Questions to Ask an agent Interested in Selling Your Hemet - San Jacinto CA Home

Questions to Ask an agent Interested in Selling Your Hemet - San Jacinto CA Home

When considering the sale of your Hemet - San Jacinto Valley, CA home you should Interview at least three local agents who sell homes in your community. Ask them about the following:

Home Value. The agents should inspect the home and prepare a written Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA.  The report will cover similar homes to yours based on age, size, features and location.  The other homes considered will include Active MLS Listings, Sold MLS Listings in the last 3 months and Pending MLS Listings to gauge the direction of the Hemet - San Jacinto, CA real estate marketplace.

Marketing Plans. These are a must. The difference is selling your home for top dollar will come down to how your home is both merchandised and marketed.  Every agent has the ability to place a sign in the yard and list the Hemet - San Jacinto home for sale in the MLS.  Today newspaper ads are almost insignificant as most buyers do their shopping on the Internet and not the print media. The local Multiple Listing Service (MLS)-which gives your home maximum exposure to all local agents and is syndicated to numerous additional web sites. Internet marketing through the agent's website, blog and Social Media sites all need to be considered and analyzed.

Length of the Listing Agreement. A 90-day listing is reasonable for marketing your home, if it is a conventional sale - even in a slow market. Many experts advise against signing a listing for more than 90 days unless it contains an unconditional cancellation clause. If you like, you can always extend the contract later.  If the home is being sold under distressed conditions, such as a Short Sale, longer agreements may become necessary.

Number of Listings. Find out how many listings the agent now has and how many she normally sells. Too many listings-more than a dozen-with a low sales rate, may not be a good sign.

Support System.  Does the agent work as an individual agent and will be your only point of contact; or does the agent have a team of specialized support staff to administer the various tasks of marketing and processing homes through the sales / escrow processes?

Get References. Ask for the names and phone numbers of verifiable recent home sellers with MLS printouts to demonstrate how the agent markets his listings. Call them and ask if they were satisfied with the level of service delivered by the agent.

SKILLS vs. PERSONALITY

When considering agents to list your real estate, please keep in mind that professional skill will be the most critical aspect of helping you achieve your home selling goals.  Therefore, thoroughly investigate the skill set of each prospective agent and do not fall into the trap or relying on personality... to be honest, all of the REALTORS I know (well most of them anyway) are nice pleasant people.  Personality is Sales 101 - you do not want or need a nice guy - you want someone who will get the job done!

The Following are the Three Most Important Real Estate Skills:

Marketing:  Is your prospective agent a Listing Agent or a Marketing Agent.  Spend time and dive deep into this most critical skill.  Look to see how your home will be presented to the public,

Merchandising:  Does your agent have the skills and resources to help you merchandise your home so that it will command the attention of perspective buyers, or will it look like all of the other homes on tour.  Merchandising is more that telling you to de-clutter the home and bake bread to give it a great aroma (and hide pet or smoke odors).

Negotiating: Never settle for an agent who is an arbitrator, whose goal is to make sure all sides are equally satisfied.  Your agent should be a "competitor" whose only objection is for an outright victory


The Excellence in Real Estate Team @ Allison James Estates & Homes specialize is a  highly qualified, results-oriented, consumer-focused real estate professional team. Home sellers will become better informed and educated through the informational content provided to them by John Occhi and The Excellence in Real Estate Team.

If you would like to discuss the options available to you then please email or call me to set an appointment and allow me to present you with a proprietary Master Marketing Analysis of your real estate and how I can best serve your needs.

MORE HELP & GREAT IDEAS

For More Tips from The Excellence in Real Estate Team Home Selling Guide, just click here...