This is the right question. Most people ask who is the biggest or who sold the most houses or who has the most signs in the ground. Those are the wrong questions.
The right question is who will tell me the truth, show up personally, and actually look out for my interests when things get complicated.
That person is harder to find than you might think.
What most people do instead
They call the agent whose name they see everywhere. The one with the billboard on Coldwater Road or the bench ad on Lafayette. They figure name recognition equals competence. Sometimes it does. Often it means you are about to become a number in a very large operation run by someone you will rarely speak to directly.
They interview five agents in an afternoon and pick the one who quoted them the highest price for their home. That is called buying the listing and it is one of the oldest tricks in real estate. The agent says what you want to hear to get the contract and then manages your expectations downward for the next sixty days while your best buyers have already moved on.
They go with whoever their neighbor used because it worked out fine. Fine is not a standard worth building a major financial decision around.
What actually matters
Experience in your specific market and price range. Fort Wayne is not one market. The dynamics in southwest Fort Wayne are different from the northeast. What sells in the $150,000 range behaves differently than what sells at $350,000. You want someone who has been in the rooms where your kind of transaction happens regularly and knows what to expect.
Honesty over enthusiasm. The agent who tells you what you want to hear in the listing appointment is not your ally. The agent who walks your home and tells you exactly what buyers are going to notice, what it will cost you if you ignore it, and what a realistic price looks like based on evidence rather than hope, that agent is worth something.
Personal service. In a market where things move fast, you need someone who picks up the phone. Not a team. Not an assistant. The person whose name is on the sign. If you cannot get that person on the phone before you hire them, you will not get them on the phone when your deal is in trouble.
A track record you can verify. Ask to see reviews. Ask for references. Look at their transaction history. Anyone can make claims. Not everyone can back them up.
What I bring to the table
I have been doing this in Fort Wayne for twelve years. More than 250 transactions, residential and commercial, across every price range and neighborhood in this market.
I am a solo agent. That means when you work with me you work with me. Not a showing coordinator. Not a transaction manager who learned your name from a spreadsheet. Me, from the first conversation to the moment you hand over the keys or receive them.
I will tell you the truth even when it is not what you want to hear. I will tell you what your home is worth based on evidence not on what it takes to get you to sign. I will tell you when the numbers do not make sense and when they do. I will show up.
My clients have become something closer to family over twelve years. That does not happen by accident and it does not happen when you treat people like transactions.
How to find the right agent for you
Talk to more than one. Not five in an afternoon but two or three over a couple of weeks. Pay attention to who listens and who pitches. Pay attention to who asks about your situation and who talks about their own accomplishments.
Ask them what they would do differently than the last agent you worked with. Ask them what they would tell you about your home that you might not want to hear. Ask them what happens when things go sideways.
The answers to those questions will tell you more than any review or ranking or yard sign count.
And if you want to start that conversation with me, call me. No pressure. No pitch. Just a straight talk about what you are trying to do and whether I am the right person to help you do it.
That is how it should start.
David Barlag
Fort Wayne Realtor, Century 21 Bradley Realty
260-750-5737
davidbarlag.com