Silicon Valley Real Estate

New real estate licensees dont come with a warning label. Theres no magnetic sticker on their cars, like there are with folks doing drivers ed. About half the agents selling real estate in Silicon Valley have been licensed less than five years. And half the licensees sold no homes last year.

How will you know if your potential listing agent or buyers agent is an inexperienced (if well intentioned) newbie? If you ask, will you get a truthful answer? A straight answer? If you ask how long, you may get a vague response like, ˜dont ask! or ˜seems like forever!

• The California Department of Real Estate Public Licensee Lookup will give you the agents license history. Dont guess how long he or she has been in the business. Find out.
• This, of course, wont tell you how many homes he or she has actually sold. So ask for references and ask to view the homes sold on the web (agents can provide a printout with their names on it which indicate homes where they represented seller, buyer, or both)

Realtors (licensees who are members of the national, state, and local Board of Realtors) promise to abide by a code of ethics. A real estate licencee is not held to the same standard. So please start by making sure that whomever you hire is a Realtor. (Perhaps 1/3 are not.)

Here are some sites where you can see if your agent is also a Realtor:

1. There are two local ˜boards of Realtors, Your agent may belong to one or both of them
   1.  SILVAR, The Silicon Valley Association of Realtors
   2.  SCCAOR, The Santa Clara County Association of Realtors
2. The CAR, California Association of Realtors ˜Member Lookup page
3. The NAR, National Association of Realtors, ˜Find a Realtor page
   

Many homeowners and homebuyers are under the false impression that all new agents are closely monitored, so it doesnt really matter if their agent is new or experienced. But it does matter. In fact, while the broker must review each purchase agreement, its only after the fact that this happens. The broker only looks at the contract to buy or sell a home AFTER it has been ratified by buyer and seller. How much help is that??

Some companies do a tremendous amount of training before they allow new agents to really work independently, having a ˜boot camp type training or closely monitored mentoring program. But others simply hire new licensees and turn them loose. The new agents literally dont know what they dont know. Only after a few difficult transactions will they understand the value of experience. But you dont want them to learn on you!

When you hire an agent to help you buy or sell a home here in Silicon Valley, do your research. Ask a lot of questions. View information online. And Google the agents name! That will help you get a sense of presence in the real estate community too. Ask for references. Making a good choice in hiring a real estate professional is perhaps the most important decision you will make in the entire process of buying or selling a home. Take your time and be through!

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