There are something like 23,000 agents in the City of Toronto so painting them all with the same brush...whether positive or negative is somewhat impossible. I deal with agents every day...some great...some horrible. Although its fun to surf MLS all night and call for appointments, a good agent who communicates and understands your needs makes sure that your time is implemented efficiently. Also, if you find an agent you can trust they can be a great "voice of reason" through a very emotional and costly experience.
I am a licensed agent (commercial) and actually use residential agents to facilitate my residential requirements. I wouldn't do it any other way. My advise is;
-get references from a variety of sources, friends, colleagues, real estate lawyers, the owners of brokerages, etc.
-get an agent that is active in the area you want...i.e don't ask Aunt Marge from Newmarket to help on your search though Liberty Village
-meet several and INTERVIEW them...make them EARN your business...its a VERY competitive marketplace...if they are too lazy to meet at your house, come very prepared and on-time to impress you with their track record, systems, experience, etc and actually LISTEN to your needs give them the boot and call the next one.
-use someone in the know...you are not looking for a friend to hang with, you are looking for a service, find agents that are active, have a decent amount of listings and are involved in the day-to-day of their business, many agents have a great name and farm it out to their team.
-look for professionals. The 80/20 rule was made for real estate agents, the top 20% make 80% of the cash, associate yourself with the top 20%.
-Get experience...my agent has been selling for over 25 years, she knows what it was like when interest rates were 18%, when the condo market crashed over night, when people took $100,000.00 losses on their houses, etc. Find someone that has been on the ride up as well as the ride down.
But still, a good place to start.
