra mile. Mike and Courtney Selna, their 6-year-old and toddler walked into Wilson's new-home community sales office at 5:50 p.m. on a night the office was to close at 6. Wilson devoted the next two hours to walking them through homes and showing them the neighborhood. "She never once gave us the feeling that she had better things to be doing than helping us," Mike Selna said. Wilson shared her thorough knowledge of the area with the Selnas, who were moving to the Triangle from the West Coast, and she keyed into the kids to get them excited about the move.

The Selnas toured 15 other subdivisions with different agents, but came back to Wilson to buy. "Sincerity, honesty, the ability to look you in the eye, shake your hand and remember your name," said Selna who, with his wife, owns a shutter and blinds business. "Those customer service basics are important to me."

Put experience to work. A savvy Realtor arrives at a listing presentation with accurate historical data about comparable sales, Wilson said, and is prepared to educate clients about what is going on in the market. A Realtor should act as a consultant, listen to clients and ask questions.

Allen added that a Realtor must be prepared to offer guidance and help clients make tough decisions. Find a Realtor prepared to stick with you for the long haul, he said. Be creative. Allen has partnered with home builders to purchase a potential buyer's resale, freeing the buyer to purchase the builder's newly constructed home. Allen and the builders then renovated the resale and put it back on the market.

Because of his network of builders, he has the resources to help buyers fix up houses sold as is or transform an older resale into a buyer's dream home. His renovation contacts can help a seller spruce up a house to get noticed in this very competitive market. "I make that resource available to my clients, whether they are buyers or sellers," he said. "It's a value-added service to help people get through these negative times."

Make the market a better place. Many Realtors put time and effort into community projects. Some volunteer at charities; others get involved in professional organizations to ensure high standards for their profession or lobby for policy changes that benefit homeowners. Closing sales on homes that buyers can comfortably afford also benefits the community as a whole.

"If we are making our money out of a community, we should also be supporting it," Allen said. "What as an agent have you done in the past year to make the market better?"

After Hansen closed on his downtown condo, Wilson threw a housewarming for him in his new place. He invited some of his friends; she invited some of his new neighbors and some people who would benefit from seeing how well his condo worked for entertaining. He met his new neighbors; she met some potential clients; they developed a friendship through the process.

"If you are just a business transaction for your Realtor, then run," Hansen said.