Most people find their agent the easy way: a referral from a friend, a name on a yard sign, or whoever picks up the phone first. That can work out fine. It can also leave you stuck with someone who isn’t actually the right fit for what you need.
A good place to start is people you trust. Ask friends, family, or coworkers who’ve recently been through a purchase or sale, and pay attention to how they describe the experience, not just whether it closed. Beyond that, sites like Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google reviews can show you patterns in how an agent actually treats clients.
Check that their license is active before you go any further. Every state keeps a public lookup for real estate licenses, and it only takes a minute to confirm someone is in good standing.
Experience matters more than how polished someone’s marketing looks. An agent closing somewhere around ten or more transactions a year is usually working full-time and staying current with what’s actually happening in the local market, not doing this on the side between other jobs.
Talk to more than one agent before deciding. Ask how many buyers or sellers they’ve represented in the last year, how they prefer to communicate, and whether you can talk to a past client. The answers tell you a lot more than a polished pitch will.
One thing that surprises people: if an agent wants to show you homes in person, they’re required to have you sign a written agreement first that spells out exactly how they get paid. That’s not a red flag, it’s just how things have worked since 2024. What matters is whether they walk you through it clearly or just slide it across the table and rush past it.
Local knowledge is the last piece. An agent who actually knows the difference between a street in Ypsilanti and one a few miles over in Van Buren Township, or who can tell you why two homes near Ann Arbor priced similarly sold completely differently, is going to serve you better than someone working off a generic script.
Finding the right agent comes down to checking a few things and asking a few honest questions, not finding the flashiest name out there. If you want help knowing what to look for, even if you end up working with someone else, I’m happy to talk it through.
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