Interviewing listing agents can be a daunting process, but aside from the big question of ‘What can you sell my house for?’ There are several other questions that it is important to ask your prospective Realtor.
1. How long have you been selling real estate? Is it your full-time job?
Experience isn’t necessarily a guarantee of skill, but real estate can only be learned on the job. And chances are, if your agent has been through challenging markets and is still standing, they’ve gained more valuable tools in the process.
2. How many homes did you sell last year?
This is another great opportunity to see how much experience your agent has on both the buying and selling end – and you want them to have both experience with buyers and sellers when listing your home. They’ll be more in touch with the potential buyers for your home!
3. How many days did it take you to sell the average home? And how did that compare with the overall market for your area?
A savvy agent should havethese facts on hand, and be able to present recent market statistics from the local MLS to provide a comparison.
4. How close to the initial asking prices of the homes you sold were the final sale prices?
The answer to this question will indicate how skilled an agent is at pricing homes and marketing to buyers. Even in challenging markets, properly priced and marketed homes can and will sell near list price.
5. What types of specific marketing approaches will you use to sell my home?
Simply putting a home into the MLS and adding a sign to the yard just isn’t cutting it. Look for someone who has aggressive and innovative approaches, especially a marketing campaign that emphasizes the importance of marketing your home to the wealth of online home searchers. The National Association of Realtors indicates that 87% of buyers start their home search online! How is your home going to be presented?
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