Expert Column
Lisa Dunn 
Lisa Dunn is a licensed real estate agent in the state of Minnesota. While...read more
Articles In This Column
- How the Economic Crisis is Affecting Senior Homeowners
- Selling Your Home: How the Housing Crisis & Economy Factor In
- How Moving Can Save Your Parents Money
- Reverse Mortgages Pros and Cons
- How Can a Real Estate Agent Save Me Money?
- 8 Tips for Hiring a Great Real Estate Agent
- How to Hire a Realtor Who Specializes in Working with Seniors
- My Mom Needs to Move...I Think!
Real Estate for Seniors
Comments For "How to Hire a Realtor Who Specializes in Working with Seniors"
how much time do you think is enough for someone to be qualified to help a particular market such as seniors? is it just about training or is number of years in the business important too?
Donald, What a great question. There are really two issues.
The first deals with the general skill set of having the knowledge and skills to be a licensed real estate agent. It’s not as much a matter of time, as it is the number of transactions. If you’ve been in the real estate business for 5 years, but only completed 3 transactions, you aren’t as experienced as a first year agent who completes 12 transactions. Even new agents can be great agents if they have the support of their broker throughout the transaction. Instead of telling you an agent should have X number of years of experience, I would suggest that you know how many years your real estate agent has been in the business, and what kind of results they’ve had. If your real estate agent is new (5 years or less) what kind of support will he/she get from their broker during your transaction?
Second, is the issue of knowledge and training. There are basic skills I have to be able to perform, such as fiduciary duties for my clients, no matter their age. Working with seniors requires me to have a greater breadth of knowledge including senior housing, effects of capital gains taxes, trusts, life estates, retirement planning, and financial planning that are unique to seniors. This increased knowledge helps me know which questions to ask so I can steer my clients toward other professionals that can help them avoid pitfalls of hasty decision-making in real estate transactions.
Knowledge is power whether learned through experience or through classroom learning.