Selling Your Home !? Here's what to ASK!

Selling a house could potentially create the largest lump sum of cash in your lifetime.

With that kind of money potential, finding the right real estate agent is vital in order to maximize your profits and minimize the selling time.

I’ve written this article for YOU the homeowner, because in order to hire the best agent, you need to ask the right questions.

The Interview Process: most agents will do a walk through of your home, and then sit down with you for the listing presentation. During the listing presentation, agents will cover their services, fees, and what price they think you should sell your home for. After they are done with their presentation, before you sign any paperwork, ask them these following questions...

The Vital Agent Interview Questions:

1.)      Are you a Solo agent or part of a Team? Who will be working for me?

In order to sell a home, there are an estimated 180 steps from start to finish!!! With this being said, help is usually required to avoid the sales process being slowed down. Solo Agents sometimes hire assistants to delegate these tasks, and Teams (Multiple Agents who pool their resources) usually hire multiple assistants to delegate tasks. Overall, you as the seller need to be assured that this agent will make this sales process as quick as possible (time is money) while still netting you the most profit.

2.)      How many buyers and sellers are you working with?

If an agent has buyers in your area that is great, they could potentially sell your home even quicker. Having sellers (listings) in your area is even better, and here's why. "For Sale" signs at similar properties will allow the agent to know more buyers and buyer's agents for your type of home. The more people they know the better off you are as a seller.

Keep in mind, a ton of listings isn't always a good indicator of an awesome agent. That's why you must follow it with another question.

3.)      What’s your average days on market for your listings?

Days on market, meaning how long it took to find a buyer. So from the first day "For Sale", to the seller accepting an offer, how long did that take?

Ask them to compare this to the average for the area and for your type of property. That comparison will let you see whether they are above average (fewer days on market) or below average (more days on market).

And yes, that is Vince Vaughn and Dave Franco in the stock image ... they just have that "We can totally sell your house" look I was going for.

4.)      Are you a Full Time or Part Time Agent?

This is a great indicator of how much time and energy they are going to put forth in the selling process. If they are a solo agent with no hired help and are involved in real estate just part time, HUGE RED FLAG. Part-Time agents can still get it done but be very aware of the fact they have other interests in mind. A Full-Time agent depends on real estate as their main source of income and will probably devote more time and energy to getting your home sold.

5.)      What is your Marketing / Advertising Strategy? How do you track activity?

This may be THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION. Their marketing strategy could literally cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars.

The worst agents do the 3 P's of Real Estate which is : Put out a sign, Put it on the MLS, and Pray. If the agent you're interviewing sounds like they ONLY do this or just a little over .... RUN!

I'm not going to go over my whole marketing plan, I'll save that for another time, like when you interview me *wink**wink*. But seriously, the agent needs to have a set plan in place for how your home will be marketed.

Do they pay for or use; professional photography or video, directional signs, open houses, extra online marketing above just the MLS?

Do they door knock the neighborhood to tell them your selling, do they contact buyer's agents in the area?? The list of different ways to market your home can go on and on, and it should in order to make your house stand out above others.

This is also why I omitted the question "How long have you been in real estate?". A lot of experienced agents have fallen into the 3 P's of Real Estate (see above if you already forget), and they do not create an above average online presence for your property. The National Association of Realtors estimates that over 85% of all home buyers saw their home online first !! If an agent isn't on top of internet marketing, they could kill your number of buyers and in turn kill your profits.

6.)      How often do you communicate with us?

This question really depends on you just as much as them.

Firstly, you want to know how often they give updates (weekly, monthly, never?).

Secondly, you want to ask who do you talk to if you have questions. I say this because if they are an agent that delegates tasks to assistants it may be easier for you to contact the assistant directly. You need to know how that will work, I have an assistant for the transactional side (paperwork) and an assistant for the marketing side of each transaction.

Thirdly, you want to know how quickly they respond to their calls. Obviously, every agent will probably say they answer "promptly" or "ASAP". But when times get tough and a house has an issue selling, some agents duck and run from your calls like someone just lobbed a grenade their way.

Lastly, some sellers (you) don't want calls every week or every day about their house. Maybe you only want a call if someone writes an offer. Either way, you need to discuss how much they communicate vs. how much you want the communication.

7.)      How much should I list my home for?

A good agent should have a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), already made for you. CMA is just a fancy way of saying "this is how much other homes like yours have sold for". The agent should be able to show you 3-9 comparable homes in your area that have sold recently (within past 3 months). Using those houses, they give you an estimated list price and sale price.

Realize that you and the agent both want your home to sell for AS MUCH MONEY AS POSSIBLE. Being on commission, the agent will want the highest price for the property just like you do because you both make more money. Your relationship is symbiotic (look at me using words I learned in 6th grade Biology). I mention this because some agents prey on sellers by suggesting they can sell for SOOOOO much more than the competition.

If you are getting CMA's coming from other agents saying you should list for $250k and an agent comes in saying "We could easily list for $300k", YOU could easily being sitting for a very long time trying to sell your house. They do this just to get your business, then bait-and-switch, and YOU the seller find yourself into many months of selling with multiple price reductions. Not a good spot to be in, us real estate agents call it "buying your listing".

The agent needs to be able to show you comparable houses to have a reasonable list price and an estimated amount of days on market. General rule of thumb: the higher you list your home price the longer you sit, the lower the price the quicker it sells. So it also depends upon how quick you need to move.

8.)      How long is your Listing Period? What if I’m unhappy with your service?

This is also HUUUUGE. You sign a 12 month contract to sell just to find you hate the agent by week 3 .... Not Good. I would want something in writing saying you can fire the agent at anytime or at least shorten the listing time period.

If they say they can't do either ask this : "If you are confident my house will sell at this price and in this amount of time, then why do I have to sign for 6+ more months than what you say you need ????"

Just for example, my team actually offers a "Sold in 77 days" guarantee and other reassuring incentives to sign with us. Other agents usually do as well.

9.)      How much is your fee?

The fee is dependent on your area and the difficulty of the sale. In my area, the fee is 6% of the total purchase price. This commission is split, usually 3% goes to the selling agent and 3% goes to the buyer's agent. So if you sell your home for $100,000 then $3,000 will go to your agent and $3,000 will go to the agent that brings in the buyer. If your agent can bring the buyer also then they would get 6% or $6,000 for the sale.

If the property is in really bad shape or if it is an extremely low price sale then the agent may want higher compensation than the usual 6%.

Some sellers ask the agent to lower the compensation to save them money and to raise their net profit. On paper it makes sense, but in reality you shouldn't sign with an agent willing to cut their compensation. And this is why; first if they are willing to cut their own money (lower commission), think what they will do to your money at the negotiation table (lower purchase price). Secondly, if they cut their price they don't believe they provide enough value to charge you what everyone else charges. If they don't believe in the service they provide you shouldn't either.

Be wary of agents offering lower fees or flat fees, they usually don't do too much other than the 3 P's listed before. Maybe some lower commission or flat fee agents do a great job, I've just never met one. Also, ask for a "seller's net proceeds" sheet to be done. This will show you the breakdown of what you will actually walk away with (purchase price - commissions - fees & taxes = Seller's net proceeds). This is good to know from the start so that you know how much money you will make off of the sale at that sale price.

10.) Final Question: Why you?

Maybe you have multiple agents that sound like great candidates, this question can really see what each agent is all about. Usually this question will evoke an emotional response where as they will tell you a little more about their personality and what makes them tick.

Conclusion:

Overall, you're doing more than most home sellers by even reading articles like these (good for you). Most home owners do not do much research when picking an agent, so by you doing your due diligence beforehand, you are getting ahead of the game.

And like the old saying goes, "If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail".

I hope you the best and if you have any questions, comments or concerns please send them my way!!!

-Trent Brands

"Welcome to the Bark Side"