When preparing to sell your home, it’s wise to interview several agents to be sure that not only will their procedures and marketing strategies sell your home at the best price and in the best time frame possible, but that your personalities gel and you feel comfortable through out the home selling process. Here are 5 questions I suggest you ask your real estate agent to get to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.
1.) What sets you apart from other agents and how long have you been selling real estate?
While the length of their career is important, there are sometimes more important factors such as their experience with your type of home, your neighborhood, or another specific that might make you a good match. What’s first and foremost important is that you feel comfortable and establish trust with your agent right away. You don’t have to take their word for it; if you interview more than one agent for your listing, you’ll be able to establish their differences yourself.
2.) What can I expect from you during our partnership to sell my house?
This is another question that not only warms up your agent and gets them to reveal a little bit more about themselves and what they have to offer, but it gives you some sort of promise of which you can hold them accountable to. With lack of communication, transparency, and hard work being the most common complaints about real estate agents, hearing anything that combats these concerns and digging further into these issues with more questions is beneficial before committing to the relationship.
3.) What specific marketing strategies are you going to use to sell my house?
Sometimes an agent will have all the drive and work ethic in the world, but without the key of marketing, you could sell much later than you’d like. If you want to sell your home fast, an agent who has his marketing strategies dialed in, including some unique approaches, you’ll find yourself in much better shape.
4.) How soon can you sell my house?
This is one piece of evidence that shows you the hard results attached to the agent. Hopefully, he or she is prepared to show you homes he’s sold in the past, with some back story and an ideal turn-time. This question will also provide you some insight into his or her level of confidence.
5.) How can we get the most for my house?
Part of being a good real estate agent is knowing the market, utilizing comparable market analysis, and pricing your home effectively. Asking this question will display how knowledgeable your real estate agent is in these areas.
