If you’re like most home sellers, you probably already know that working with a realtor can mean so much during the home selling process. They can make your home sell faster and for quite a bit more, but most importantly, they can make the entire process a bit less stressful. Hiring a realtor to sell the house that’s the perfect fit for you, though, can be challenging.
How do you know if you’re getting the right realtor? It all comes down to the questions you ask during the first meeting with a realtor. How do you know what to ask during that meeting? You might have lots of questions, but ensure these five are on your list.
1. How Do You Decide On the Right Listing Price?
Your agent will help you decide how much your home should be listed for, and you must understand how they arrive at that listing price. If you list your home too high, you won’t see as many buyers as might otherwise have stopped by. List it too low, and you may be walking away from a fairly serious profit.
A good realtor will tell you exactly how they arrived at that price, and some pretty solid numbers should back their answer. Most realtors will show you a few comparable home sales in your area. Still, they should be able to back up their ideas about your listing price with value adjustments for things like additional bedrooms, bigger lot sizes, and other amenities. If their answer doesn’t include all of those data points, you’ll certainly want to move on to the next agent on your list.
2. How Do You Plan to Market My Home?
A good marketing plan is the only way to get your home in front of as many buyers as possible, so you want to make sure the realtor you choose has a solid plan for getting your home in front of many people. They should tell you that they’ll list your home on the MLS or Multiple Listing Service. Additionally, they should discuss things like property staging, a good description, and professional photography.
This shouldn’t be the only part of this question, though. You’ll also want to know what selling features they plan to promote in your home. Truly great realtors will be able to identify those selling features in that first meeting instantly. Maybe you have great schools nearby. Perhaps your home is at a really attractive price point or has particularly low property taxes. If they don’t know exactly how they’ll market your home, or they’re not sure which features to promote, you may want to find a different agent.
3. Do you Specialize In This Neighborhood?
While this question may not seem very important, it still matters quite a bit. Most buyers can find the information they need about a given area thanks to the internet. However, you still want an agent who is knowledgeable about various things near your property like the schools, shopping options, and even crime statistics.
If your agent routinely sells properties in your neighborhood, they’ll know the selling points of your area, and that means someone who can market your home effectively. If they’re new to marketing properties in your area, though, don’t automatically cross them off the list. Instead, ask a few more questions to find out what they’re going to do to learn more about the area so that every potential buyer can ask as many questions as they like and know the answers quickly.
4. Will I Work With You or With a Team?
These days, few real estate agents work alone. You need to understand whether you’ll be getting all of the help you need from your agent or whether you might get that help from team members. Both are good scenarios, but knowing what you want and what you’ll get from your agent is crucial.
You need to know who to reach out to when you have a question, who might call to set up a showing, and who you’ll be working with the most throughout the process. More than anything, you don’t want to get lost with a big team of realtors and lots of potential home buyers and sellers.
5. What’s the Best Way to Contact You?
Every realtor should be available most of the time for questions. If you prefer text messaging to phone calls, that’s a critical boundary to establish. If you prefer phone calls to emails, that’s important too. Understanding how you’ll reach out to your realtor the moment you have a question is crucial just to make sure the two of you are on the same page regarding communication.
After you’ve selected the right realtor, you’re still likely to be full of questions, especially if this is the first time you’ve ever sold a home. That’s okay! Your realtor is getting paid to take you through the process from start to finish, so don’t ever hesitate to ask as many questions as necessary so you get the answers you need.