Questions Home Sellers Need to Ask Their Agents

by Emily Guy Birken on May 5, 2014
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RealtorSelling your house can be a daunting task—starting with finding a good agent. Unfortunately, it can be very easy to simply hire the first agent you meet with, since you may not know what questions to ask in order to find the best agent for your needs. But partnering with the wrong agent can cost you time and money, which can increase your selling stress.

If you are looking to sell your house, here are five questions you need to ask your agent before you agree to work with her:

What’s your experience?

Not only do you want to make sure that your house will not be your agent’s first rodeo, but you want to understand the type of experience your agent brings to the table. So it’s not enough to know that your agent has been in real estate for fifteen years—you also want to know that they have plenty of experience in your specific market. That way you can be sure they understand the complexities of that market.

How will you market my listing?

These days, you can bet that most homebuyers are looking online to start their search. So even before you meet with your agent, you can check out their other online listings to see how well he raises the online visibility of homes for sale.

However, marketing a home is about much more than just creating an online listing. You will want to know exactly what your agent does to make sure the right homebuyer will see your house—through traditional listings in newspapers, open houses, and even virtual tours online.

What will you tell people about the house?

This question will help you to determine if your agent understands the selling points of the house. If they have an appreciation for the same aspects of the house that you fell in love with when you bought it, then they’ll be in a better position to find a buyer who will also love the home.

Will you represent both sides of the sale?

In most home sales, the seller and the buyer will each have her own agent. However, in some cases, agents will work both sides. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this—that is, it’s not necessarily a conflict of interest—it’s a good idea for you to discuss the details of such a situation ahead of time. You don’t want to end up feeling like you don’t know whose interests the agent is representing.

What is your average market time?

An agent’s average market time is the amount of time it takes them to sell a house. The market time measures the time between when the house is first listed to the day it closes escrow. Your local market may have a certain average market time, and it’s a great sign if your agent is able to beat that average. It shows that they have a good handle on how to market their listings and find innovative ways to get buyers seeing the right houses.

The Bottom Line

As in any business relationship, it’s a good idea for you to interview potential agents before deciding on which one you’ll hire. A little time up front can potentially save you months of waiting for your listing to sell.

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Emily Guy Birken

Emily Guy Birken is a freelance writer and stay-at-home mom who is passionate about personal finance. She lives in Lafayette, Indiana with her mechanical engineer husband and her toddler son. She blogs about parenting at The SAHMnambulist and about the funny side of money at Live Like a Mensch.

{ 1 comment }

Zee WorkToNotWork May 5, 2014 at 8:51 pm

Some other questions that I think you should ask are, How do often do you touch base? Do will it be phone or email updates on any progress? (I’ve been in the situation where I didn’t hear from my realtor in 2 weeks and I had no clue what was going on….) How often will you have open houses?
Also, I would avoid signing a contract with them, if things aren’t working out you don’t want to be stuck in some sort of exclusivity clause for 6 months.

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