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Health & Fitness

Home Selling Tips - Interviewing a Real Estate Agent

Interviewing a Real Estate Agent, learn some important questions to ask before hiring a real estate agent. You should interview a few realtors to find out who is the right fit for you.

How do I hire a real estate agent to sell my home?

This is actually a pretty simple question to answer, you interview several real estate agents and find one that best suits your needs. You're looking for a real estate agent who is willing to offer you all of the things that are important to you as a home seller. Everybody is different so your list could be completely different than the person selling their home down the street. First thing you should do is make a list of the things that are important to you and be ready to share those as you interview different real estate agents. There's no right or wrong answer here
it simply what's important to you. You want to see if the real estate agents
you are interviewing are responsive to your needs and concerns. Because most
people don't understand what we do as real estate agents here are a list of
five questions that will at least open up a dialogue for you to start the
process.

 

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How long have you been a licensed agent? Are you full time?

The answer you're looking for with this question is an agent history. You probably talk about how many homes they sell per year, what areas they work in and other specific information regarding the time they have been in the business. Most real estate agents that are new to the business work with buyers because it's easier way to learn. The more experienced agents are typically the ones who list homes. But you can assume that they have experience so you have to ask the questions. Our professional opinion is that you are looking for real estate agent who is a full-time professional agent. One that does not have another full or part-time job. With all of the changes in rules, regulations and other issues related to this
business; we feel you can't be a part-time agent and keep up. Plus as a seller
do you really want a potential buyer who is inquiring about your home waiting
till after 5 o'clock when your agent can call them back to answer the questions?

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What is your definition of full service?

The term "full service" along with the term "as is" are the two most overused terms in real estate today. You need to know what type of service you're going to receive from your real estate agent. Full service goes far beyond listing and marketing your home for sale. It involves a whole host of other items. So ask the real estate agent what they believe the term means. They will spell it out for you
and you can then decide does this fit with what I believe or not. If you
interview three realtors, you're going get three completely different answers.
You want them to explain to you how they communicate, what they're follow-up is and most importantly what their role is in the sale of your home.

How do you track your web hits? How many hits does your website receive?

This question will help you to get a better understanding of the agents experience with the Internet. If they tell you that they have a website inside of their broker's website then they don't understand the Internet. There's nothing wrong with having a page on your broker's website. This can be a very useful tool when promoting homes but it's nothing more than a page. Meaning all traffic that comes to that website is generated by the broker who owns the website. In addition to this the agent should have a website that is run and controlled by them. This will show you how they market homes. Because the Internet is such an integral part of the marketing process now, this is a step that cannot be overlooked. Ask them to show you statistics of the website and explain to you why they use a certain IDX feed for the buyers. If they can't answer this question and show you some of the most basic elements to Internet marketing, they may not be the right real estate agent for you. As real estate agents we have to have a strong online presence because that's where the buyers are searching for homes.

 

When you have a buyer lead, how do you follow up?

Most home buyers have absolutely no patience at all when their first inquiring about a property. I don't know if they just assume that we sit by the phone waiting for them to call or they think we are just not busy. Either way none of this is important, what is important is that we meet their needs to the best of our abilities. Studies of shown that if you follow up with the buyer in the first five minutes the chances of connecting with that buyer in getting them into your listing increase by 395%. To me that is a mind blowing statistic and drives home the point that they are looking for contact as soon as possible. Asking the agent
this question will help you clarify what their availability is and how they handle inquiries on your property as well as inquiries in general.

After the first 30 days, what next? How do you keep the listing fresh?

This may very well be the most important question of the five. The answer you're looking for varies from person to person but should have a common theme. That theme would be I have plans for your home after the first 30 days to keep it in front of buyers. New buyers are entering the home market every single day and human nature is to want to see the newest latest and greatest listings. So how do you compete with all of the homes a come on the market after you? Well there's a lot more to be said to answer that particular question but for the purpose of this blog you're looking for an answer that shows a commitment level of marketing. You want to feel confident that when you sign up for a listing that the agent you hire will continue to change things and market your home to the best of their ability. What's their strategy? And does it make sense to you?

Hopefully this will give you some basic understanding of the process of hiring a real estate agent. More importantly we hope this helps you feel confident when you interview a real estate agent to list and sell your home.

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