Choosing Real Estate Agen

[Travis Callihan]

Hello everyone. So I just had a quick question regarding choosing a real estate agent when looking to buy a property. I am in the military and got orders to my next assignment in Ohio, so I posted on social media asking what communities were highly desirable and I got a ton of responses. Since then I received messages from multiple real estate agents who want to work with me and have began sending me properties to look at.

My question is, how do I choose an agent go through? I do not want an agent to put in their time and energy into me and me end up choosing a different agent. At what point do I choose one agent and what do I tell the other agents?

I want an amazing agent who has my best interests in mind, and I want to do the right thing and do not want to burn any bridges. Thank you for your input.

[Anthony Dooley]

I don't recommend that you buy a house at your next duty station.  Got your attention?

Thank you for your service. I retired after 24 years. If you stay on active duty, you will probably get orders again in about 3 years. correct?  So unless you buy a house at a deep discount, like a fixer upper foreclosure, then it will likely not appreciate in value enough in the next 3 years to break even after you pay 6% commission.  I know, I've done this a few times.

Secondly, buying a house to live in at retail price is a bad investment.  A good investment makes you money.  A house to live in costs you money.  You have to live somewhere though, right? Use your BAH to rent a nice place until you leave the military and settle down. You don't know enough about Ohio to buy a house there, so rent  for a while and look for a great deal.

The agent is not as important as you. The agent works for you. Don't trust anyone to tell you what to buy or how much to pay. You should be knowledgeable about such a large purchase.