The First-Time Homebuyer’s Ultimate Guide on How to Find a Realtor®

You’ve saved up all your pennies, forgone some luxuries, and you think you’re ready to buy your first house. But you need someone to guide you through the process, and you’re not sure how to find that person; either all the agents you know don’t seem like quite the right fit, or you don’t know any agents at all. If you’re ready to buy a house and you need to find a Realtor®, here’s how to do it.

Let data do the job for you

In our technological age, there’s an algorithm for everything, including how to find a Realtor. Agent-matching services — like the one offered by HomeLight — use transaction data to find agents with the most experience in sales similar to yours. If you really don’t know where to start, this is probably the best first stop.

For example, let’s say you’re a veteran approved for a VA loan between $250,000 and $275,000 in your area, and you’re looking at a specific neighborhood; HomeLight uses recent sales data to find agents who have helped the most buyers like you in that specific neighborhood. We will recommend up to three agents for you to interview. They will reach out to you, and you can decide if any of them are the perfect fit.

But first, a quick primer: A Realtor and a real estate agent are similar but not identical. A real estate agent is licensed by the state to help with real estate transactions and is often a Realtor, but not always. A Realtor is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and usually is a practicing real estate agent or broker.