When Advocate Realty was formed in 1995, the idea was to create a real estate brokerage that would get it right. A place where you could be sure that your best interests would always come first and that you’d receive the best service possible.

I was reminded of this recently thanks to a couple of good customer service experiences. On one occasion, a store replaced a pair of my son’s defective boots with no questions asked well after the date stipulated for exchanges on the receipt. On the other, a salesperson wouldn’t make an exchange because she thought she was following company policy, but when the store manager found out what happened, he personally called me to apologize and sent the product to my home via courier free of charge. These businesses got it right and earned my future loyalty.

When you’re looking for a new home, you want to ensure you’re in the hands of a real pro because, while any agent can show you a home, great service will make a HUGE difference to how smoothly things go, which home you buy and the price you pay. So how do you determine if you’re receiving top quality service from your agent when you’re looking for your new home? Here are 3 things to look for:

1. Your agent should spend time with you before you even look at a home to find out what you want. This usually involves a meeting or at least a lengthy phone call during which your agent asks you a lot of questions about the features you’d like to have in your new home, what you’re looking for in a neighbourhood, how long you see yourself living in the home, etc. Essentially, a good agent will want to obtain as much detail from you as possible. It’s the only way to determine which homes to show you, how to advise you about the options available to you and how to guide you to buy the home that’s right for YOU;

2. Your agent shouldn’t show you homes that don’t meet your needs. There’s no reason to show you a home that’s listed for $1.3m if you’ve told your agent that your upper price limit is $900,000 and there’s no reason to show you a fixer upper if you’ve told your agent that you don’t want to do any renovations. Similarly, your agent should preview homes before taking you to see them to determine if they meet your needs so you don’t waste your time looking at homes you’ll never buy. Yes, there may be times when your agent shows you a home that doesn’t fit your needs, but there should be a reason for doing so. For example, he/she may show you a home that isn’t renovated when you want a renovated home just so you can see if the size of the home would be adequate for you. That way, if a renovated home of a similar size comes on the market, your agent will know that you should move quickly; and

3. It’s also extremely important for your agent to share his/her opinions about the homes you’re seeing. After all, chances are that your agent has seen a lot more homes than you have. He/she should be able to point out how each home matches up against your wish list (so you don’t buy a home in the wrong school district, for example) and the pros and cons of every home so you won’t encounter any unwelcome surprises down the road (like buying a home a few doors away from a future condo site). Your agent should also be able give you an approximate idea of how much each home will sell for so you can determine if you think it’s worth the price.

There are many other ways a good agent will help you, so keep your eyes open for future blogs. For now, make sure your agent is doing these 3 things so you receive the great service you deserve. And if your own agent has done something for you that really impressed you, please share your comments below so that we’ll all know what else to look for, too.