What should I look for in a RE agent to sell my house?

[1insider]

I stand corrected. How about we change that to "leave a message after hours and/or weekend afternoons and see how long it takes to get a callback and score the agents accordingly"? I understand that everyone needs some down time but if I'm selling my house I'd like to think that buyers agents who may call after hours to schedule a showing are getting answered. Sellers are paying a big chunk of money to their listing broker and are probably within their rights to expect a phone to be answered more than eight hours a day. I sympathize with those agents who are overwhelmed by the demands of the business and clients but isn't that why we make the big bucks? Just my opinion. I could certainly be wrong.

[Bill Keegan]

Originally Posted by 1insider

I stand corrected. How about we change that to "leave a message after hours and/or weekend afternoons and see how long it takes to get a callback and score the agents accordingly"? I understand that everyone needs some down time but if I'm selling my house I'd like to think that buyers agents who may call after hours to schedule a showing are getting answered. Sellers are paying a big chunk of money to their listing broker and are probably within their rights to expect a phone to be answered more than eight hours a day. I sympathize with those agents who are overwhelmed by the demands of the business and clients but isn't that why we make the big bucks? Just my opinion. I could certainly be wrong.

Not wrong. And that is a much more reasonable test of the agent's availability than expecting them to pick up no matter when you call.

[Dreammaker]

One thing that drives me crazy are lousy pictures or very few pictures on the MLS. People are visual creatures and want to see as much of your home as possible in those photos. The agent you have working for you needs to be able and willing to make sure your MLS photos are showing your home in the best possible way, and if the MLS allows 15 photos, then your listing should be showing 15 photos. Sounds like a no-brainer, but just like in any profession, you have lazy people who do only the bare-minimum. Photos are very important, because when other agents are going through the MLS looking for homes to show their clients, the ones with lousy pictures get passed right on by in many cases.

[MikeJaquish]

Originally Posted by Dreammaker

One thing that drives me crazy are lousy pictures or very few pictures on the MLS. People are visual creatures and want to see as much of your home as possible in those photos. The agent you have working for you needs to be able and willing to make sure your MLS photos are showing your home in the best possible way, and if the MLS allows 15 photos, then your listing should be showing 15 photos. Sounds like a no-brainer, but just like in any profession, you have lazy people who do only the bare-minimum. Photos are very important, because when other agents are going through the MLS looking for homes to show their clients, the ones with lousy pictures get passed right on by in many cases.

Generally, I agree with you.
However, I am working in a local market where photos are starting to not matter.
We are approaching frenzy status in some neighborhoods.

Transition to Sellers' Market wipes out a lot of the expectations in marketing, and we have homes getting multiple offers before showings are even allowed.