How to Choose the Right Real Estate Agent for Your Needs

Three out of four buyers and four out of five sellers hire the first agent they talk to. (Realtor.com, citing NAR’s 2025 Profile) That is not a vetting process; it is a coin flip with a friend’s thumb on it. Choosing well does not require weeks of research. It requires knowing which five things actually predict a good outcome, checking them in about an hour, and talking to more than one person.

What people say matters, and what actually does

NAR asks buyers and sellers each year what mattered most in picking their agent. For buyers, the top factor was the agent’s experience (23%), then honesty and trustworthiness (19%), reputation (15%), and being a friend or family member (12%). Knowledge of the neighborhood drew 8%, timely responses 5%, and professional designations 1%. (NAR 2025 Generational Trends Report, Exhibit 4-7) For sellers, reputation came first at 35%, honesty and trustworthiness second at 22%, and commission rate a distant 4%. (CardCloser, summarizing NAR’s 2025 Profile)

Sources: NAR 2025 Generational Trends Report; CardCloser citing NAR 2025 Profile; Placester citing NAR 2025 Profile

The instincts are sound. Experience and honesty are the right things to want. The problem is that most people evaluate them by feel in a single conversation instead of checking.

Five things to verify, in order

1. The license is real, active, and clean. Mississippi’s Real Estate Commission has a public lookup. Confirm the name, the license type (salesperson, broker, or broker associate), the issue date, and the sponsoring broker. (MREC Find Licensee) The Commission also publishes disciplinary actions by year. (MREC Disciplinary) A minute here rules out the worst outcomes.

2. Experience measured in closings, not years. NAR’s suggested first question to any agent is “How long have you been in residential real estate, and is it your full-time job?” (NAR) Follow it with “how many did you close last year?” The typical REALTOR® closed nine transaction sides in 2025, and 27% of members earned income from another occupation. (NAR 2026 Member Profile) Sixty-two percent of agents with two years or less experience earned under $10,000, which in practice means one or two closings. (NAR 2026 Member Profile) There is nothing wrong with a new agent, but you should know if you are their second deal.

3. Local track record in your price range and area. Ask for the addresses of their last five closings. An agent whose recent sales are all in a different county or a different price bracket is learning your market on your dime. NAR’s consumer guide puts it plainly: your agent “must be licensed where you are buying a home. But they should also have the market knowledge to help you successfully find a home where you are searching.” (NAR Consumer Guide)

4. Representation and fee, in writing, before you commit. Who will the agent represent? Will it be exclusive? What is the fee and the term? Compensation “is negotiable, and you should talk to your agent in detail about how that compensation is defined.” (NAR) An agent who deflects the fee question in the interview will not get more forthcoming later.

5. References you actually call. NAR’s handout suggests asking for “the contact information of your three most recent clients” and asking those clients “if they would use the agent again in the future.” (NAR) Most recent, not best. Anyone can produce three happy clients from a decade of work.

Match the agent to your situation

The right agent for a first-time buyer with a tight budget in Pearl is not necessarily the right agent for a relocation seller in Madison with a $600,000 house and a 30-day deadline. Think about what you need most and weight the interview toward it:

• First-time buyers should prioritize process knowledge and patience; 76% of first-time buyers credited their agent with helping them understand the process. (NAR)
• Sellers on a deadline should prioritize pricing accuracy and a written marketing plan; selling “within a specific timeframe” was one of sellers’ three top priorities. (NAR 2025 Profile highlights)
• Anyone buying or selling something unusual (acreage, a duplex, a historic district, an estate sale) should ask directly for comparable experience; “many agents specialize in working with certain types of buyers.” (NAR Consumer Guide)

Talk to more than one

In NAR’s 2025 data, 76% of repeat buyers and 67% of first-time buyers interviewed only one agent. (NAR 2025 Profile, via Rhode Island REALTORS®) Interviewing two or three costs you two or three hours and gives you something no single conversation can: a baseline. You will notice which one answered the fee question directly, which one knew your neighborhood’s recent sales without looking them up, and which one asked you more questions than they answered.

Frequently asked questions