Many prospective home buyers, especially first-time buyers, enter into home buying with the fantasy that it's going to be an amazing experience with a great Realtor who's going to help them find that a perfect home. However, in reality, great realtors don't just appear; you need to research and interview a few realtors before you can be assured that your realtor is going to work well for you.
In order for you to get the best experience and results from buying a new home, you really need to find yourself a realtor that you can work with effectively and efficiently. No matter what your friends and family tell you about their own experiences with realtors, you need to pick one for yourself who can work well with your personality and communication style.
Now, this isn't to say that you shouldn't canvas your friends and family for the names of realtors who they're worked with in the past; just don't hire the first realtor that your sibling suggests to you. You will want to gather a collection of referrals from people you know so that you have a basis to start with.
The next thing that you'll need to do is find out if any of the realtors on your list have specialties in line with what you're looking for in a home. For example, some realtors might specialize in luxury homes or foreclosures and it can be a big benefit for you, if you're looking to make this kind of purchase, to use someone with lots of experience in that kind of housing. If you can't find out the information that you're looking for on the realtor's website then call their office and ask.
The next thing that you need to do once you've shortened down the list is to interview your top choices. A realtor can look perfect on paper, but if you have conflicting personalities then working together on a home purchase just might not work for either of you. Make sure that if you have specific needs for communication style that they can work with you and you with them. If you require most of your correspondence by email, then make sure they know that; if you would prefer to only communicate by phone, make sure that they can work with that too.
No matter what the market looks like, a search for a new home can be a great adventure or a trying experience. To ensure that it is the best experience that it can be for you, make sure you have the right person on your team before you start.