How to Pick a Real Estate Agent

Selling or buying a home is an important decision. Choosing the right real estate agent can make all the difference. But it can be tough to pick the right Realtor for you.

Online reviews can be misleading. Personal recommendations are often given based on friendships or family relations, not on successful track records. Even when a unbiased recommendation is given, it typically only represents one successful transaction and doesn’t give a full picture of a Realtor’s track record.

Here we give advice on which real estate agent review websites are better than others and show the consumer how to check a real estate agent’s license for validity and past complaints. We also try to give a few different ways to check a real estate agent’s sales record.

If you’re thinking of selling your home in the next twelve months, Stephen would love to tour your home. Call today to set an appointment.

Stephen FitzMaurice, Realtor
4% Max. to Sell a Home
Cancel Anytime Policy
Licensed Since 2003
503-714-1111

If you’re considering buying a home in the next twelve months, Kami Price, buyers specialist would love to hear what you’re looking for. Call today to set an appointment.

Kami Price, Realtor
Represented Hundreds of Buyers
Licensed since 2004
503-773-0000

#1 Portland Real Estate Agent to Sell a Home

January 27, 2021

Okay, so that’s a lot to claim and we’ll need to get more specific. I’ve been a licensed real estate agent since 2003, serving Oregon and SW Washington. For much of that time I’ve run the Stephen FitzMaurice Team, currently with the international phenomenon EXP Realty. My team members are the reason for my success in the Portland real estate market. Also, it helps that we charge less than the local or national average commission rates. Our home selling program max. charge is 4.25% commission and is less in some areas and circumstances, but never more. We also offer a customer-friendly cancel anytime contract for no charge. Then we top it off with what I believe is the best home...

What is a Zillow Real Estate Agent?

October 30, 2020

Does Zillow have their own Real Estate Agents? Okay so let’s first clarify. Does Zillow have their own Realty company with their own agents? Yes and no. Zillow does not have any agents within their company that you can call to list your home on the public market, or go help you find your next home – at least not yet. Zillow has employees that happen to also have their real estate license that assist Zillow with their “Zillow Offers” program. Basically it is one of many iBuyer programs that makes a cash offer on your home (typically way under market value) for those home sellers that are willing to prioritize convenience over sales price. So while you can’t yet...

5 Questions to ask a Realtor in an Interview

June 26, 2020

Selling a home is one of the most important financial decisions a person makes during their lifetime, even if they make it multiple times. A good Realtor can make the experience stress free and enjoyable (or as enjoyable as possible) and financially rewarding. But how do you know if a Realtor will perform, how do you know if they are a good fit? Questions to ask a Realtor during an interview: 1. What are the exact terms of your cancellation policy? Okay, so maybe you didn’t expect this to be the first question. But honestly I think it should be. Let’s say you went through the interview process and the real estate agent told you everything you wanted to hear...

Top Real Estate Agent Review Sites: 2020 Update

December 13, 2019

For a long time, unverified online reviews were the bane of the real estate agent’s existence! Now it’s almost 2020, and we can finally celebrate the fact that actual customers are voicing their opinions online, creating a merit-based system in which the best real estate agents win.  However, the saavy real estate agent chooser should know where to look, because fake reviews are still out there (and we’ve been hit ourselves with some bogus spam reviews from people who simply don’t exist. So where’s the best place to find verified reviews of real estate agents from people who actually worked with them? We’re glad you asked! If you’re simply looking for reviews on the Stephen FitzMaurice Team, you can find...

Real Estate Agent Reviews Guide – 2019 Update

June 3, 2019

Find the best sites for Realtor Reviews Frankly it is incredible how many places you can find real estate agent reviews online. But which sites should you trust? Does anyone verify that the reviews are from real clients? And it may surprise you to know that sometimes looking for Realtor reviews can cost you money! Read to the end for those important details. 1. Zillow’s Agent Finder Zillow drives real estate agents crazy sometimes because it tends to have a lot of data errors for home buyers searching their site, while other major home buying search portals, like Realtor.com, tend to be more accurate. But when it comes to real estate agent reviews – I’m grateful for Zillow and we...

Number 1 Listing Agent in Portland, Oregon – 2019 Update

May 21, 2019

For three years running, Stephen FitzMaurice, Principal Broker in Oregon with eXp Realty, sold more listings in the Portland metro tri-county area (Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties) than any other listing agent. There are roughly 9,400 real estate agents working in the same area. These home sale numbers come from our local MLS, the RMLS. Find the Best Portland Real Estate Agent Stephen believes that he is successful because of his customer first model. His real estate commissions are reasonable, 4.25% max. and his contracts are as easy as they come, cancel anytime with 24 hours notice for no charge. On top of that, he spends more (a lot more) than his competition to market his clients homes online so...

Real Estate Agent vs. Seller Agent Specialist: What’s the difference?

April 26, 2019

Portland’s real estate landscape is vast! There’s a specialist for nearly every activity — and that’s a good thing. To have a hassle-free real estate transaction, you need someone handling the mortgage, someone looking at the title, someone inspecting the home, etc. That’s why a system has developed over the decades in which, in a given home sale transaction, there’s usually one real estate agent for the seller and one for the buyer. Now some real estate agents will take that a step further and exclusively represent sellers or exclusively represent buyers as a career specialization choice to serve their clients in the most effective manner. 3 Seller Agent Specialist Advantages 1. Improved Customer Service When I first started the...

Choosing a Listing Agent? Check 4 Things.

March 26, 2019

Verified real estate agent reviews, verified sales record, marketing services to sell your home, and total cost — these are the four most important things to consider when choosing a listing agent for your home. 1. Verified Real Estate Agent Reviews You wouldn’t trust a review on a hotel from someone who hasn’t stayed there, so why would you trust a review about a real estate agent from someone who hasn’t worked with them? It is incredible the number of reviews out there on real estate agents from friends and family or even negatively from the competition leaving false reviews. You’ll find these in abundance on Yelp.com. This is why we leave the majority of our reviews on Zillow.com. This...

What is a Principal Broker?

June 25, 2018

Real Estate Agent Real estate agent is the most commonly used and understood term in the public sphere to refer to someone who helps people buy and sell homes, but “real estate agent” is not typically the license term or official term the local governments use. Real Estate Broker Real estate agent is not the licensed term or the official term in Oregon and in most states. In Oregon someone who is licensed to sell homes or represent buyers purchasing homes is called a Broker. All of these Brokers will still typically refer to themselves as real estate agents because that is what the public easily understands (but these Brokers in their advertising requirements still need to refer to themselves...

Portland Real Estate Agent Reviews & Ratings: 2018 Guide

June 1, 2018

Best Real Estate Agent Review Sites These days, it’s pretty hard to find a product or service that hasn’t been reviewed and rated on a handful of different websites. In 2018, nothing goes un-rated, it seems, from TV shows to national parks, even zoo animals! Yet how do we tell the worthwhile reviews from the worthless, and what does the number of stars really say about a real estate agent? The Two Best Agent Review Sites Realtor.com and Zillow.com: these are the top two websites we recommend for checking out reviews of Portland real estate agents. Personally, we attempt to get all of our reviews on Zillow.com. I’ll say more on that later. Here’s why we think these are the...