Key takeaways
- Choose an agent with deep condo expertise, including certifications, knowledge of homeowner association finances and assessments, and experience with both local buildings and first‑time buyers.
- Vet and interview multiple candidates, asking scenario‑based questions about reserves, assessments, financing impacts and long‑term ownership risks to ensure they can properly evaluate a condo’s true condition and value.
- Understand the business relationship before hiring, including negotiating the agent’s commission, reviewing contract terms and confirming what services the agent can and cannot legally provide during the purchase.
When buying a condo, it's important to find an agent who specializes in those types of properties.
You'll need someone with a certificate in condo sales and expertise in homeowner associations, building reserves and how special assessments work, among other issues.
You'll also need someone with experience in the local condo market, especially the buildings you're interested in.
And you'll need someone with experience working with first-time buyers.
Here's a look at how to find the best agent and how they'll assist you:
What agents do
Agents bring a lot to the table. They must take real estate education courses and pass rigorous exams just to work with you. This background enables them to:
- Send you homes from the Multiple Listing Service — a database of properties for sale — based on your wants and needs like the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, size and location
- Walk with you as you tour condominiums and readily answer your questions about a unit or neighborhood
- Understand the real estate market and use numbers to your advantage such as how many days a property has been on the market (the longer, the more likely a seller will drop the price)
- Draft offers and negotiate terms on your behalf
- Know how to spot good properties — and bad ones
- Recommend home inspectors you will need when a seller accepts your offer
- Prepare closing documents and explain their meaning, section by section
Agents can’t do some things. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits them from giving you information on schools and crime. The law is aimed at preventing agents from steering clients to or from certain neighborhoods because of their race or gender.
Pro tip: If you think your agent violated the law, file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Compile a list of candidates
There are multiple ways to find a great agent. You can start by checking the thousands of profiles in the Homes.com agent directory. Each agent listing has a biography, contact information and details on their past and recent real estate performance.
The information includes the total number of homes they’ve sold in one, two and five years. It also includes the total value of homes sold, average sales price, neighborhoods they know, number of homes sold, total value of homes sold, photographs of current and sold listings and any special designations they’ve earned in their career.
Another way is by asking people in the condo community, Sophia Fabian, a real estate agent with Keller Williams in New York City, told Homes.com.
"One of the best sources worth reaching out to are current condo owners in the neighborhood you are seeking a purchase in," said Fabian. "They can identify based on first-hand experience."
Real estate attorneys or lenders also may have knowledge on the agents who work primarily with condos, she added.
Agents can gain expertise in particular real estate areas through continuing education certificate programs, some sponsored by the National Association of Realtors.
Interview candidates
Choose the top three candidates. Check with your state’s licensing board, real estate commission and National Association of Realtors affiliate for any disciplinary actions against them.
You should ask specific scenario-based condo questions beyond the purchase price to evaluate an agent's level of expertise, Fabian said. Questions include how the agent reviews upcoming capital projects, building reserves, abatements and assessments. Have them walk you through areas that could affect financing and long-term ownership costs, such as taxes and common charges, she said.
There are other questions to ask agents. Here are a few:
- How do you scout condos?
- What's your experience with a particular condo community?
- What designations do you have?
- How many condos have you sold this year? Last year?
- How long have you been an agent?
- How do you stay in touch with clients?
- How do you negotiate?
- Can you provide references?
You should interview and choose an agent who can explain the factors affecting a condo's value and the financial risk of buying it, Pila Gray-Jessie, a real estate broker for Khorr Realty in McLean, Virginia, told Homes.com.
"Purchasing a condo is far more complex than many buyers realize," she said. "Proper evaluation requires a detailed review of the association’s finances, reserves, budget, special assessments, structural and retrofit reports, rental ratios, litigation, delinquency rates and warrantability."
"Expertise in this area is critical to ensuring the condo is a suitable investment for the buyer," she added.
A condo agent has to be diligent and stay on top of an association's schedule, said Harvey Jacobs, an attorney at Jacobs and Associates in Rockville, Maryland.
HOA board approval may be required to sell the unit, he said. "Condo boards generally only meet once per month, so if the buyer misses the current monthly meeting, the buyer may have to wait another entire month for approval," he said. "The settlement will be delayed pending board approval."
Negotiate the commission
Before signing a contract with an agent, negotiate how they will be paid.
Historically, the sellers paid the commission for both their agent and the buyer's, typically 5% to 6% of the home's price. But that changed with a federal lawsuit settled in 2024 against the National Association of Realtors. Because of the lawsuit, you have to negotiate the commission with your buyer's agent from the start. Sometimes sellers will still pay the buyer's agent.
Review the contract to hire agents
The agreement creates the business relationship between you and the agent and assigns each duty. For you, these include providing financial information that shows that you can purchase a home. For agents, they include locating a property, helping you purchase it and negotiating on your behalf. You don't need an agreement if you are just talking to an agent at an open house or asking them about their services.
Look for a few things in your buyer’s agreement contract. There should be a clause that you will work exclusively with the agent. Another clause states the beginning and ending dates of the agreement and lists the reasons you can terminate the agreement.
The agreement will prohibit agents from getting compensation over the negotiated amount. The agreement must state that commissions and fees between you and your agent are negotiable.
The agreement will state the amount of compensation using a dollar figure or a percentage of the price you pay your agent. It also states that the seller can pay it.
It also must state that the agent does not perform certain services related to a purchase, such as providing legal advice, acting as a lender, advising you on tax consequences of the purchase or serving as a home inspector.