Looking to sell your home? Here are a few things to think about when choosing a real estate agent to sell your home.
Trust. Personally, I wouldn't hire someone who reached me via "cold calling." If someone has to do cold calling to make a living, how good can he/she be?. Find someone you know, or who is connected to people you know, and trust. Sellers are more likely to get the results they want when they can feel confident in their agent.
Strategy. Before hiring an agent to list your home, ask him/her about the plan they would use to market, and sell your home. They should be ready to discuss the tools they have, including a large network of community contacts that can be leveraged to bring qualified buyers to the table.
Direct Communication. Real estate is a people business, and people have feelings. Most people get this, and because they don't want to make people feel bad, they don't always communicate what needs to be said to help the other party. Someone with bad breath and body odor, for example, would probably want to know that they are offending others, but how many people would be willing to tell that person about his/her issue?
Agents who communicate objectively, however, usually make better hires than "yes agents." A "yes agent" is someone who will agree with a seller' viewpoint just to get his/her listing. Suppose for example, that Joe Smith feels his home is worth $350K, and wants it listed at that price.
The market analysis, however, indicates that the home is worth about $300K. Hire the agent willing to list the home at $350K in this case, and see it sit on the market for the next 15 months. The realtor who tells the truth, even when it hurts, is the one who is acting in the sellers best interest by advising to list the home for what it's worth. Follow this agent's advice, and sell the home.
As a seller, it's important to listen to the realtor, and understand that his/her advice is not a personal attack. If they tell yu that the lamp you love so much should be packed away, it's because they want you to get your home sold. Giving this type of information is one of the toughest parts of the job as a real estate agent, but this is exactly type of information that sellers will need to hear if they want results.
Process Communication. Show me a broken relationship, and I'll show you a breakdown in communication. While it's important to empower your agent to do his/her job, it's ok to expect that you'll get feedback via phone or email once a week. Ongoing communication is an important part of the process. Some objections may be out of the seller's and realtor's control, but it's important for the realtor to deliver this information along with things that can be controlled. If many of the buyer prospects feel that a chandelier is offensive to many, then the realtor could advise the homeowner to remove it.
Bottom line, good communication leads to desired results much more often than little engagement between sellers and selling agents.
Comments (2)Subscribe to CommentsComment