How to Choose the Right Real Estate Agent (And Why Blind Referrals Can Cost You)

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One of the most common mistakes I see buyers and sellers make is choosing an agent without doing any real verification. Often, it’s a referral from a friend, a relative, or even another agent — and it’s taken at face value.

Referrals can be great.
Blind referrals can be expensive.

Whether you’re buying or selling in Ocoee, Winter Garden, or the greater Orlando area, here are a few simple but critical things I believe everyone should look at before choosing a real estate agent.

Step One: Google the Agent

This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how often people skip it.

If you Google an agent and they don’t really show up, that’s a red flag. Not because Google defines their value — but because visibility matters in real estate.

If an agent isn’t showing up:

Their listings may not be getting exposure
They may not be investing in marketing
They may not have the infrastructure in place to compete

A strong agent will appear on:

Major real estate portals
Secondary real estate sites
Their own professional website

Marketing matters. If an agent doesn’t market themselves well, it’s fair to question how aggressively they’ll market your home.

Use MLS Market Reports to Compare Agents (Yes, You Can)

Most consumers don’t realize this, but every agent has an MLS ID number, and the MLS has built-in tools that allow agents to be compared side-by-side.

Inside the MLS Market Reports tab, agents can be compared by:

Number of sales
Timeline (last year, last two years, etc.)
Price points
Buyer vs. seller transactions

This is something I regularly do in listing presentations so sellers can compare apples to apples, not marketing hype.

If an agent is talking about how many homes they’ve sold, you can verify:

Where those sales occurred
What price ranges they actually work in
Whether those were sales or leases

Numbers matter — but only when they’re accurate and relevant.

Ask to See Their Listings (Past and Present)

If I were selling my home, I’d want to see an agent’s work.

Not a slideshow.
Not a brochure.
Actual listings.

Ask them to pull up:

Current listings
Recently sold listings

Then ask yourself one simple question:

“If I were buying this home, would this listing appeal to me?”

Look closely at:

Photo quality
Photo order
Lighting and composition
Number of photos
Use of video tours
Matterport or 3D walkthroughs

In today’s market, presentation is not optional. It’s essential.

Marketing Costs Money (And That Matters)

This part sometimes makes people uncomfortable, but it’s the truth.

Proper marketing costs money:

Professional photography
Video tours
3D imaging
CRM systems
Advertising and distribution

If an agent is only doing a few transactions a year, it’s fair to ask whether they truly have the resources to market your home properly.

I’m not knocking new agents — everyone starts somewhere. But as a seller, you need to understand that experience and volume matter, especially in a more competitive market.

I recently looked at a $2.5 million listing where the agent had sold less than $2.5 million worth of property total over the past two years — and more than half of that was leases, not sales. In 2025, they had only sold a handful of homes.

The listing itself had errors everywhere — even the seller’s name was wrong.

That’s not a price-point issue.
That’s an experience issue.