Agent Questions for sellers

[did0c]

Thank you, thank you!! This is awesome information!

How about-
How will you get in touch with me? How often?

Is that good to know? I read posts about people not hearing from their agent and wondering how things are going. Is it reasonable to want them to "check in" every so often to let you know how things are progressing?

Thanks again! Repp'ed ya!

[Roselvr]

Updated.

Once again, this list was specific to me. I'd done research on agents I was interested in. Once i narrowed that down, I called or emailed to set up an appointment. While I can't cover every question, this will give you something to start with. There are lines at the end to add stuff that came up during the conversation.

Agent Questions

Name - __________________________________________________ ___

Office Name ________________________________________________

Office Phone _______________________________________________

1) How much is your commission? ___________________________________________

2) What percentage do you give a buyers agent if you do not bring a buyer in? ________________________________________

3) Is it negotiable if you bring a buyer? __________________________________________________ _________________

4) What if I bring in a buyer with advertising I do? ________________________________________________

5) Where do you rank on the MLS? ___________________________________________

6) Where do you rank on the Re/Max team? ____________________________________

7) Do you work with the military? Yes No

8) Are you or your office listed at base housing? Yes No

9) How long have you been in the business? ____________________________________

10) Are you full time, part time, do you work another job? ___________________________

11) How many houses a year do you sell__________how many do you list______________

12) Do you do OPEN HOUSEs or AGENTs OPEN HOUSES / LUNCHEONs? YES / NO

__________________________________________________ ____________________

13) Do you have your own web site, in addition to the agent link on the office web site? YES

Web site URL __________________________________________________ _______

14) How much of your business comes from the web site? ________________________%

15) Do you pay for enhanced listings with multiple pictures on Realtor.com? ____YES____

16 Do you do featured listings on realtor.com? YES / NO __________________________

17) What kind of advertising do you do and where? _______________________________

__________________________________________________ _____________________

18) Do you advertise in the newspaper? If so which ones? __________________________

__________________________________________________ _____________________

19) Do you advertise price drops in the paper (Sunday only)? YES / NO

20) Do you advertise open houses in the paper (Friday – Sunday)? YES / NO

21) Do you use an info box? YES / NO

22) Do you have an assistant? YES / NO

23) If an assistant: who is the one I would be dealing with for questions, feedback and such?
Explain assistants role

__________________________________________________ ______________________

24) If I need to speak with the listing agent for something, how is that handled?

__________________________________________________ _______________________

__________________________________________________ _______________________

25) When an offer comes in, who does the negotiating, the agent or the assistant?

26) How much would you list our house for? _______________________________________

27) Who takes your photos? __________________________________________________ _

28) Would you consider using a profession photographer for photos? YES / NO

29) Do you use virtual Tours? YES / NO

30) Do you use a stager? YES / NO

31) Do you feel there is something we can do to make the house more desirable to sell?

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

32) Anything else you would like me to know?

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

__________________________________________________ ________________________

[dncngrl1964]

Originally Posted by CouponJack

You are probably missing the most important question.

"How many homes have you sold in my area?" If they've sold none, I'd be worried.


You do want someone who's familiar with your SPECIFIC market, right?

all well and good but some of the new agents are hungry and very willing to go the extra mile for their clients as opposed to some of the seasoned ones who may be a little lax at times....don't rule out new agents they have just been taught the newest forms and laws in the profession and are up to date
make sure he LIVES in your area

[Roselvr]

Are there any buyers agents that would like to try putting some questions together on what to ask a buyers agent?

[Eric Young]

I don't think your list is bad - it should weed out some of weak agents for you.

However, I don't think your questionnaire will identify what most sellers really want...the agent most likely to get the highest net return on the sale of their property. For this reason, I think the omission of questions that give you a sense of the agent's negotiating ability is a major oversight.

A strong negotiator can often recover 25%, 50% or more of the total commission you'll be paying. A weak negotiator can often cost you a similar amount. That can be an awfully high price to pay for an enhanced listing on realtor.com.

Ask for references of the agent's six or seven most recent sellers and talk to them in detail about the agent's negotiating skills.

[MikeJaquish]

Your first question should be your last question, IMO.

[Brandon Hoffman]

I'm going to make your list shorter and simpler to get a strong agent (even though it's an old post). About 1/3rd of your questions are pointless, about 1/3rd will weed out weak agents only. Below is the list you really need, the first 6 are the most important ones and questions 2 and 5 are probably the most important.

1-Where do you advertise?
2-Can I see your marketing plan?
3- What is your average list price vs. sell price?
4- What is your average days on market vs. market average?
5- What is your % of your listings sold?
6- How many listings have you had in the last 12 month?
7-Do you have an assistant?

[PotterGeek]

Rose,
You mentioned you live close to a military base (so do we), if you are still trying to sell, you need to check out militarybyowner dot com. We get alot of hits on our property from that site. The good thing is agents can utilize the site also...

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by leavingbyron

Rose,
You mentioned you live close to a military base (so do we), if you are still trying to sell, you need to check out militarybyowner dot com. We get alot of hits on our property from that site. The good thing is agents can utilize the site also...

Yeah, I'm signed up there.. have yet to place our ad as we weren't sure where we were going. I will be placing the ad next month as we're pretty sure on our closing date

[Roselvr]

I totally forgot I made this thread. It's time to sell in a lot of areas, maybe the questions will be useful to someone looking to sell? Hopefully they're not too out of date.

You can also google questions for real estate agents when selling there are a few links with questions.

Originally Posted by Roselvr

Yeah, I'm signed up there.. have yet to place our ad as we weren't sure where we were going. I will be placing the ad next month as we're pretty sure on our closing date

We did end up listing with a local Remax agent. He did a video but back then it wasn't something he offered. I told him either he can do it or I will have it done. He also used some of my photos in the listing.

We ended up with a bidding war during February 2008 and in the end the couple that we did pick almost didn't close on the house because they were mad the utilities were turned off after their walk through. Told them we had to transfer them to the new house. They did manage to get the power on later that day or the next so it worked out for them. There was no water for them to deal with because we had a well so the power was the big one they needed.

We ended up closing the end of May 2008, right after Memorial weekend. Mover showed up 1st thing that morning, we were out in a few hours because we had carried everything to the front room to make it easy. They finished right before closing. The buyers came through as I was running the vac on the way out. I finished the vac, was ready to turn it off when the power went out. I told hub at closing that it went off, that's when the buyers flipped.

It's been 13 years in May, the buyer is still there. They've had a few kids. I'm glad they love the house. I loved the house too, do miss it.

They totally ruined whatever gardens I left so that's been a hard pill to swallow. What helps is that my dad's house 7 blocks away that had the same gardens still has those gardens. Thankfully one of the buyers appreciated the work that went into them. I really wanted to buy my dad's house but it was not meant to be and not the house we live in which turned out to be a mistake. We love the town but not the builder.