Questions To Ask a Listing Agent

Here are the top questions to ask every agent that someone is interviewing to list their home, in no particular order.

1. How is your real estate business capitalized? In other words, do you have money to run your business?
2. How many names are in your contact management system and how often are they contacted? You really want to know that they keep track of all the leads and follow up with them. 
3. What percentage of your business is from listings? It might be nice to know if your are a hiring strictly a listing agent right? 
4. What is your percentage of list to sell price? Does the agent just want a sign in the yard?  
5. What is you and your area's average days on market? This would be a good comparison to see. 
6. What is your percentage of listings taken to sold and closed? Another good comparison. 
7. What percentage of listings do you sell yourself? This number should be very low in comparison so if an agent says differently they are probably lying??? 
8. What percentage of your listings expire and why? Are they overpriced? Not in good condition? 
9. What is their current market absorption rate for my property? If they don't know what this is, that could be a red flag. 
10. What is your compelling point of difference and how will that convince me to do business with your company? Probably one of the more important questions to ask. 
11. When will I see a strategic marketing plan for selling my property? I'm assuming most people want to see the steps you will take to get the home sold. 
12. What is the highest price we can expect and what do we need to do to our property to achieve it? Candor goes a long way here!