The Questions Smart Buyers Ask Before Choosing an Agent

1. Who pays the buyer’s agent, and is it in writing?

Since 2024, this has to be settled before you tour a home.

Buyer agent compensation is negotiable and must be documented before showings begin. Depending on the deal, it may be paid by the seller, offered through the listing, or paid by you separately from the transaction. A good agent explains all of it up front and puts it in your buyer agency agreement, so nothing surprises you at the closing table. If the answer is vague, keep looking.

2. Do you represent me, or the seller?

The listing agent works for the other side.

A listing agent’s job is to get the seller the best price and terms, which is the opposite of your goal. A dedicated buyer’s agent represents you, advises you on price, and negotiates on your behalf. With four decades of transactions behind us, our team knows how the other side thinks, and that knowledge works for you rather than against you.

Learn what a buyer agent’s role is with the Savvy Buyer’s Series

3. Are your fees negotiable, and what do they cover?

Fees are negotiable, and the value should be clear.

There’s no fixed rate that applies to everyone. What matters is what the fee buys: representation, negotiation, and protection through a complex transaction. Ask any agent to lay out their fee and exactly what it includes, then compare honestly against what you’re getting. That’s the right comparison to make.

4. What about discount or non-traditional buyer models?

The real difference is specialization.

Representing a buyer well is several distinct jobs: knowing the market street by street, spotting trouble in a home before you fall in love with it, structuring an offer that wins without overpaying, and negotiating repairs and terms through to closing. Leaner models save you money by doing fewer of those jobs, or handing some to someone who does this part-time. On the largest purchase of your life, a generalist covering most of the seat is the risk, not the bargain. Ask any model which of these jobs it actually performs, and which quietly become yours.

Mike DelRose & Bobby McShane Discuss Questions You Should Ask a Buyer’s Agent Before Hiring Them:

5. How many buyers have you actually closed?

Experience is only worth citing when it comes with results.

In just the previous 10 years out of our established 50, the team has completed 714 transactions worth $371.5 million across Greater Boston. Ask any agent for their real numbers, not just years in the business. Years without closings is just time.

6. How well do you really know my town?

Generic market talk is a red flag.

Ask for specific local data: current median price, days on market, and sale-to-list ratio for your exact town, all from MLSPIN. Our team works most heavily in Watertown, Belmont, and Waltham, while representing buyers and listings through Boston proper, Greater Boston, and typically within an hour’s drive of our Belmont office. Here’s where the eight-town market sits right now.

7. What data will you show me before I make an offer?

Guessing with your money is not a plan.

Recent comparable sales or relative properties, current days on market, and the sale-to-list ratio for the neighborhood, so you know whether homes are selling over or under asking. That tells you how aggressive your offer needs to be. An agent who can’t produce this for your target town is guessing.

8. How will you make my offer win without overpaying?

The most important question you can ask.

The answer should include strategic pricing, clean terms, the right deposit structure, and a bidding strategy shaped by current market conditions. On one Waltham listing our positioning produced a winning offer that beat a competing escalation clause. Winning is about structure and psychology, not just the highest number. A good agent explains the plan before you write the offer.

9. How do you protect me at inspection and financing?

This is where deals are saved or lost.

A skilled agent helps you read what an inspection reveals, separates real problems from cosmetic ones, and negotiates repairs or credits without blowing up the deal. In Massachusetts the offer to purchase is a binding contract, so how these contingencies are handled carries real weight. Your agent should also see a financing problem coming and keep the lender, attorney, and timeline coordinated through closing.

10. Can I verify your track record and references?

An educated buyer is an empowered buyer.

Ask for a list of closed transactions and for client references, then check them. Closed sales are also recorded publicly at the registry of deeds, and three generations of our family have worked these towns. In all our years, only a handful of buyers have asked for references up front. Be one of them. An agent confident in their record welcomes the scrutiny.

11. Why shouldn’t I compare more than one agent?

Any agent who discourages comparison is protecting themselves.

You should absolutely interview more than one. Ask all of us the same questions and see who answers with specifics rather than slogans. We’re confident in where we land when you compare honestly, and if we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you. Comparing is how you make a good decision, and no honest agent would talk you out of it.