How to Best Hire a Realtor
When Moving Out of State

Question: I own an unimproved residential lot in a country club community in Central Florida but plan to move to the suburbs of Lexington, Ky., in a few months. Would it be better to list the Florida lot with a national brokerage in Kentucky or one in Florida? I want to sell the lot before I buy an existing home or build a new one in Kentucky, so any purchase I make will depend on the sale of the lot. Meanwhile, I plan to rent in Kentucky until my lot is sold. My inclination is to start a relationship with a Lexington-based agent since that will be my new home of choice. Your insight would be very much appreciated.

-- Maria J. Costa

Maria: With Realtors as with houses, what matters is location, location, location.

Well, actually, plenty of other factors matter, too: intangible ones like honesty and integrity and practical ones like experience and a good network of local industry professionals such as buyer agents, lenders, inspectors and remodelers.

The keyword here is "local." Despite the fact that most buyers begin looking for property on the Internet, and just about every broker and agent has a Web presence these days, much of the work agents do is based on hometown knowledge, like knowing which local media pull the best responses or which appraisers are the most professional and reliable. Plus, whatever agent you choose must be close enough to your place to show it to buyers on short notice.

There's also a question of licensing: A Kentucky-based agent is very unlikely to have an active license in Central Florida, and so can't sell your lot.

If you decide to wait until you get to Kentucky to put your property on the market, a Lexington-based agent will be delighted to find someone licensed in Central Florida to sell it, since he or she will earn a fat referral fee just for passing along your name. The problem is you'll have no idea whether or not the Florida agent you're referred to is any good -- and most likely, neither will the Kentucky-based agent who makes the referral.

You don't need to use the same agent, nor the same brokerage, national or otherwise, to buy and sell your properties. In fact, it's in your best interest to disregard affiliations, and simply look for the best person in each location to handle your needs.

Selling an unimproved lot can be tricky. So while you're still in Florida, interview at least three agents who specialize in land sales. One easy way to find such agents is to go to Realtor.com, type in your city, click on advanced search and check the "land" box, plus the relevant features, like size and views, under the "Lot Features" section. All of the land listings in that city that are similar to yours will pop up. Scroll through these listings, and you'll soon get a sense of who are the most active agents in your area, selling similar kinds of lots.

Then, when you get to Kentucky, look for an exclusive buyer agent to help you find a new home: a place to start is the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents' Web site.

In the meantime, I think it's smart that you're planning to first rent a home in your new city. Not only will it give you a chance to explore different neighborhoods before you commit to just one, it will also save you from having to cover the carrying costs for a new home and the lot simultaneously. Land -- especially raw land -- often sits on the market longer than homes do, which is why many agents insist on a minimum six-month listing. Until this snail-slow housing market picks up a little speed, it's best not to weigh yourself down with too many financial obligations.

-- June Fletcher is a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal and the author of "House Poor" (Harper Collins, 2005). Her "House Talk" column appears most Mondays on RealEstateJournal.com. Email your questions about the residential real-estate market. Please include your name, city and state. If you don't want your name used in our column, please indicate that. Due to volume of mail received, we regret that we cannot answer every question.

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