If you are planning to purchase a home, you will be faced with many decisions. What comes first buying the next home or selling your present home? What is your price range? What will be the location, size and style of your next home?

Before getting the answers to these questions there is one major decision to be made: which Realtor shall you choose to help you get through the maze of forms and give you the direction needed to successfully complete your real estate transactions?

Buying a home is too important to leave up to a committee. Some buyers like to leave their name with three or four salespeople. Although it may seem to be to the buyer's advantage to have a number of people to work with, it is usually a very ineffective approach. The basic assumption is that a committee of agents can produce more results than working exclusively with one realtor. Like most committee assignments--everybody's responsibility is nobody's responsibility.

ONE REALTOR = COMMITMENT

You need the total commitment of one Realtor whom you feel comfortable with and who will get to know and understand you and have compassion and empathy for your particular situation. Buying and selling a home is a journey that must be carefully plotted and mapped from the start to completion. Tell this Realtor that you will work with them exclusively as long as you see the effort and work needed to get the job completed. In fact if you are a Buyer you should sign a Buyers Agency form with this agent to show your commitment, as well the agent should put in an escape clause for you the buyer if they do not perform or work actively for you. In this way you will have a dedicated Realtor who will make it his personal responsibility to handle all the details to get you to a successful completion of this real estate journey.

A REALTOR NEEDS CANDID FEEDBACK

A good agent will listen to your needs and search through properties that are available both their own office and the Multiple Listing Service, then sort out the inappropriate ones. They will likely show you a number of homes and get your feedback and then continue the process until you have found the right home. Be very candid with your feedback, point out your likes and dislikes of the properties. Your Realtor should have a copy of each of the listings you will be viewing with a space on each of the pages for your written notes. You will not remember the likes and dislikes you have of each home after you have finished your entire showing tour. Make your notes immediately after viewing each home. Also remember it is in your best interest to view only a maximum of 4 to 5 homes on any one showing tour. It is easy to become confused when viewing too many homes at one time.

A Realtor is paid on a straight commission basis. They do not receive a salary or have an expense account. They are paid only after they have sold something and it successfully closes. This is why working with more than one Realtor is not a good idea. None of the Realtors will know if it will be to their financial benefit to spend any of their time or effort trying to find you a property, when you could possibly buy through another Realtor. Believe it or not, you will be best served by dealing with one committed Realtor as opposed to shopping the field with a variety of Realtors and Brokerages. By giving your commitment to one Realtor, the Realtor will work with the enthusiasm and diligent efforts required to successfully complete your transaction.