Selling a home is a serious and major undertaking in your life. So shouldn’t your Realtor® be just as serious about representing you? If you are new to this process or just haven’t sold a home in a while, the answers you get to the questions below can show you revelations about your Realtors’ experience and knowledge about selling homes.
Whether interviewing one Realtor® or several, it is a good idea to understand how they will handle these issues. A professional Realtor® would not feel it an unnecessary challenge to discuss these concerns with you.
- Tell me about your training and experience.
- Do you consider your real estate work as full-time?
- Are you a member of the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS)/Board of Realtors and The National Association of Realtors?
- What is the average price of the homes you have sold and how many did you sell last year?
- In which neighborhoods do you primarily sell?
- How many homes have you sold in my neighborhood in the last year?
- What is your list price to sales price ratio?
- How many buyers and sellers are you currently working with?
- Tell me about the positives and negatives of my home?
- Describe your marketing plan for my home and if you will use outside professionals.
- Tell me about Internet marketing exposure, open houses and handling showings.
- Tell me how you’ll keep me informed during the selling of my home.
- Will I work directly with you or with team members?
- Can you provide me with three recent references?
As you may have noticed, prices was not one of the talking points. You, the seller sets the list price for the home. However, your trained Realtor® should provide you with local market reports showing sales activity in the vicinity of your home and be able to recommend a starting price. This recommendation will be based in factual numbers received from sources such as their local MLS.
Don’t let a favorable listing price suggested by an interviewed Realtor® be the only thing that persuades you to list with them. Don’t be afraid to talk with several Realtors and ask for copies of their data so you can make an informed decision.
I have helped many homeowners with Fairfax homes for sale set their prices within market value and we have had many successful sales because of it.