Faina Sechzer - Princeton, Montgomery, Hopewell, NJ Real Estate Expert

How To Select A Princeton Real Estate Agent - The Myths And The Truths

If you are considering selling or buying a home in the Princeton area, selecting a New Jersey real estate agent, that would be right for you, is one of the most important first tasks. In this article I review some of the important points to keep in mind.

Buying and selling a home is stressful -it involves big changes in peoples lives, represents big financial stakes, and is often a very emotional process. The stress is more so now, given declining Princeton real estate and housing prices in some Princeton areas.

I bought and sold houses prior to becoming a real etstate agent. I know first hand how essential it is to select the right agent. When I switched careers to go into real estate, my idea was to provide the service I wanted when I was a real estate buyer and seller.

Unfortunately, the task of selecting a Princeton area real estate agent is not easy and there are a lot of myths surrounding what is a "good agent".

1. "The best agent is the one who has the most listings".

The idea here is that the more listings the agent has the more experience they have. Some sellers also think that if so many others selected this agent, they must be good.
Granted ,there may be competent agents with many listings. On the other hand there is only so much time in the day and the more the listing an agent has, the less time they could dedicate to each. They may have an assistant, but then you would be hiring an assistant, not the agent.

I limit the number of clients I have, so I could give each the attention and personal service they deserve and reduce their stress as much as possible.

2. "The best agent is the one who agrees to the highest price for the home."

This one of the very dangerous misconceptions which could result in the exact opposite - a home taking a long time to sell, price reductions and more stress.

Real estate agents don't set prices- the marketplace does. You should expect for the agent to understand the dynamics of the Princeton real estate market. How do you check for this understanding? Do it before you even meet the agent in person -look on the Internet for the articles and analysis the agent has written. Statistics could unfortunately be misleading and simply selecting reports from the MLS is not enough. To really understand what goes on in Princeton real estate, an agent needs to know and understand the history of individual transactions and be able to explain to you why sometimes similar properties sell for different prices.

3. "The best agent has been in the business for a long time".
This could be true, but it may as well be false. Many agents have not changed the way they do business and do not understand the mindset of the new generation of buyers. Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Flickr - these are just some of the names used by forward looking companies and even candidates for political office. These new media channels offer new opportunities for real estate as well.

When interviewing real estate agent to sell your Princeton home, ask how they participate in social networks and how they would use them to sell your home.

4. "Alphabet Soup" Designations

The many letters abbreviations after the agents' name indicate that they took a several hours course. I am all for continuing education ( and have enough degrees to prove it), but taking the course to get the designation would not make one an expert in anything.

5. The Final Test

The test for selecting a real estate agent is called the "BS" (not the Bachelor of Science) meter. I borrowed the "BS meter" expression from this TheStreet.com article (via my colleague and a great Phoenix agent -Jay Thompson ). We all have such meter, it's just may not always turned on. "The one who promises the moon and the stars may not be able to deliver, but your B.S. meter could be turned off because you want to sell so badly."

The article suggest "it's really about personality and who you trust will work in your best interests". So, how could you decide who you could trust? Surely, you won't find an agent who says they are not trustworthy. The BS meter is a good one to use in the agent selection. What does your gut tell you? Do you feel comfortable? Being comfortable with a person who will handle such an important event in you life, is a crucial factor not to be overlooked.

I have another suggestion about trust. Use the Internet. You could tell a lot from the agent's Internet presence, especially if they have a blog. Anyone could make/buy a fancy web site, but a blog is different. It allows Princeton real estate buyers and sellers to learn about the agent well before meeting them in person. It is hard to fake the blog. You will get to know the the blog author and decide if they are the right agent for you. My clients say I am the same person "just like in the blog".
Writing 4-6 articles for the Princeton Real Estate blog every week is not easy, but beneficial for my readers. It helped them not only learn everything about Princeton real estate, but also to decide if I am the right Princeton NJ real estate agentt for them. It's been great for me as well - all my clients are the best ones for me.

Call me at 609-553-4165 with questions you may have about Princeton real estate or to request a Real Estate Agent Interview Guide.

This Princeton real estate housing market report may be the only report with some good news amid the financial crisis engulfing the country. The positive news is the 8% increase in the median house price and the 6% increase in the average home price in Princeton Township in the 3d quarter 2008 compared with the same period in 2007. The question "How is the Princeton real estate?" is something I get asked at least half a dozen times daily. I was happy my answer for this article had some good news.

Princeton NJ Mercer county real estate report has been developed to cover the results for the third quarter of 2008. This report details the prices of Princeton NJ homes for sale, trends in the numbers of homes sold, the average days on the market it took to sell the house and the rate at which houses have sold. Data is compared it to the real estate statistics for the same period of last year -Q3 2007.

Princeton Borough real estate median price have increased 6%. The median price of houses sold in both the Princeton Township and the Boro increased 2%.

The number of houses sold have continued to decline in Princeton Township by 25%, which is understandable given the decline in the supply - the number of Princeton Township houses listed declined 39%. In the Princeton Boro the number of homes sold increased by 23%, while the number of houses listed declined 26%.

This does not mean Princeton real estate and homes for sale have been completely immune from the declining prices. The median and average prices reflect a relative direction, but are not precise, because they do not measure the sale of the same Princeton property, i.e. the mix of the houses in the 3d quarter of 2008 is different from the mix of houses sold in the same period last year.

These are the details for this report*.

Princeton Township Real Estate - 3d Quarter
2008 2007
Number of houses sold 60 75
Average price sold 1,005,830 948,065
Median price sold $898,750 $831,000
Average DOM 97 75

Min. price sold $245,000
Max price sold $2,925,000


Princeton Borough Real Estate - 3d Quarter
2008 2007
Number of houses sold listed 27 34
Listed average price $918,103 $1,240,328
Houses pended 21 22
Houses sold 31 24

Average price sold $864,130 $906,531

Median price sold $699,000 $657,000
Average DOM 97 114

min sold $220,000
max sold $2,700,000

Combined Township and Boro Sept 2008 Sept 2007
Houses listed 27 40
Houses pended 10 17
Houses sold 23 24
Average price sold $799,714 $903,041
Median price sold $850,000 $831,000
Average DOM 137 120

Information is based on Trend MLS data as of 10/03/2008. Presumed accurate but not guaranteed.

Princeton NJ Mercer County Real Estate Market Housing Report -Second Quarter 2008

Princeton NJ Mercer County Real Estate Market Housing Report -First Quarter 2008

Princeton NJ Mercer County Real Estate -Homes for sale prices 2004-2007

Princeton Real Estate - Housing Prices, Market Reports, Statistics

Princeton NJ Mercer County Real Estate - How Long Does It Take To Sell Princeton 2006-2007

Please call 609-553-4175 to find out how real estate in Princeton, Montgomery Township, West Windsor, Plainsboro, Princeton Junction, Hopewell, Pennington, and Lawrenceville New Jersey affects your buying and selling decisions.

Faina Sechzer does not guarantee or is in any way responsible for accuracy of the information on this site, and provides said information without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied. Every consumer is urged to perform their own research and analysis.

Copyright © 2008 Faina Sechzer All rights reserved. This information cannot be copied, reproduced, transmitted, distributed, displayed or published.