Five criteria that matter, and an honest account of how I measure against them.
Choose a Portland realtor on five things: how many transactions they have genuinely closed, whether they routinely work in your price band, whether you get the broker directly or a team member, whether they will tell you something you do not want to hear, and what independent reviews on platforms they do not control actually say. Volume rankings and luxury branding are poor predictors of whether someone will do a good job on your specific house.
Dollar volume rewards whoever sells expensive houses. Transaction count tells you how many times someone has been through an inspection that went badly, an appraisal that came in short, or a lender that went quiet three days before closing. That experience is what you are buying. Ask for the number of closings, and ask how many were in your price range.
An agent who lives at two million is not automatically better at six hundred thousand. Often they are worse at it, because it is not where their attention is. Ask for their average sale price. If your house is well outside it in either direction, keep looking.
This is the one people skip and regret. On a large team the person who wins the listing is often not the person who runs it. That can be fine if the team is good, but you should know before you sign, not on the day of your first showing. Ask directly: who attends my showings, who writes my offer, who is at closing.
An agent who agrees with your price, your timeline and your assessment of your own kitchen is either unusually lucky or not paying attention. The single most valuable thing a good agent does is tell you something inconvenient early, while it is still cheap to act on. Ask them when they last told a client not to buy a house.
Testimonials on an agent's own website are marketing. Reviews on Zillow, Google and similar platforms are harder to curate. Read the three star ones if there are any. They are usually the most informative thing on the page.
| Closed transactions | 92 over 11 years in the Portland metro |
|---|---|
| Price band | $250,000 to $1.3 million, averaging $609,000. The middle of the market |
| Who answers | Adrian, directly, at (503) 380-8492. No team, no call screening |
| Willing to disagree | Routinely. Told a buyer on a first call that his $400,000 budget would not buy the three bedroom he described in Milwaukie, where comparable homes started near $580,000 |
| Independent reviews | 5.0 average across 16 published reviews on Zillow, a platform he does not control |
| Where I am a poor fit | Luxury property, new construction sales offices, and anyone who wants a large team assigned to their file |
That last row is deliberate. An agent who claims to be right for everybody is telling you something about their honesty rather than their range.
Judge them on five things: how many transactions they have actually closed, whether they work in your price band, whether they answer their own phone, whether they will give you a number you did not want to hear, and what independent reviews say. Production volume alone is a poor proxy, because the highest volume agents often hand you to a junior team member.
There is no magic number, but you want enough that they have seen things go wrong. Somewhere north of fifty closed transactions means they have handled failed inspections, appraisal gaps and lender problems before. Adrian Wild has closed 92 over 11 years.
It depends what you value. A team gives you coverage and faster response at busy moments, but the person you met is often not the person who shows you houses. A solo broker gives you continuity and direct access but has limits on availability. Ask directly who will actually be at the showings and at closing.
Only if you are buying or selling a luxury property. An agent whose business is seven figure homes is not automatically better at a $500,000 house, and may be less engaged with it. Match the agent to the price band you are actually in.
How many homes did you close last year and in my price range? Who will actually attend my showings? What do you think my house is worth and how did you arrive at it? What would you fix before listing? When have you told a client not to buy? And what is your commission, in writing.
No honest answer names one person, because the right agent depends on your price band, your neighbourhood and how you like to be communicated with. The better question is who is the right fit for your specific situation, and the five criteria above will get you there faster than any ranking list.
If I am not the right fit I will say so, and I can usually suggest who is.