I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer go check it out

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Hi everyone! Can you please share your tips, what questions, and other criteria you checked before picking your realtor? What lessons you wish you knew with the realtor you fired or got fired by?

We're a first time home buyer couple in GA, within the metro area but with a small budget and what feels like a huge ask for budget (3 bd, 2 ba). Thank you.

Here are my thoughts on selecting your real estate agent.

Most first-time buyers pick their agent the same way: a friend referred them, or they clicked a button on Zillow, or their cousin just got licensed.

The industry has a problem

75%-87% of agents don't renew their license within the first two years.

22%-31% of agents are part-time.

40% of agents do 1-2 transactions per year.

mediocre/part-time agents can stay in the game for a while

The median home price in 2025 was about $405,000. The average buyer agent commission was about 2.5%. That's $10,000 per transaction.

So when an agent goes to renew their license each year, the question in their mind is "did I do at least one deal?"

If yes, they renew. Even if they only did one deal in 12 months.

That's the agent you might be sitting across from. "10 years of experience" can mean 10 deals total.

If I had to pick between an agent with 20 transactions in their first year, or an agent with 10 transactions over 5 years, I'd pick the rookie because reps matter.

Here's what I'd actually look for:

1. Recent transaction volume in the last 12 months. Not "years licensed." (I subscribe to software that monitor's agents activity, but let me know if you'd like help looking into this)
2. Communication speed. Send them a text before you commit. If they take 6 hours to respond when they're trying to win your business, imagine how they'll respond when you're already locked in.
3. Avoid dual agency. This is when the agent represents both you AND the seller. They legally can't advocate for you in negotiations at that point. They become a transaction coordinator. If you found a house online and called the listing agent directly, that's the trap.

NAR settlement from 2024:

two big changes came from this settlement:

• agents can't post online what the commission will be (this dissuaded realtors from showing their clients low commission homes)
• and agents need to discuss commission before showing you homes (signed buyer/broker agreement before touring)

Since agents are required to have you sign a buyer/broker agreement before showing you homes (in most states) they'll present this right out of the gate.

When they hand you that agreement, they're going to be breathing down your neck waiting for you to sign so they can schedule the showing.

Don't rush it. Read it and make them wait.

check for commission in the agreement

The commission section will say something like "Broker will receive X% of the purchase price, any compensation offered by the seller will be credited toward that amount."

Translation: if the seller doesn't pay your agent, you do.

You can't be forced to buy a house. So if the seller refuses to cover the buyer agent commission during negotiations, you can walk away from that house.

Check for length of time in the agreement

The length of the agreement is the bigger thing to watch. Some agents will push for 6-12 months. That's a long time to be stuck with someone you might not like.

I push for a month. "If we don't click, we part ways. No hard feelings."

Sam

I write educational posts on buying your home for the first time. I even posted my homebuying book at r/NewbHomebuyer here's the book on reddit.

Originally shared by u/SamTMortgageBroker in r/NewbHomebuyer — view the original thread.