Houses for Sale

What Are The Best Websites To Find A Realtor?

If you are planning to purchase a new home or looking to sell your old one, having a great real estate agent can make all of the difference. Licensed real estate agents play a substantial part in helping individuals through every step of the transaction, including advertising the property, finding qualified buyers/sellers, addressing any questions, hosting an open house, and much more.

However, how do you know which one to pick and trust during one of the most significant decisions of your life? The best way to find a qualified realtor is by going online. Online research is now the foremost method people use to rind realtors, so it’s no surprise nearly all realtors have a web presence.

In this article, we will take a look at the best websites to find a realtor.

TopAgentsRanked.com

TopAgentsRanked.com is one of the more popular websites online that offer access to realtors across the United States. At TopAgentsRanked, you will simply enter in your personal information (name, phone number, email, location) to get in contact with motivated agents.

Once you’ve submitted your information and verified your identity, you will be able to view the profiles of local real estate agents. These profiles contain basic information about agents, but also other critical data that you can use to make an informed decision.

For example, you can see how many homes a realtor sold in a 1-year period. Even from this singular piece of info, you can infer that a busy agent is more likely to help you buy and sell properties.

Additionally, agents will directly contact you to discuss your needs. While you may be inundated with calls, having a way to “speed date” through motivated agents can give you the ability to pick and choose an agent based on intuition.

National Association of Realtors (NAR)

One of the best ways to find an experienced realtor is by visiting the National Association of Realtors (NAR) website, which features a searchable database for realtors in your area (Find a REALTOR®). Providing up to 100 results per search, you’ll be able to search through realtors in your area based on name, location, certifications, and more.

While this may seem like just another database of real estate agents, it is not. Instead, this is a list of NAR members, a professional members-only group of real estate agents and brokers that requires not only 3 years of experience in the industry, but also follows strict ethical standards of the NAR. You can use this database to cross-reference agents and find out more about their qualifications, giving you a guarantee on their professional conduct.

Search Engines

The truth of the matter is that search engines provide the widest range of searching that you can find for real estate agents. The ranking of real estate agents and related pages gives you a clearer picture of which realtors and brokers operate in your area simply by searching “realtor + [your location]”.

From the search results, you’ll get a list of agents and brokers to choose from. Of course, that’s a simple approach and yields predictable results, with plenty of ads up top (especially on Google). However, there’s a few takeaways to infer about these top-ranking search results:

  • First, pay attention to which agents are appearing in the ads versus the organic search results below. Chances are if the realtors in the top results match the ads, business is good.
  • Look for personal websites for realtors. While many realtors are linked to brokers, you may find personal websites that show more of their personality and expertise. For instance, if you’re looking for a waterfront property, being able to see an agent that has the same fondness for boating and the outdoors would be preferable to an agent that lives in an urban area.
  • Also, don’t just rely on Google, either. DuckDuckGo, Yahoo, and Bing offer the ability to cross-reference a wide selection of agents and will provide different results based on their ranking algorithms.

By applying due diligence to find a qualified real estate agent on search engines, you can save yourself the hassle of poor service throughout your search for the right home or buyers.

Social Media

While not a “website” per se, real estate agents use social media as a way to advertise their business to their following. From recently-sold properties, tips, listings, and more, social media enables real estate agents to showcase their profession and success - a clear indicator of their expertise, motivation, and transparency. If your realtor has a sizable Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook following, you can contact them directly through messages to learn more about their services and establish a rapport from the get-go.