If you are considering selling your home, one of the first actions you need to take is engaging a real estate agent.
But, there is a lot more than signing a contract with your kids’ soccer coach’s wife or the friend of a friend. These agents may be the best to get your home sold, but are you sure? You should enter into a seller’s contract with both enthusiasm and confidence!
Your home may be your most valuable physical financial asset; don’t trust the process of selling your home to without thoroughly discussing the process and reviewing your options. Hiring a real estate agent is a huge decision. You should search for real estate professionals, choose 3-5 of those, and then interview each to find the best fit for your real estate transaction expectations.
This is your opportunity to be the “boss,” so create an agent interview strategy and execute it thoughtfully. Your objective is to hire the right person for the job, and that job is selling your home at the best possible price and with the most favorable – and realistic – terms possible.
Here are questions to ask a real estate agent when selling your home
1. What are your real estate broker credentials?
- Are you full- or part-time?
- How long have you been in real estate?
- What is your professional background?
- What connections do you think will help you sell my home?
2. Let’s talk numbers:
- How listings did you take and many sales did you close last year?
- How many listings do you have right now, in this neighborhood, and in the area?
- What is the price range of the homes that you sell?
3. Do you specialize in this neighborhood?
- If so, what trends have you seen?
- How does my home compare to other homes that have been sold this year?
4. What’s the listing price and the best sales price you think we can get for my house?
- How did you come to those figures?
5. Are you part of a real estate team or are you an independent agent?
- What advantages are there for me?
- Who else will I be working with in your office?
6. How much will selling my home cost?
- What are your fees and what should expect in closing costs?
- Is your fee negotiable?
- How does your fee change if I am also buying a new home using you as my agent?
7. What is your sales plan for my property?
- How are you going to market my house?
- Where will the listing appear?
- What website and social media tools do you use?Do you hold open houses: for who (brokers and/or public, how many and how often?
8. What do you recommend I do before listing my home?
- Do you suggest staging my home with my own furniture or bringing in a staging professional?
- Will you help me prepare my home so that it shows to its best advantage?
- Are there improvements that you suggest I make?
- What do you think will most help sell my home at the best price and in the least amount of time?
- How much money should I invest in getting my house ready to sell, and how does that affect the sales price?
9. How will we communicate?
- When are you available?
- How much notice will you give me before showings?
- Do you provide an app that I can download to help keep me connected and informed?
10. How long do you think it will take for my home to sell?
- How long will the entire process from signing of the contract to closing, with consideration of time-on-market?
11. What do you want me to sign and can you explain the contract in detail, answering all my questions?
- How long will my listing contract with you last?
- How and when can I terminate the contract?
12. Can you give me contact information for past clients, especially those who have sold homes similar to mine?
Print this list out, and take it to meetings with real estate agents when you are talking about listing your home for sale. Need a real estate agent to sell your home? Talk to the brokers/realtors at KBT Realty Group.
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