About Agent Aquarium
On the
classic 1960s game show To Tell the Truth, a person of some notoriety and two impostors
tried to match wits with a panel of four celebrities. The object of the game was to
fool the celebrities into voting for the impostors, earning the imposter's $250 for
each wrong vote they received. When you have more than one person vying for your
business, you may feel the same pressure not to select the impostor... Only, making
the wrong choice for representation on the purchase or sale of a home can cost
you much more than $250.
Maybe you're looking into buying a home. You don't know any real estate agents, but you've found plenty of houses for sale on the Internet. When you call the listing agent to tour one of those, the first question she asks is whether you are using a Realtor®. Is that giddiness you detect in her voice when you say no?
Or perhaps you need to list your house. The agent who sold it to you never really kept in touch. So now, you don't know whether to use the Realtor® who left the fancy refrigerator magnet on your door or your dog groomer's cousin, who happens to be a real estate agent, too. They both claim to be experts in your area and keep asking for an appointment to come by to make a presentation. Sounds like you're about to be time-warped into the celebrity panel on To Tell the Truth, except... it's not a game show.
Agent Aquarium was founded in 2010 on a single idea: If you're looking to buy or sell a home, you should be able to go online, look at the area or property you're interested in, and compare the verified performance data of all the active Realtors® in that area, regardless of what company they work for. That's it.
If you're looking for a listing agent, we can make your life easier. After you register with us, you can view who has been active in your neighborhood. Do you want the agent who has the most sales or the one who may have sold fewer houses but at a higher percentage of the list price? Maybe you're in a hurry to sell and want the agent who has sold their listings the fastest. You'll be able to see things like how many transactions agents have completed, what the average days on market were for the houses they've sold, and even the sold/list price ratio.
Once you've decided what is most important to you, you can contact the agent you think fits your needs. Or you can create a property profile and have Realtors® send proposals, along with their performance data, for you to view and evaluate in the time and place of your choosing.
If you're looking for an agent to help with a home purchase, it's just as easy! Through Agent Aquarium you can search the area you're interested in to view a list of that neighborhood's active agents. You can then review key data on each agent, such as how many transactions they've completed or how they've negotiated on their customers' behalf, including average buyer closing costs paid by the seller or amount negotiated off the list price.
Today, 80% to 90% of people start their real estate searches online. It's a given that you can cover more ground, narrow the field, and find most of the property information you need in a fraction of the time online. But how do you find a great real estate agent? How do you even know if you need an agent? Those are the questions Agent Aquarium answers.
