How to Choose an Honest and Trustworthy Real Estate Agent

Dec 10, 2014

Honesty and truthfulness rank at or near the top of the traits people must take into consideration when choosing the right real estate agent. The National Association of Realtors Code of Ethics considers this attributes not only vital for an agent in the real estate business, but also a legal requirement. Repeatedly engaging in deceitful and otherwise dishonest practices often leads to the revocation of an agent’s license.
There are a couple of methods a buyer can use when trying to gauge an agent’s trustworthiness. One recommendation is to ask him or her for the contact information of five recent sellers who have granted the agent permission to provide these details to later clients. Calling or sending an email to these sellers and asking them to describe their experience with this agent will give you a gauge on the realtor’s honesty. Also, ask for testimonials from the agent’s past clients as a method of determining his or her honesty and trustworthiness.
If an agent cannot provide previous client contact information, and/or has no testimonials to offer the agent may either be untruthful or be a novice with little if any experience. Interested individuals can verify whether the realtor is the former or latter through some internet investigating. The latter individual may in fact be honest, while the former could not be considered truthful.