The most important things a seller should consider when hiring a Realtor include:
- How knowledgeable is the Realtor in the type of property being sold?
- What percentage of the Realtor’s listings actually sell and how does that compare to the general MLS?
- Average Days on Market;
- Average List to Price Ratios;
- % expired before selling;
- % canceled before end of the contract
- What is the Realtor’s marketing plan and is it in writing for the seller to sign?
- Does the property being sold match the target market of the marketing plan?
- If it is a property that will most likely be bought by someone from out of town like in a resort market, does the market extend beyond the local market?
- If the property is in a Senior Community, is the internet really the best place to market it to potential buyers?
- If the property is vacant land, how many website portals do justice to that market segment, so maybe you need to do more print media or direct mail.
- What is the Realtor’s reputation with other Realtors in the area? Will other agents be more inclined to show or avoid your listing based on the agents reputation? (I recognize this one is difficult to quantify.)
Our MLS system in Boise, Idaho only goes back to 2002 when we switched vendors, but I was pleased when I did this analysis on my business as I update my marketing plans. Even though I was not trying to build my personal business since roughly 2006 due to being in more of a Regional Manager position and then starting my own company, I was pleased to realize that I have personally had 198 sales in that time period (126 buyer side and 72 listing sides) totaling over $31 million in personal sales.
I took a map snapshot of just my buyer controlled sales in Ada County to see how well my experience covers our area and was pleased to see it was pretty diversified.
I was surprised to see that my average sales price to list price ratio is 101.59%! My list to sold price was 3.84% higher than the average in the MLS. Maybe I need to start telling potential sellers (assuming a $200 sale) that equates to them making $7,680 more than hiring the “average” Realtor!
I really hope that more sellers take the time to interview multiple agents before listing their home. If they did, there wouldn't be near as many listings that expired without selling. If agents wouldn't take overpriced listings, that won't sell, maybe the rest of us that price them right to start with won't have to keep defending our industry.
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