Unless you’re a seasoned real estate buyer and seller, the typical listing presentation can often leave you overwhelmed and dumbstruck. But to really make the right choice when choosing an agent to represent your home, it’s critical that you become an active participant in the listing presentation—it should not be a one-way street! To help glean as much information as possible about a prospective agent’s prowess, be sure to ask him or her the following questions. The responses will provide you with valuable insight into their strategies, professionalism and enthusiasm.
1. What did the last home you sold in this area go for? Not only will this give you a good idea of the going rate in your neighborhood, it will shed some light on how familiar the agent is with your neighborhood and its home values.
2. How will you expose my home…and how will you follow up with leads? A standard part of any good listing presentation will highlight the various ways in which the agent will promote your home online through their own website as well as various real estate portals, such as realtor.com, homes.com and Zillow. While it’s good to know the type of exposure your home will receive, it’s more important to know the agent’s system for following up with leads—some are much better at it than others! Ask them how quickly they respond to leads, how they determine whether a lead is serious or not, how they follow up and keep the lead engaged after initial contact, and what sort of information they provide to pique a lead’s interest. This will give you an idea of not just the quantity of leads you may receive, but the quality of the agent’s follow-up.
3. What’s your opinion on open houses, and how do you make them worthwhile? Believe it or not, open houses are a hot-bed of controversy among real estate professionals. Many agents believe they’re not worth it, so ask your prospective agent, a. Will you hold an open house on my property? and b. If so, what will you do to make it worthwhile? An effective open house is dependent on a lot of factors, such as the creative strategies an agent uses to draw people to the event, how they collect information during the event, and how they follow up with attendees afterwards.
4. What can I do to help my home sell for a higher price? A good agent will be able to tell you what enhancements would be worth your while in terms of selling price. You don’t want to invest money on renovations that don’t translate directly to the bottom line. Also ask what changes might help sell your home faster? This could involve simple cosmetic changes like paint and/or some effective staging.
5. What factors will detract from my home’s value? If your home is not going to list at the price you had hoped for, ask the prospective agent why. If there’s some pet damage or a swimming pool that’s going to detract from the selling price, a good agent should let you know that up front.
Be sure to meet with at least three agents prior to choosing one to work with. While their listing presentations will help differentiate them, their responses to the above questions will really seal the deal.
6) Are you full-time (do you have any other source of income besides real estate)?
7) What designations and extra education – beyond licensing and mandatory continuing education – do you have?
8) How long have you been licensed and actively selling real estate; how many homes have you sold in the past year/past 3 years/career? (Get written MLS proof.)
9) What will you do to get me to closing after the agreement is signed?
10) What will you do to limit my risks/liability and protect my best interests during and after the transaction?
This is number one to ask…..#1. How big is your buyer data base??? Realtors with a massive buyer data base can plug in your home and generate interest right off the bat. #2. How much marketing education do you have other then just experience??? If they have good marketing skills they can get it sold quickly as well…#3 What is the current market doing and what is the markets projection??? It is good to get educated on if your house is entering a bargain basement sales period or a good as gold period…Then follow up with the rest of the questions…..The first two questions go along way to determining if a realtor wants to drop your sales price in two weeks or raise it and offer incentives…poorly qualified realtors in marketing will be wanting you to drop it…excellent qualified realtors in marketing have a plethora of avenues that can continually generate interest even in a bargain basement sales period…
Great questions, especially #4 and #5.
As to the comment on certifications, this is only good if the client understands what they are. Personally, I’ve never once heard a client ask about certifications.
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