How to Choose a Realtor in Vancouver: A Local Agent's Honest Guide

Yes, I'm a Realtor Writing About How to Choose a Realtor

I'm Aparna Kapur, a realtor with Oakwyn Realty in Vancouver, and I'll acknowledge the obvious up front: I have a horse in this race. But I've also sat across the table from enough buyers and sellers who chose badly the first time — and paid for it in stress, money, or both — that I think an honest guide is worth writing. Everything below is what I'd tell a close friend, even if it meant they hired someone else.

There are more than 15,000 licensed real estate professionals in Greater Vancouver. Most are competent. Some are exceptional. A few should be avoided. Here's how to tell the difference.

Step 1: Verify the Licence (Two Minutes, Non-Negotiable)

Every real estate agent in British Columbia must be licensed by the British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA). BCFSA maintains a free public licensee search on its website where you can confirm that an agent is currently licensed, see which brokerage they work under, and check whether they've been subject to discipline.

It takes two minutes. If someone marketing themselves as an agent doesn't appear in that search, walk away.

Step 2: Understand Who Your Agent Actually Works For

This is something many buyers and sellers don't know: BC effectively banned dual agency in 2018. With narrow exceptions in remote, under-served areas, one agent cannot represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. Your agent owes their loyalty to you and only you.

Before providing services, an agent must also review a BCFSA disclosure form (the Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services) that explains whether they're representing you as a client or treating you as an unrepresented party. If an agent glosses over this conversation, that tells you something about how they'll handle the rest of the transaction.

Step 3: Prioritize Neighbourhood-Level Expertise

Vancouver is not one market. It's dozens of micro-markets that behave differently — sometimes on opposite sides of the same street. A $1.5M budget means something completely different in [Marpole](/neighborhoods/marpole) than it does in [Kitsilano](/neighborhoods/kitsilano), and the zoning story in the [Cambie Corridor](/neighborhoods/cambie-corridor) has no parallel on the east side.

When you interview an agent, ask about the specific neighbourhoods you're targeting:

• •What has sold on these blocks in the last 90 days, and for how much relative to asking?
• •What's the zoning situation, and is anything changing? (In my own patch, the Oakridge Park redevelopment and R1-1 zoning changes are reshaping values block by block.)
• •Which school catchments matter here, and where are the boundaries?
• •What do strata issues look like in the buildings we'd be shortlisting?

A strong local agent answers from memory and then backs it up with data. A weak one changes the subject to how big their brand is.

Step 4: Ask Who You'll Actually Be Working With

Big teams can be excellent, but ask the question directly: "If I sign with you, who shows me homes? Who writes my offers? Who answers when I call?" On some large teams, the person you interviewed hands you to a junior associate the moment the agreement is signed.

There's no universally right answer — but you should know what you're buying before you commit. I run my practice solo precisely because I want the person who knows your file to be the person on the phone, but the honest advice is simply: get clarity up front.

Step 5: Interview More Than One Agent

Interview two or three. Any professional worth hiring will respect that you're doing diligence. Useful questions:

1. How many transactions did you complete in the last 12 months, and where? Volume isn't everything, but an agent doing two deals a year in your target area is guessing. 2. Walk me through your pricing strategy. For sellers: how do they build a comparative market analysis? For buyers: how do they decide what a home is actually worth versus its list price? 3. How will you communicate, and how fast do you respond? Get specific — same-day? Text or email? In a competitive market, hours matter. 4. For sellers: what exactly is your marketing plan? Professional photography, floor plans, staging advice, digital campaigns — ask what's included and what costs extra. 5. Can I speak to two recent clients? References from the last year, not from 2019. 6. What happens if I want out? Understand the term of any listing agreement or buyer agency agreement and how it can be ended before you sign it.

The Red Flags I See Most Often

• •"Buying the listing." An agent quotes you a wildly optimistic price to win your listing, then walks the price down with reductions over the following months. Ask every agent to justify their number with comparable sales, and be most suspicious of the highest one.
• •Guarantees. Nobody can guarantee a sale price or that you'll win a competing offer. Confidence backed by data is good; promises are a sales tactic.
• •Pressure to skip protections. An agent who pushes you to waive an inspection or rush a decision without laying out the risks is optimizing for their commission, not your outcome. (Remember that BC's Home Buyer Rescission Period exists precisely because rushed decisions were hurting buyers.)
• •No data, all vibes. If every answer is anecdote and adjectives, keep interviewing.
• •Slow responses during the courtship. If an agent takes two days to return your call while trying to win your business, imagine the service after you've signed.

Choosing a Realtor in Vancouver: The Bottom Line

Verify the licence with BCFSA. Insist on genuine, provable expertise in your specific neighbourhoods. Know exactly who you'll be working with and how they communicate. Interview more than one agent, ask for data behind every claim, and read what you sign.

If your search touches Vancouver — [Oakridge](/neighborhoods/oakridge), Kerrisdale, Marpole, South Cambie, Riley Park, the Cambie Corridor, or anywhere else in the city — I'd welcome the chance to be one of your interviews. I'm Aparna Kapur with Oakwyn Realty: 604-612-7694, or reach me through [aparnakapur.com/contact](/contact). Bring the hard questions above. I'll bring the data.