Finding Potential REALTORS® to Refer To

When you know someone who needs to sell or buy a home, offer to help them find a great REALTOR®. If you have an active real estate license you can make a referral commission for making the introduction. If you’re friend or relative lives or is moving to an area where you don’t know anyone, you will have to do some research to find the right REALTOR® for them. Below you’ll find some helpful tips on how to find good REALTORS® to interview, but be sure to also visit our next page where we provide you with insightful questions to ask when interviewing real estate agents.

Find a REALTOR® by Searching by National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) designations or certifications.

NAR offers numerous designations and certifications that REALTORS® can earn by taking additional classes, and/or by showing that they have specific experience. Depending on the situation of the person you are referring, REALTORS® with certain designations could be a good fit for them.

- For home buyers or sellers that are over the age of 55, search for an agent with an SRES® (Seniors Real Estate Specialist) designation. They have special training on how to best help seniors.

- For customers that are foreign-born or that are purchasing or selling outside of the U.S., search for an agent with the CIPS (Certified International Property Specialist) designation. These agents have taken numerous courses on international transactions as well as met other experience criteria.

- If your friend is a veteran or currently in the military, search for an agent with the MRP (Military Relocation Professional) certification. These individuals have taken special classes on the benefits available to service members.

- If the person you are referring is buying or selling a high-end luxury home, search for an agent with the Luxury Home Certification (LHC).

- If none of the above situations apply, then you can still search for agents who have one of NAR’s premium residential designations, the Graduate REALTOR® Institute (GRI) and the Certified Residential Specialist (CRS).

Use Zillow to search for agents with great reviews

Although I’m not a fan of using Zillow to search for homes, I do recommend it as a resource to search for agents. Many agents use Zillow as their primary resource to collect reviews from past customers. Search for agents by city and look for agents with a good number of reviews. Then click on the agents’ profiles to drill into details about the homes they sold. Here you will see whether they represent more buyers or sellers, the price range of the homes they sell, and you can check the map to see if most of their sales are in areas that the person you are referring is selling or wanting to buy in. A word of caution – agents with too high of a number of sales/reviews may be part of a team. Teams aren’t inherently bad, but I wouldn’t recommend that you refer a friend to a team unless you are absolutely certain who on that team will working with them. Big name agents, might bring in the business but they often aren’t the ones that are providing most of the service.

Ask a local reputable real estate attorney for their recommendations on a great REALTOR®

Do a quick Google search for “real estate attorneys” in the city your friend is moving to or from. (You’ll find there are a lot less attorneys then there are REALTORS®!) Choose a couple of attorneys with good reviews and either call or email them. Let them know you are calling on behalf of someone who is buying or selling a home and that you were hoping they could refer some potential real estate agents. Be specific and let the attorney know that you are not necessarily looking for the agent with the most customers but rather ones that they feel represent their clients well.

Once you have found a few potential REALTORS, the next step is to narrow the choice down to one or two agents that you want to send the referral to. Check out our next page on how to interview real estate agents.