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We want to sell our house and decided not to go the FSBO route. How do I find out which realtors are top sellers (# sold vs listed, % of asking price, avg days for sale, etc)? I could call a bunch in my area and ask them but I'd rather get the info from an unbiased source.
Where do I get info to make an informed decision? I wish I knew someone in my area that had recently sold but I don't. So much for word of mouth!
Google "My Area,ST Real estate agents". Also, look at Realtor.com and search by # of photos. See what agents max it out and have good placement. They probably are the best marketers. Call a few you find and interview them.
We want to sell our house and decided not to go the FSBO route. How do I find out which realtors are top sellers (# sold vs listed, % of asking price, avg days for sale, etc)? I could call a bunch in my area and ask them but I'd rather get the info from an unbiased source.
Where do I get info to make an informed decision? I wish I knew someone in my area that had recently sold but I don't. So much for word of mouth!
Thanks for any advice! Dea
Realtors do not sell homes. In most transactions, there are two agents, each representing the best interest of their respective clients.
The listing agent is your project manager and the business objective is to get you sold for as much as the market will bear at the point of sale.
The stats you are interested in are subject to manipulation and interpretation. The percentage of ask to closed price is based only on the most current asking price. The average days for sale is also something that can be toyed with, dependent upon local MLS rules.
Focus, really focus, on each interviewing agent's specific marketing plan for your house. Ask him/her to show you how the agents other listings appear on Realtor.com and other popular web sites. Pay attention to the quality of the pictures and the storyline. Ask to see the brochures /handouts and look for quality. Compare plans, agent versus agent.
Decide how, when and with whom you want to communicate, once the listing is active. Some agents work solo, meaning that the agent will be your primary and only contact during the lifecycle of the sale. Others delegate all post listing contact functions to staff. The next time you may hear form them is to talk about a price change or to communicate an offer. Neither approach is better than the other. It all depends on what works best for you.
Also, ask about their vacation plans and if they attend the home inspection and closing.
In my area, there are more than 50 agents who, within their vanity ads, claim to be #1. Maybe in your area, too. Believe them all. Then find the one who will make you #1.
Good luck.
Last edited by middle-aged mom; 08-03-2008 at 08:22 PM..
Whomever you hire, you must trust them. Just like a physician cutting your belly wide open, you must allow yourself to trust your Realtor with equal confidence. Until you find that Realtor, don't sign a listing contract.
During these less than robust real estate times, hiring a professional you can allow yourself to trust is absolute.
We want to sell our house and decided not to go the FSBO route. How do I find out which realtors are top sellers (# sold vs listed, % of asking price, avg days for sale, etc)? I could call a bunch in my area and ask them but I'd rather get the info from an unbiased source.
Where do I get info to make an informed decision? I wish I knew someone in my area that had recently sold but I don't. So much for word of mouth!
Thanks for any advice!
Dea
At another place I go to, I'm pretty sure someone said to call the title company that is most used in your area. They can tell you who is closing the most deals. From there, you need to figure out who is the selling agent and who is the buying agent.
What I did was went to the main page of realtor.com, put in my zip as well as my house info which was a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home. I then figured out a price, up to $250k, and went down a $100k, so my search started at $150k - $250k. The next page you will see has a box on the left that contains 4 spots for houses. If you do a search in your area, do the boxes contain houses or does it show "market your home here"? If there are houses, you want to click each one to see who "owns" this part of advertising. For my area, it was 2 guys from one agency, I interviewed both.
Next, I looked at the pages of hits and who had the best ad. You need to pay attention to the pictures and what the ad says. If the pics are crummy but they pay for the advertising, when you interview them, ask if they will consider having pro pics taken. I can tell you that most buyers will click the back button if they see crummy pictures, they won't waste their time. There is a lot of inventory in most parts, people don't need to waste their time looking at crummy pics.
You want to go to google, google your zip or town/state along with the key word real estate (you can add agent). I interviewed one team that came up 1st in the google hits (it was how I got my 1st agent before I knew anything). They were really impressive, pro pics, they knew our house looked small from the street & that the square footage & photo tour would sell the house. They also knew why the house across from me was listed $40k lower as well as why the house next to me sold for $50k lower, they knew they'd have to convince a buyer that our house should bring in more. he problem with this team? Well, like the 1st agent we had (that I got from google when looking for a house to buy) was that they weren't local to me, they were 30 minutes away. After being on the market for 3 months, I couldn't have another agent that didn't know my local market.
You want to drive around your neighborhood, who has the most signs?
What type of house is the sign on? Is it nice or a dump? In my old area, you could see what agents took the bottom of the barrel and who didn't. Do you know if any have a bad reputation? In my old area there was 1 agent that no one would deal with, I knew this from living in the area.
Once you figure out who you want to interview (I picked 3), I have a list of questions if you'd like a copy. While some questions are specific to my (old, we did sell) military market, it will give you a way to make notes so that when you talk to them, you can fill the info in. With the 3 I interviewed, most covered my questions as we sat there talking, there were a few I actually had to ask.
Next, you want to see a flier that they make. Does it contain what you feel is important? Anyone can make a flier with photos, what I needed from my agent was marketing that my house had newer mechanicals, roof, upgraded electric, furnace, central AC. We put a lot of money/sweat equity into the house the last 6 years, I wanted buyers to know that. You also want to pay attention to square footage. A lot of agents don't put it on the listing in my area, no clue why.
In the end, I picked someone that has been in business over 20 years, so he'd seen the market like this before. He was pretty easy going, let me have input on photos, the blurb, also didn't mind when I made my own fliers (didn't like the one his staff made). I knew that he answered email and that he replied to emails the same day. If I emailed him at 5am, I knew it would be answered by 9 am the latest, he usually checked email when he woke up, as well as last thing before going to bed. Communication was very important to me. He did not do open houses but said he was willing to if need be. He knew this market was not going to be a typical market & was willing to try different things as needed.
No matter how much you prepare and research you won't know you have the right agent for you until you work with them. Make sure you are able to break the contract if you are not happy. The agent we picked said we could break at any time although we did not. In the end the house sold, in part due to his advertising on realtor.com as well as my fliers which I got a lot of compliments on. We were one of the few lucky ones as no other houses have sold that I see.
Call a local title company and ask them who has a reasonable amout of closings...so you know that person isn't having your house listed as a part time job and is no where to be reached when a potential buyer wants to view it.
Ask if the agent is willling to put in writing what he/she is going to do when your house is listed, if they won't write it down in the listing contract that should be a red flag and probable after listing you home within a month they forget about you....This wasn't necessary in '05 but this is a different market. Ask on which websites your house will be listed. If you don't have a good feeling speaking to the person, move to the next one....ask for some advise for what to change in your home or curb appeal to make it better looking for a buyer. A good realtor should have some suggestions.
Calling the title company wasn't my idea but I read about it when some one else suggested it and after speaking with a realtor who still has a good amount of sales and seeing the difference between this realtor and many others who are almost kissing up to get your business because they haven't had any sales in the last months...I'm conviced this can be very helpful and last but not least...do a background check, and/or read the thread about convicted felons as a realtor or mortgage broker....if you aren't in FL...your chances are better of not getting involved with one
Call a local title company and ask them who has a reasonable amout of closings...
This makes me somewhat uncomfortable because listing agents have some influence over which title company is chosen. The agents who refer out the most business to a title company, attorney or lender, tend to get the most incoming referrals.
It's also a needle in a haystcak, depending upon who answers the phone. Maybe they have a relative in the business. Maybe that relative works in a state that does not have the recources to do complete criminal background checks.
In any business, you have to ask yourself what's in it for the person doing the referral. And when the referrer is a stranger, you never know.
I also learned that since realtors in this country use a picture (almost glamour pictures) on their website or on realtor.com, business cards,etc. I won't go with one who hasn't got a picture on their card. That one convicted felon realtor convinced ma how stupid pictures on business cards were and what she said made sense at the time....now I know more people could have seen her mug shot!!! (her picture is replaced by a dogs picture...so cute)By the way for the professionals who claim lawyers never have their picture out there...well in the Tampa area the billboards are huge for lawyers and they have their picture on them. (My lawyer hasn't got his picture on his business card but I saw his picture on the companies website)
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