5 Things to Review Before You Choose an Agent to List Your Home.
My first and most important piece of advice… don’t just hire and agent to sell your home, interview them, and interview more than one.
Let me give you a brief example. I recently spoke with a potential home seller almost by accident. He just happened to pick up my flyer from where I’d left them minutes earlier sitting on the trunk of my car. He knocked on my door and we had a casual chat about his home down the street which, I found out later in the conversation, he was getting ready to put on the market. He asked my opinion and made an appointment for me to take a look at his property. After speaking with the couple about their circumstances and their time-line, I gave them my opinion of value and the facts and figures to back it up. The couple then told me that they’d bought a property in a retirement community about 20 miles away and the agent who sold it to them, one who operates mainly in that retirement neighborhood, gave them an estimate that was $65,000 below my market analysis, and $45,000 below the very same model, in similar condition, that I had sold up the street only 8 months earlier. Does that scare you? It should.
Not only is the length of a Realtor’s experience meaningful, but it comes as a bit of a surprise to most home sellers that the type of experience matters as well. We touch on full-time v.s. part-time a little below in the ‘5 Things’ but here’s a bit of food for thought. In order to fully assess current and changing market conditions, an agent must have experienced the complexities of each and every market cycle long-term or several times over. A part-time agent simply does not have the whole picture.
5 Things to Review Before You Choose an Agent to List Your Home.
By Ryan Tyson
A world of difference lies between a good selling agent and a bad selling agent. Unfortunately, for first-time home sellers, determining the difference can be difficult. You might have to interview several real estate agents before you find someone who works for you, so be sure you’re asking the right questions before you start.
References
You should always check references before signing on with a selling agent. Talk to people whose homes the agent recently sold, not the best sales of their careers that may have happened years ago. You don’t need to talk to everyone the agent sold for in the past year (in fact, many of them won’t give out their information to strangers) but the agent should have a couple people willing to give them a good reference. If not, look elsewhere.
Part-Time v.s. Full Time
Your selling agent should be a full-time real estate agent. Doing everything required to sell a house well is a full-time job. A lot more goes into it than just showing it to a few potential buyers and determining a good listing price. A part-time agent will have divided attention between selling real estate and another job. Hire someone who spends their entire work week in the real estate industry.
Unrealistic Advice
A good selling agent will have advice for you about improvements your home needs before you list it for sale. Unless your entire home has been renovated in the last year, you must take care of some things. Outdated appliances have an impact on how potential buyers see your home. If your agent tells you, for example, that repairing a 20-year-old AC unit instead of replacing it is adequate, they’re not giving you the best advice about preparing your home for sale.
Lowest Commission
Commissions are not like interest rates. You don’t necessarily want to go with the person who offers you the very lowest. Most agents in your area work for the same commission percentage. Commissions are negotiable, but if someone is willing to negotiate down too readily, they might not have the negotiating chops to represent you well while selling your home.
Friends or Family Members
It’s often better to go into business with someone you don’t know personally. If problems arise or you have disagreements with your agent, do you want this to turn into a fight that could damage a friendship or a relationship with a family member? You can certainly interview your friends or family members to see if they’re the best for the job, but they need to understand that you’ll pick the agent that’s right for you, and not choose them because of your existing relationship.
With the wrong selling agent, your house might sit on the market for too long. Choosing your agent is an important step in selling your home, because the right selling agent will get you the right price on a timeline that works for you.
For more information, Call or Text: 602-999-0952
eMail: golfarizona@cox.net
Bill Salvatore / Arizona Elite Properties
Residential Sales, Marketing, and Property Management
This was originally published on RISMedia’s blog, Housecall. Visit the blog daily for housing and real estate tips and trends. Like Housecall on Facebook and follow @HousecallBlog on Twitter. Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2017. All rights reserved.
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