...THAT YOU'LL WANT TO GIVE ME - AND ANY OTHER REAL ESTATE AGENT - BEFORE YOU PICK WHO'LL REPRESENT YOU

  By Bill Cherry, Realtor

My 43rd Year  

Meet me on the web at www.billcherrybroker.com

Company Image and Statistics

1. How many years has your company been in business? How about you?

2. How many listings does your company have?

3. Where does your company rank in the Annual Amount of Closed Sales in the entire Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex?

4. How many families used your company's services last year?

5. Where does your company rate in the National Relocation Top 350 Power Brokers Annual Report?

6. Does your company have a relocation division? How much business is generated through that source? (Many people are "assigned" a real estate broker by their employer when they are moving them from one town to another)

7. Who are some of the companies and corporations your relocation division works with in relocating buyers?

8. Is your company a member of a world-wide and successful real estate network?

9. Which referral networks, relocation companies, pre-marketing and third party companies is your company affiliated with?

10. Does your company have a Web site that advertises the entire MLS inventory?

11. What is your company's current market share in my neighborhood?

12. What is your company's past market share in my neighborhood?

13. What is the "Law of Agency" and how does it affect me by using your company?

14. Does your company offer a comprehensive Seller's Disclosure Notice to help me reduce my liability as a seller?

15. Does your company have a real estate attorney specialist on staff or retainer who is available for legal guidance when needed?

16. Does your company have an in-house mortgage lending service and of what value would it be to me as a seller?

Agent's Competence

1. Are you a full-time Realtor?

2. What kind of real estate training have you had?

3. What is the difference between a Realtor and a licensed Real Estate agent?

4. Do you recommend pre-sale home inspections?

5. Do you recommend that I take out a Seller Residential Service Contract while my house is on the market for sale?

6. How would you guide me if a potential buyer has a home to put on the market and that he must sell before he can close on the purchase of my house?

7. What are today's insurance concerns and how can they affect me?

8. How do would you arrive at the listing price you suggest for my home?

9. Will you provide me with a written and current Competitive Market Analysis?

10. Will you be honest with me in what you feel the market will truly bear, or will you list my home at any price I ask you to try?

11. Will you share with me your educated opinion of the condition of my home?

12. Will you give me tips for better staging and showing my home to prospective buyers?

13. Tell me about your negotiating skills?

14. What is your personal list price to sales ratio? Your company's?

15. Will you pre-qualify prospects before showing them my home?

16. What will you do to assure my home will appraise for the contract price for the buyer's lender?

17. What will my closing costs be?

18. Will you provide me with an itemized statement of my approximate closing costs PRIOR to my signing the contract?

19. What services will you provide me once a contract has been negotiated?

20. Will you attend the closing at the title company with me?

21. Once I list my home with you, how often will you communicate with me?

The Marketing of My Home

1. Who will be putting the information and pictures of my home on the multiple listing service, and when?

2. What will you offer as a Buyer's Agent Commission?

3. Will you be furnishing property picture brochures and mail-outs in the marketing of my home, and how and where will they be distributed?

4. What feature of my home will you emphasize in the marketing?

5. Do you have the ability to photo gallery (at least 10 pictures) my home on-line?

6. Do you have a "precise and customized" marketing plan for my home?

7. Will you be doing a virtual tour of my home?

8. What special marketing programs does your company have to offer in helping to get showings on my home?

9. How often and where will you advertise my home in the media?

10. Who will write the ads, and who pays for the advertising?

11. Do you use "target marketing?"

12. If your company has a Web site, what tools are available on your site to market my home?

13. How many "hits" does your Web site get a month?

                                                Copyright 2006 - William S. Cherry

                                                         All Rights Reserved