Our goal is to make you a more informed consumer when it comes to hiring a listing agent. We don't just offer you a list of questions but educate you about what really matters when hiring an agent.

How do people usually select an agent?

People select agents for all the wrong reasons. Agents  want to create an image of success because you think if you hire a successful agent your transaction will also be successful.  Agents want you to focus on how dominate they are, their experience and they use lots of marketing dollars to reinforce this image. You will see ads with:

• Sales awards like membership in the $1m club, $5M, etc.
• Ads with their listings displayed. This is done partially to get more listings not to sell the homes listed.
• Mailers in the neighborhood about homes listed and sold.
• Ads on the grocery cart at the local grocer.
• Ads in local news papers, sponsoring of local teams, etc.

How you should select an agent:

The truth is these are great ways to build name recognition and to create an agent brand. These are ways that agents market themselves to get more listings. It may say a lot about how good the agent is at marketing themselves but it doesn't mean they are the best agent to list your home. Marketing yourself to get listings isn't the same as marketing the home and protecting the interest of the seller.

There are several things you should look at when deciding on a listing agent:

-         Their abilities to negotiate, navigate their way through the process, effectively communicate with you and protect your best interest.

-         Their approach to selling your home. Can they effectively market your home? Or is the marketing more flash then substance?

-         Can they be a trusted partner in your selling process? Are they going to put your best interest first or are they more interested in getting the deal done and paid?

It doesn't matter which agent has the most listings or spend the most money advertising. That doesn't mean they will possess all these attributes. 

At Revealty, our philosophy is different then most companies. We believe that agents should never be making decisions for their clients. Our job is revealing everything the client needs to know so they can be making an effective and informed decision on their own. Do you really want your agent telling you what to do?

How to interview an agent:

Interview the agent to see if they are more interested in informing you about your options or are they telling you what to do. Then decide what kind of agent you would prefer. Ask questions like;

-         How do you determine the list price of a home? (hint, the seller should be determining the list price, the agent should be advising you in that process)

-         If there are two offers for my home what advice would you give me? (There are a whole host of options available. See if they are limiting your options or giving you a range of choices. Are they going to be a good counselor for you?)

-         If a buyer makes a low offer what advice would you suggest to me about how best to counter? (you are trying to see how they handle different situations)

Here are several subjects that you can use when interviewing.

Marketing and advertising: Agents advertise homes for sale and hold open houses for several reasons:

-         To increase the brand awareness of the agents

-         To get more listings for the agent.

-         To troll for new home buyers.

-         So the seller will feel that the agent is doing something to market the home.

-         To help sell the house being advertised or the home being held open.

When interviewing an agent ask about their marketing plan and what are the most important aspects to selling the home. In reality they are:

-         Pricing. This is the most important part of marketing your home. What is the agent's strategy to pricing?

-         Staging the home. Making sure the home is ready to sell is important. Does it show well? Have the negative issues been addressed? This is another reason to actually go and view the homes you are competing with. It will be clear about what you need to do to make your home show better.

-         Listing information and how your home is positioned. Ask the agent about the strong points and weak points of your home and how these will be dealt with in the sales process.

-         Internet exposure. As soon as your home is on the Realtor MLS system it will be on all brokers web sites. This is another reason why the listing information is critical, especially the remarks section. Some agents will talk about the strength of their own web sites. Some will believe their own press and tell you their sites can accomplish more then they really do.

Some questions to ask are:

-         What are the most important aspects to marketing a home?

-         I'm assuming agents will tell me about great marketing items that are really designed to get more business. What can you tell me about these kinds of marketing tools?

-         How important is advertising the home? What forms of advertising are effective?

-         How is advertising impacted by the internet?

It's ok for brokers and agents to have various marketing tools to grow their business but it's not ok for them to tell you that they are effective tools to sell your home. Why would a buyer watch a Sunday morning home show when they can go on line and find the entire mls at their finger tips?

Is your agent protecting your best interest?

The job of a listing agent is to not just market your home but to protect your best interest.  Here are two main points of a transaction and some issues to consider:

-         Showings. During this period the agent should protect the flow of information about you. Ask them how they answer questions about the seller and timing. See how aware they are about the importance of this and if they have an appropriate way of handling it. For instance I would tell a buyer agent my seller hasn't given me permission to speak about why they are moving or the timing. "I know the seller is  flexible and willing to meet the buyer's needs. Let us know what your issues are and I will see if I can take care of them".

Questions you can ask are:

1.      Explain to me the advice you give sellers about the showing process.

2.      How do you go about getting feedback?

3.      If the home is taking long to sell what courses of action do you suggest?

4.      What do you say to other agents when they ask about why we are selling and what our timing is?

5.      How do you protect the flow of information about us so the buyer doesn't perceive us as being more motivated?

-         The offer and negotiations. See how the agent handles the negotiations process and what strategies they will try to use. Ask for examples of deals that went well and those that didn't and why not. (No matter how good the agent is they will make mistakes and will not win all the time. You are trying to find out how honest they are). Ask the agent about contract issues that can enhance your position and how these are handled. For instance:

·        Earnest money. The seller wants as large of a deposit as possible. How does the agent typically handle this and why? Do they have a good reason or just habits?

·        Contingencies. A contract will be contingent on several things before the buyer is obligated to purchase the home. Ask the agent to explain a few of the typical ones and how these are handled to enhance your position. For instance, the buyer will make the contract contingent on financing. Approval and commitments from a bank are nice but have no real meaning. Removing the contingency after a reasonable period of time is best.

·        Home inspection. The buyer will want a home inspection. How much time does the listing agent allow for this? How do they prepare the seller for this?

Questions to ask are:

1. Tell me some examples of  how you negotiate for the seller.

2. What are some negotiating strategies that you try to use.

3.  Tell me about a recent success in negotiations.

4. Ttell me about a situation when you didn't win the negotiations.

5. Do you have an example of a mistake you made during a transaction and how you dealt with it?

6. Explain to me what earnest money deposit is and how you deal with it. Do you ask for a large one, small one?

7. Explain to me how contingencies work in a contract and how you try to protect my best interest.

    8.   What items in my home are likely to be problem areas?

     9.  What advice do you give before a home inspection takes place?

1. PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW THE COMMISSION WORKS IF THEY ARE REPRESENTING THE BUYER AND SELLER IN THE SAME TRANSACTION.  The agent becomes a dual agent and requires your written approval.  Generally, it is in your favor except the agent cannot divulge certain sensitive information about the buyer.  Sure would be nice to know about that information.  Since you can't get that knowledge, and your listing agent is collecting all of the commission, you should pay a lesser commission, like 4%.  If the agent volunteers this information before you ask, it is a display of honest and integrity.  If you have to ask; it isn't quite the case.  If they won't accept a lower fee, you really need to be convinced why that is appropriate. 

2. IF A PROSPECTIVE BUYER CALLED YOUR LISTING AGENT AND INDICATED THEY WANTED TO SEE THE HOUSE, BUT THEIR AGENT WAS OUT OF TOWN OR JUST NOT AVAILABLE, WOULD THEY SHOW THE HOUSE TO THE BUYER?

      If the answer is anything other than yes, do not hire this person as your agent.  It doesn't matter who shows the prospective buyer your house; it is your listing agent's job to get every interested buyer through the house as soon as possible.

3. OTHER THAN USING THE MLS, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SELL/MARKET MY HOUSE?

Be careful here as most marketing tools are designed to promote the agent and get people to call.  Insist that the address, price, and amenities all are shown in any ad.  Keep in mind signs, ads, television shows, and the like are designed to bring business to the agent, not sell your house.  Besides those ways, what will they do?  Ask them all to write the MLS description to see how they are going to appeal to agents and buyers on the MLS and web.  Ask what specific items in their contract protect your interest as the Seller.