How to Choose a Realtor

My husband and I have been saving for a down payment on a house for the past year. So like most young married couples looking to buy a house, we go to a lot of open houses on the weekends just to see what’s out there.

On one hand, you get a good sense of the real estate market. On the other hand, it’s like going to a bakery while you’re on a diet—you can look but you can’t buy.

One of the things we were concerned about when it came to buying a house was finding a realtor.

When we first went to get some information from our credit union about getting a mortgage, they automatically set us up with a realtor that had affiliations with the bank. That should have been our first indication not to go with that realtor.

However, since we were just happy to now have access to the MLS listings, we didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t until we found a place in our price range that we emailed the realtor and told her we wanted to see the place.

On our first open house tour, she was curt, unapproachable, and definitely not warm. I felt so uncomfortable around her. What had we gotten ourselves into?

Here are some tips on choosing a realtor and how we finally found a realtor we could trust.

Get Recommendations from Friends

If you have a friend you trust, or if your friends have recently gone through the home buying or selling process themselves, ask them for recommendations.

Most people actually like their realtor because they spend a lot of time with them, so recommendations should be easy to come by. One word of advice though: Always be attentive when you start mixing business with pleasure. Meaning, if you don’t end up liking the realtor your friend recommends, don’t blame it on them and don’t ruin a friendship over faulty advice.

Read reviews

These days you can read a ton of reviews online and see which realtor might make a good fit for you. Perhaps you don’t care so much about personality, and would prefer to just have the top expert in the neighborhood you’re looking for. It’s up to you to decide what’s most important in a realtor. Just remember: sometimes, you really get what you pay for.

Interview Them

You can choose to meet several different realtors to gather an idea of what you’re looking for and see whom you really click with.

We actually found our realtor at one of the open houses we visited. While we didn’t end up buying the house, we really loved the realtor. He seemed very matter-of-fact and down-to-earth.

We chose to go with him as our realtor because we really liked his personality and felt that he was very credible. He’s been a wealth of information as we look to buy our own home.

source: everythingfinanceblog.com

At 43, Alice Dixson can still make audiences feel it

As a licensed realtor based in the British Columbia in Canada, Alice Dixson was living a peaceful, quiet and financially secure life after she had been last seen on GMA’s “Darna” in 2005.

Then in 2011, the  former Binibining Pilipinas-International got an offer from TV5 to play the pivotal role of lawyer Diana Wong a.k.a. Anastasia See in the surprise hit teleserye “Babaeng Hampaslupa”.

And just like that, everything changed for the Filipina-American actress best known for such memorable films as “Dyesebel”, “My Other Woman” and “Okay Ka Fairy Ko”.

“Naging sunod-sunod na ang projects ko after that. There was ‘Glamorosa’, ‘Isang Dakot Na Luha’, ‘Enchanted Garden’ and now, ‘Never Say Goodbye’ where I play Sophie Albert’s mother. Hindi na ko binitawan ng TV5”, she enthused.

And no one is more surprised with all of these pleasant developments than the 43-year-old actress herself.

“Nagulat talaga ako. I never expected to be this busy at this stage of my career. I’ve been very lucky but while my realty business is still doing fine, I had to let go of some of my work there to concentrate on my projects here.”

Alice said she’s very much enjoying her work right now and does not mind supporting the Kapatid network’s up and coming talents.

“We haven’t started taping for ‘Never Say Goodbye’ so I don’t have any experience yet with Sophie and Vin but with Alex Gonzaga in ‘Babaeng Hampaslupa’, she really worked very hard there, and I think it’s a good attitude for these young talents to develop. Ang daming puwedeng pumalit sa kanila pag hindi nila minahal ang trabahong ito,” Alice pointed out.

As for seasoned actors and actresses like her, Cesar Montano, Gardo Verzosa and the one and only superstar Ms. Nora Aunor playing the parents of the “Artista Academy” top winners, Alice thinks it’s a good thing for both Sophie and Vin to work with as many experienced thespians as possible.

“Maganda ito, lalo na nagsisimula pa lang ang mga showbiz careers nila. Sana tuloy-tuloy na ito for them,” she added.





Still one of the most beautiful faces in the business, Alice has also wisely used her celebrity to further her personal advocacy.

Last August, she surprised the members of the entertainment press when she arrived at the press conference of “Enchanted Garden” wearing a black t-shirt that said “Fuck cancer” as part of her support against cancer awareness.

She said that while there is no surefire way of avoiding cancer, regular check-ups and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can certainly help.

Among the many films that she did, some of which now makes her cringe when she watches them on cable TV, she nonetheless cites Mel Chionglo’s “Dysebel” and Maryo J. Delos Reyes’ “My Other Woman” as two of her favorites.

“I also liked ‘Isang Araw Walang Diyos’ directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes, ‘Sana Dalawa Ang Puso Ko’ directed by Laurice Guillen and ‘Walang Matigas Na Tinapay Sa Mainit na Kape’ directed by Tony Cruz which was memorable because it was also an FPJ film,” she enthused.

As memorable performances go, Alice Dixson is probably also best remembered for the classic Palmolive soap commercial she made way back in 1987. Yes, the one where she exuberantly sang that unforgettable catch phrase, “I can feel it!”

“You know what? Advertising directors still refer to that commercial as some kind of a benchmark for what they consider as a good commercial. It should be as good daw as ‘I Can Feel It’. Well, it is certainly one of the most memorable things that I’ve ever done in my life,” she conceded.

source: interaksyon.com