Ask Renee | Choosing an agent · 4 min read
How to find the right agent when you’re moving from out of state
When you’re buying from a thousand miles away, your agent isn’t just opening doors. They’re your eyes, your judgment on the ground, and often the only person in the transaction who has actually stood in the house. Choose accordingly.
Ask them to compare two neighborhoods you’re considering, out loud and unprepared. A genuinely local agent will immediately talk about things that never appear in a listing: which streets catch highway noise, where the afternoon sun bakes a west-facing deck, which HOA is strict about what, where the school boundary actually runs, how long the drive really takes at 8am rather than at noon. Vague enthusiasm about how “great” both areas are tells you what you need to know.
Ask how they work with buyers who can’t be here. Do they do live video walkthroughs, or send a link to the same photos you already saw? Will they go back a second time to check something you noticed? Will they walk it in the rain to look at drainage? The answers tell you whether remote buying will feel like a partnership or a guessing game.
Ask what they’d tell you not to buy. An agent who has never talked a client out of a house is an agent who is optimizing for closings. I have talked clients out of houses I’d already spent two weekends showing, and every one of those people sent me someone else.
Finally, read the reviews for pattern, not praise. Anyone can collect a few kind words. What you’re looking for is the same specific behavior showing up again and again: preparation, communication, advocacy when it got hard. That’s the part that repeats when it’s your turn.
If you want to test me on the neighborhood question, that’s the best conversation we can have. Send me the two areas you’re weighing and I’ll tell you what I actually think.
Questions about your own situation? That conversation is free and I’ll tell you the truth.
Ask Renee a question