When it comes to selling your home, finding the right real estate agent is essential to ensuring a smooth and successful process. The National Association of Realtors has compiled a helpful guide for sellers to better understand what questions to ask when selecting an agent.
This guide offers valuable insights to help you feel confident in your decision and find a professional who will work in your best interests. Here are some key points from NAR’s “Consumer Guide: Ten Questions to Ask a Seller’s Agent.”
Are you a Realtor?
When you work with an agent who’s a Realtor, you’re working with a professional guided by ethical duties under the Realtor Code of Ethics, including the pledge to protect and promote the interests of their clients.
What types of services can you provide me?
Your agent can help you with marketing your property, interfacing with buyer’s agents, handling showings and open houses, negotiating the purchase agreement on your behalf, assisting throughout the closing process and more.
Are you familiar with the market where I’m selling my home?
Your agent must be licensed where you are selling your home. But they should also have the market knowledge to facilitate a successful transaction. While prior experience with the market where your property is located is not a requirement, local knowledge could help your agent develop a strategy that resonates with local buyers.
What will be included in our listing contract?
At the outset of your relationship, you and your agent will sign a listing agreement that says the agent can represent you and market your property to potential buyers and their agents and establishes the sale price for your home. It will also lay out the type of professional representation your agent will provide and what they will be paid for those services. Remember that agent compensation is fully negotiable and not set by law.
How did you arrive at your suggested list price for my home?
Setting a strong initial asking price based on your agent’s knowledge of the market is important for capturing buyer interest and securing the best possible offer. Your agent should conduct market research to determine an appropriate price that both attracts prospective buyers and ensures you receive a fair market value for your home.
How will you market my home?
Agents might use a variety of marketing methods to reach potential buyers, and they should walk you through the pros and cons of each option. For example, one tool agents use to market properties is a multiple listing service, an online platform that compiles home listings from brokerages in a given market, to reach the largest possible pool of buyers and potentially attract the best offer.
How do I attract potential buyers?
There are many strategies that might help attract potential buyers. For example, offers of compensation (when you or your agent compensate another agent for bringing a buyer to successfully close the transaction) and seller concessions (when you cover certain costs associated with purchasing a home for the buyer) might lead to a better or faster offer by reducing out-of-pocket and upfront expenses for prospective buyers.
What do I need to do to get my house ready?
To prepare your home for listing, your agent might suggest investing in necessary repairs or other upgrades that could help enhance buyer interest for the property.
How will you vet potential buyers?
An important part of selling your home is ensuring that prospective buyers are financially prepared to follow through with their offer. Discuss with your agent how they plan to evaluate prospective buyers, which might include requiring a pre-approval letter to be submitted alongside the offer.
Do you have references?
Many agents will be happy to connect you with satisfied clients they have worked with in the past who can speak to their experience.
Choosing the right agent can make all the difference in your home-selling experience. By asking the right questions and understanding what to expect, you can confidently navigate the process and achieve your real estate goals. #ThatsWhoWeR
Founded in 1912, Greater Chattanooga Realtors is the voice for real estate in Greater Chattanooga. A regional organization with more than 2,700 members, Greater Chattanooga Realtors serves Hamilton and Sequatchie counties in southeast Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties in northwest Georgia. The association is one of approximately 1,100 local associations and boards of Realtors nationwide that comprise the National Association of Realtors. Greater Chattanooga Realtors owns and operates a multiple listing service that is one of approximately 600 MLSs in the country and that services more than 3,000 users. Local association membership is comprised of Realtors who are servicing the Greater Chattanooga area and specializing in a variety of disciplines, including appraisal, commercial, industrial, land, multi-family, property management and residential. Working alongside Realtors are our affiliate members, who represent related industries in sympathy with the objectives of the association. Our affiliate members include mortgage lenders, home inspectors, title and closing services, pest inspection and control, and insurance.