After interacting with a few potential real estate agents I managed to set up appointments to meet with three of them to determine which, if any, of them I would be working with to help me buy a house. Now that I’d moved past the initial emails and phone calls, it got a little bit more real and for some reason I got nervous. I’m not exactly sure why, since this was supposed to be me evaluating them, but I guess at the same time I had in the back of my mind that they would be evaluating me and deciding if I was worth working with.

I spoke with a friend who is a Realtor that lives in a different area and she gave me some things to look for during the meeting and a few good questions to ask. Armed with that knowledge and questions I’d received from friends who have purchased a home I headed off to my first meeting with a Realtor yesterday. While I was en route the pickup truck in front of me swerved out of control as it ran over some debris, so that combined with my anxiousness had my heart pounding. What a great way to go into an interview.

Luckily by the time I found the Realtor’s office my pulse had slowed and I was ready for anything. I walked in the door and the lobby was empty. Not even a receptionist. Great. I looked around a bit and then a receptionist arrived and I announced who I was and who my appointment was with. I doubt it was intentional, but the receptionist’s friendly small talk put me at ease. The Realtor quickly came out and walked me back to a conference room.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect, but when the Realtor had a planner, a tablet, a bunch of papers and a file folder I thought that maybe I was going to be rushed to sign something. Thankfully, this was not the case. The meeting lasted around an hour and a half and was very productive. Instead of talking about how much I wanted to spend and what kind of house I wanted to buy right off the bat the Realtor introduced themselves more fully than they had done in our initial emails, then asked me some questions about myself and we finished by talking about the home buying process and what kind of house I think I want.

I walked away with a good sense of what kind of person the Realtor is and how they do business. I had such a good experience that now I have a new concern. What if everyone I meet with is this good? I’m hoping that there will end up being a clear “best fit” or it will make choosing that much harder. How do you choose between three potentially really great choices? I have another appointment with a Realtor on Friday afternoon and another on Saturday morning. I’m optimistic that those two meetings will also go well, but this first Realtor set the bar very high.