Finding the Right Agent Means Asking the Right Questions
The smartest home sellers get their residences into “model home”
condition. That means cleaning out closets, having a garage sale or
perhaps calling the Salvation Army to haul away your reusable items.
Some realty agents even recommend hiring professional home “stagers”
who will remove the seller’s old furniture and replace it with showroom
rental furniture.
The key to a successful home sale, especially at this time of year, is
to hire the best realty agent. Ask friends, neighbors and business
associates for their recommendations.
Also visit nearby open houses to meet agents who are selling
neighborhood homes. More important, you’ll want to see how they treat
prospects and inspect their competitive listings.
Check the newspaper classified ads for homes for sale in your
vicinity. Then phone the three or four agents who seem most successful in
selling nearby homes. Ask them to give you their listing presentations.
They will be eager to do so.
Be sure to have a list of questions for the agents you interview. Here
are five key questions to include:
1. What do you think my home is worth?
After each agent inspects your residence, he or she should prepare a
written comparative market analysis. This form shows recent sales prices
of comparable homes, asking prices of nearby residences now for sale and
listings that didn’t sell.
Check the comparable home sales used by each agent. Are they the same
as those of other agents you interview? If not, why not?
Each agent will then recommend an asking price for your home, but
don’t be fooled by one common tactic. Some agents “high ball” their
estimates, hoping to get your listing. Those agents then ask for price
reductions later.
2. What is your marketing plan for my home?
The best agents will prepare a written marketing plan for your home
sale. Each agent should include the local multiple listing service, the
most powerful sales tool available because it gives your home maximum
market exposure to all local agents.
Watch out for any agent who doesn’t use the multiple listings. These
agents are trying to keep sales commissions within their brokerage
offices. That’s good for them but bad for sellers and buyers. Insist that
your listing be put into the local listing service for distribution to
members.
Also, inquire about Internet marketing through the agent’s Web site,
plus the local and national multiple listings on the Internet.
In addition, each agent’s marketing plan should include weekly
newspaper advertising of your home, plus brochures and local home sales
magazine ads.
The plan should include at least weekly phone calls or activity
reports to you about your home showings and reactions of prospective
buyers and other agents. Be sure to insist on written copies of your
listing service information and weekly ads and a printout of your home’s
Internet listing.
3. How long a listing do you require?
The best agents will tell you they want a 90-day listing. That length
gives the agents plenty of time to market your home but not too much time
if you want a prompt sale. As most agents know, they work hardest,
smartest and fastest just before the listing expires.
Other agents will tell you they want a six-month listing. Their
strategy is to tell you something like this: “The average home here sells
in 121 days, so I need a six-month listing.” But you don’t want an
“average” agent.
If an agent doesn’t have enough confidence in his or her ability to
sell your home in 90 days, don’t list with that agent. However, if an
exceptional agent wants a 180-day listing but will include an
unconditional cancellation clause, that is acceptable.
4. What are the names and phone numbers of your last 10 home sellers?
The best agents will give you their home seller (not buyer) references
before you ask. When agents refuse this information, such as by saying,
“That information is confidential,” they are hiding poor records. When
you phone each previous seller, ask: “Were you in any way unhappy with
your agent? Would you list your home again with the same agent?”
Also inquire about the agent’s recent listings that didn’t sell. Even
the best agents have them. Phone those sellers to inquire why their homes
didn’t sell. But be aware that unsold homes were often overpriced and the
sellers might have refused to reduce the asking price to market value.
5. How many listings do you have, and what percentage of your listings
sell?
Beware of “numbers agents,” who have more than 20 listings and know
only a percentage of those listings will sell. That implies impersonal
service.
Successful agents who have 10 to 20 listings will have the time to
sell your home for top price. An agent who takes a high number of
listings but sells relatively few of them, say 50%, is not the best agent
for you.
Incidentally, the longer the agent has been selling homes in your
community, the better. The top agents work on referrals. For example, I
enjoy working with a local agent who has been around about 15 years.
We’ve had at least a dozen transactions together, and he’s always
available when I want to buy or sell a property.
Summary: Interview at least three successful local realty agents and
ask these five key questions before selecting the best agent to get your
home listing. Since this is one of your biggest financial transactions,
hire the agent you think will maximize the probability of selling yourhome for top dollar within 90 days.
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Robert J. Bruss is a syndicated columnist as well as a real estate investor, lawyer, broker and educator in the Bay Area.
