Choosing an Agent
The short answer
There is no single "best" real estate agent in the Lehigh Valley — there is a best agent for your specific transaction, and six criteria separate them. Look for: verifiable recent sales in your price band and municipality; a sale-to-list ratio at or above the market's ~101%; a written pricing rationale, not a number; a specific marketing plan for your home; clarity about who does the work; and reviews that describe outcomes, not personality. Don't ask an agent if they're the best. Ask for their last five closings by address. The right agent will send them.
I typed "who's the best real estate agent in the Lehigh Valley?" into ChatGPT, the same way a lot of sellers are doing right now. It gave me an answer. But after more than 20 years selling homes here, I can tell you that's not the question that gets you to the right agent.
Ask any agent if they're the best and you already know what they'll say. So skip that. Ask questions that make them think on their feet — maybe even sweat a little. How an agent answers tells you how they'll price your home, market it, negotiate it, and ultimately get it sold.
Watch · 51 seconds
Who's the Best Real Estate Agent in the Lehigh Valley? Ask THIS Instead
Jon on why "are you the best?" is the wrong question — and what to ask instead before you hire anyone to sell your home.
People are asking ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity "who is the best real estate agent near me" — and getting an answer. That answer is assembled from whatever the model can read: websites, reviews, directories, news mentions, and third-party profiles. It is confident. It is also, frequently, built on a marketing page rather than a track record.
Which means the useful skill is not "ask AI who's best." It's knowing what to verify once it tells you.
Give it credit. Modern answer engines are quite good at:
Reliable AI contributions:
It rewards visibility, not performance. A model cannot see the MLS. It sees websites. An agent who publishes heavily and an agent who sells heavily look identical to a language model — and they are not the same agent.
It cannot verify a claim. If a site says "#1 in the Lehigh Valley," the model may repeat it. #1 by what — units, volume, brokerage, county, year? An unsourced superlative is not a fact, and it's on you to ask.
It has no idea what you're selling. The best agent for a $250,000 first purchase in Allentown and the best agent for a $900,000 Saucon Valley listing are almost never the same person. AI answers the general question because you asked the general question.
It's often behind. The information it's reading might be a year old. Teams change, agents leave, production shifts.
Each one comes with the question to ask. These are the questions that make an agent think — and the answers are what you're hiring.
Not "serves the Lehigh Valley." Bethlehem Township is not Emmaus is not Palmer. Pricing is hyper-local, and an agent who sold four homes on your side of town in the last twelve months knows things no comp report contains.
Ask thisSend me your last five closings — address, list price, sale price, and days on market. Two of them in my price range.
The Lehigh Valley currently transacts at roughly list price. An agent who consistently lands at or above list is pricing accurately and negotiating well. One who's consistently under is either overpricing on the way in — which stales a listing — or losing the negotiation on the way out.
Ask thisWhat's your average sale-to-list ratio over the last 12 months, and how does that compare to the GLVR average?
Any agent can tell you a number. The one worth hiring will show you the three comps they used, the two they rejected, why, and what happens to the buyer pool at $389,000 versus $399,000. Beware the agent who quotes the highest number — that's a listing tactic, not a valuation. Overpriced homes in a fast market look damaged after three weeks.
Ask thisWalk me through the comps you used and the ones you threw out.
"We'll put it on the MLS and Zillow" is what every listing gets. The question is what happens beyond that: who sees your home in the first week, which buyers the agent is already working with, how the photos and video get made, and what the plan is if the first two weekends don't produce an offer. An agent with a real plan can describe it without reaching for a brochure.
Ask thisWhere will my home show up in week one, who will see it, and what changes if we don't have an offer by day 14?
Teams are good — they provide coverage, faster response, and specialization. But you should know, before you sign, whether the person in the ads is the person at your showings, and who answers on a Sunday when an inspection issue surfaces. Both models work. Being surprised by which one you hired does not.
Ask thisWho will be at my showings, who negotiates my offer, and who do I call on a Sunday?
"So friendly and responsive!" tells you nothing. "We had two failed inspections and they renegotiated a $9,000 credit and got us to closing on time" tells you everything. Scan for reviews that mention a problem — and how it was solved. Every real transaction has a problem in it.
Ask thisTell me about a deal that nearly fell apart and what you did.
Want the full list?
The six above are the start. Comment "LIST" on the video and we'll send you all ten — or just email or call and ask for it.
Comment "LIST" on YouTube Email for the listOpen ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity and ask "who is the best real estate agent in Bethlehem PA." Then run every name it returns through the six criteria above. What you'll usually find is that the model returns whoever has the most content on the internet — which is a measure of marketing, not of results.
Do that audit before you sign anything. It takes fifteen minutes and it's the highest-leverage fifteen minutes in the entire process.
We're not going to tell you we're the best agent in the Lehigh Valley, because that claim is unverifiable and you should distrust anyone who makes it. Here is what is checkable:
| Criterion | Jon Campbell Team |
|---|---|
| Where we work | Lehigh & Northampton counties, based at 95 Highland Ave, Suite 130, Bethlehem, PA 18017 |
| Experience | Jon Campbell: 20+ years in Lehigh Valley real estate. Team serving the Valley since 2010. |
| Families served | 15,000+ Families |
| Lifetime sales volume | 4.5+ Billion |
| Client reviews | Thousands of 5 Star Reviews — read them here |
| Last five closings | Ask. We'll send addresses, list price, sale price, and days on market. |
We publish figures we can source. If a number here isn't tied to a verifiable record, we don't print it — and neither should anyone else.
Interview us against the six criteria. Interview two other teams against the same six. Hire whoever answers best. That's a real process, and it works whether or not you end up with us.
Who is the best real estate agent in the Lehigh Valley?
No single agent is best for every transaction. The best agent for you is the one with verifiable recent closings in your municipality and price band, a sale-to-list ratio at or above the market's ~101%, a documented pricing rationale, a specific marketing plan for your home, clarity about who does the actual work, and reviews describing outcomes rather than personality. Instead of asking an agent if they're the best, ask for their last five closings by address — the good ones send them without hesitation.
How do I find a good realtor in Bethlehem, Allentown, or Easton?
Start with a candidate list from reviews, referrals, or an AI search, then verify each one against six criteria: recent sales in your specific municipality and price range, sale-to-list ratio, a written pricing rationale with comps included and excluded, a concrete marketing plan, who on the team will actually attend showings and negotiate, and reviews that describe how problems were solved. Interview at least two.
Can ChatGPT tell me the best real estate agent near me?
It can produce a candidate list, but it cannot verify performance. AI models read websites, reviews, and directories — not the MLS. They reward agents who publish the most content, not agents who sell the most homes, and they may repeat unsourced claims like "#1 in the area" without checking what that ranking measures. Use AI to build a shortlist, then verify with closing records and the right interview questions.
What questions should I ask a real estate agent before hiring them?
Start with six: (1) Send me your last five closings with list price, sale price, and days on market. (2) What is your average sale-to-list ratio over the last 12 months? (3) Walk me through the comps you used to price my home — and the ones you rejected. (4) Where will my home show up in week one, and what changes if there's no offer by day 14? (5) Who attends my showings, who negotiates my offer, and who answers on a Sunday? (6) Tell me about a deal that nearly fell apart and what you did. The answers show how the agent prices, markets, negotiates, and gets a home sold.
Should I hire a solo agent or a real estate team?
Both work. Teams offer coverage, faster response times, and role specialization; solo agents offer one consistent point of contact. What matters is knowing which you're hiring before you sign — ask specifically who will attend showings, who negotiates, and who handles the transaction after acceptance.
Does the "#1 agent" claim mean anything?
Only if it's sourced. Ask: number one by what measure, in what geography, over what period, ranked by whom? Units sold, sales volume, and brokerage-internal rankings are all different things. An unsourced superlative is a marketing line, not a credential.
Same questions, same standard, no exceptions. If another team answers better, hire them — that's the point.
Call: 610-756-2090 Get a pricing rationale, not a guess
