Questions To Ask When Interviewing A Listing Agent

By Matt Unangst, 23 Jan 11:11

Selling your home is probably one of the biggest transactions you will ever make. The listing agent you choose when selling your home will be extremely important in the selling process, so choosing a good agent is an essential. This article will give some good ideas for questions to ask of agents when trying to decide between them.

You should ask about the agent’s experience. Questions like these are good:
• How long have you worked as a real estate agent?
• How many homes did you sell last year? In the past three years?
• What was the average length of time between listing and the sale for the homes you sold last year?
• What is the average ratio between your listing prices and final sales prices?
• Do you have any experience with my particular neighborhood?
Make sure that the answers you are given to any questions about previous sales are in reference to the agent’s work with sellers, not with buyers.

You should ask questions about how the agent would market your home; questions such as:
• How would you market my home? Would you hold open houses, agent previews, post signs, or list my home on a Multiple Listing Service?
• Specific questions about open houses: would they be just for agents? Would the agent him/herself be at the open house, or just send an assistant?
• What kind of advertising would you do? Would you post ads online or in newspapers? Would you send out mailers?
• What kind of online marketing would you do? Would you post photos, virtual tours, or link to other websites?
• Do you hire professional photographers to photograph the homes you are selling?
• How often would you communicate with me about potential buyer interest?

You should ask questions about the agents approach to selling real estate. These questions should include things like:
• Are you readily available for any questions I might have? Does your availability include nights and weekends?
• Are you going to be out of town while my home is listed?
• If you are, who will be in charge of the listing while you’re away?
• Can you give me at least three references from past sellers who have worked with you?

Perhaps most importantly, you should ask questions about money:
• What do you think my home can sell for? How did you determine this figure?
• How do you structure your fees? Do you charge a commission or a flat-rate? If I have an option between the two, which would you recommend?
• What is included in your fees? What isn’t included in your fees?
• Comment that the amount the agent is asking for is a large amount of money and ask them why he/she is worth that kind of money. The answer you get to this question can give you a good idea of what your relationship with the agent would be like. If you don’t get an answer that you are comfortable with, or if the agent takes an extremely long time to answer, you may have problems down the road should you work together.

Good answers, on the other hand, should allow you the confidence in the agent necessary to sign a contract to work together.

KEYWORDS: real estate, real estate agent, selling a home, multiple listing service, home listings, commission

Things you might need

How-to Extra Advice

Tags: questions listing agent selling