First Step of Home Selling: Choosing an Agnt

You are thinking of selling your home, and you’re faced with a myriad of decisions on where to start, we’re here to help! To get started with selling your house, you’ll want to compare agents carefully to find an individual who will be most effective in helping you with your particular needs.

Who is the right Agent for you?

As you start to take a closer look at potential real estate agents, it makes sense to find one who is familiar with your particular neighborhood. This allows them to interact more effectively with buyers and share details regarding the area’s amenities, public transportation, and housing statistics. They will also have more accurate information regarding similar houses for sale in your area, and how to make your home stand out from the competition. Most cities and suburbs have a number of real estate agents who specialize in property solely in the local area.

Aside from looking at location, however, you’ll want to take a look at their experience and whether or not you have a personal rapport with them. When it comes to something as important as selling your house, it’s a good idea to work with someone who makes you feel valued and comfortable. Just because one agent has the most listings in your area doesn’t mean that they will best represent your needs. You will be interacting with the agent for weeks and maybe months, make sure that you are comfortable communicating with the agent.

Asking for references is also an integral part of the screening process after you have narrowed down your initial list. As to read about the agents’ online reviews and past client testimonials! As you narrow down the field, speaking with former clients through reference checks can point you in the right direction.

Comparing Agent Commissions and Fees

It’s natural for those selling houses to be anxious about what the fees are going to look like. As a result, one of the first questions that many sellers ask is what the real estate agent’s commission rate will be.

It is important to remember that commission rates on their own can be deceptive, so make sure you are comparing the services offered by the different agents when you’re reviewing their commission rates.

It is typical that a real estate agent will cover professional photography, general marketing such as flyers and post cards, ads on popular real estate sites like Trulia and Zillow, and open house services. The big ticket items up for negotiation are dedicated websites for the property and staging. A simple vanity website may run $100-$200, whereas a more robust website with virtual tours may run from $300-$500. Depending on the size of your property, staging can cost anywhere from $500 to $2000 or more each month, so that’s a substantial cost to consider. If you and your realtor decide that staging is beneficial for your sale (sometimes it’s not achievable if you or tenants are living at the property during the sale), it is an expensive item that should be considered in the calculation for commission rate. For example, a 4.75% commission rate on a $500K home without staging services isn’t really a “saving” if you compare that to a 5% commission rate that includes staging services presuming the staging services cost $2000/month.

At the end, it is important to focus on the big picture – a small commission rate difference does not matter as much as having a top agent who can negotiate the highest price for your home. It’s more important to find an agent that you trust and sell your house for top dollars than someone who will list your home for the lowest commission.

Interviewing Potential Agents

When selling a house, you’ll want to choose a handful of agents to appraise your property. This should include the estimated sale price of your home, which real estate agents base on similar homes that have sold recently in your area. Ask for a comparative market analysis or CMA for your property. This will provide you with the following pieces of information:

• At least three recent sales of similar houses to your own property, located in the same neighborhood
• A full list of the average property prices in your neighborhood
• A full list of other properties currently for sale in your neighborhood
• A full list showing all the homes the real estate agent has sold recently, including sale prices for each property

This information will help you determine how each real estate agent reached the figures given in their appraisal, and how realistic their anticipated sales prices might be.

Comparing Listing Agreements

There are several different types of agent relationships that you might see when selling a house. We previously wrote an article on the various types of listing agreements – make sure you review them before signing one. 

There is a lot of work that goes into selling your house, choosing the right real estate agent to represent you to buyers involves several different decisions, before the selling process can even begin. With the help of a fully qualified professional on your side, the full process can be made far easier and worry-free.