What Questions Should You Ask Your Agent Before Selling your Home?

These are all good questions, Jane. That, along with a fair listing price, should put the seller in a strategic position to sell their home successfully.

This week I had a seller (who has a flip phone and no computer) ask me about "magazine ads"  ummm, it took a while to explain why we don't need them.

Nice post Jane.  I think it is important for any potential home seller to know their agent will be able to represent them fully.

Different agents in the same company could have totally different ways of doing business. It's very important to know what the specific real estate professional will do to get that house sold.

Great advice!!!

Clients need someone who, over and above knowing the day-to-day business of selling real estate, understands today's home buying public and can take the best advantage of their habits. They also need to be available to those buyers and make access to view your home as easy as possible.

Good morning Jane Peters ,

Excellent advice on questions you should be asking when determining who is going to list your home! Congratulations on the well deserved featured post!

It still astounds me just how many agents are not utilizing social media. I mean, it's impossible to be on all of them but at least use the big ones. 

You can also call Jane Peters and say, Jane...I need help with all this please

The Internet certainly did change the real estate business. So did FAX machines (in their day) and services like FedEX. 

When I got into real estate in 1985 it was unheard of for an agent to do his or her own marketing. That was left to the brokerage and the agents hoped to catch a client on their floor day. As I've written about before, no one even kept in touch with past clients to get referrals or repeat business. 

The small town where I live (population 1,570) has always been years behind the times, so while listings ARE now out there on MLS, we still don't see many agents with their own websites, and very few do any prospecting. My son did get one card in the mail when his listing expired recently, but the card was from out of town. 

When I sold my agency it was the end of monthly (mailed) newsletters, just listed/just sold cards, and articles about real estate in the local newspaper. 

Jane, you nailed this ..."Your agent will be doing the work, not their brokerage."  And sellers need to understand exactly what "work" the agent will do ...marketing is a big piece of the selling equation!

I recently got a buyer under contract on a Franklin home purchase. They made that offer contingent upon the sale of their home. I don't typically work in their area but since I wanted to be involved, I suggested a co-list. They wanted an agent in their area who does direct mail marketing. The seller liked that the agent sent postcards. Sellers don't recognize that these postcards are directed towards sellers, not buyers. Anyhow, since this is who they wanted to use I contacted the agent. Guess what? He only sends postcards to addresses that a cold-calling service he hires has determined is interested in selling. This agent doesn't even have a website. The sellers needed to list quickly so I didn't argue the point with them. I will have them covered on the internet and insisted on professional photos (another thing this agent doesn't do).

Sellers need to be more discerning in who they hire. With 92% of the buyers looking online for their new home, an agent with a website who blogs and invests in professional photography is their best opportunity to sell quickly.

What's in a name?  I have never had a buyer say "Oh, I only want to look at homes listed with ABCXYZ Real Estate Co."  Or, say "I never heard of that company, I don't want to tour their listing."  That never happens.  Not one buyer CARES what the brokerage name is.  So there is no advantage to listing a property with a big brokerage name.  None.  Sellers need to find an agent that they can rely and trust Jane Peters 

Jane - Oh yes, I remember mimeographs. When I started in real estate we had a beast of an old copy machine with paper on a roll - the copies were almost unreadable. Then came similar FAX machines. 

I'll have to say, today's tools are much nicer! 

Nice post Jane! You are so right. You need to know about your agent before choosing. 

These are things that I always address and are very important.  Unfortunately, too many sellers hire the first agent they meet without finding out what services and quality of service will be provided.