Choosing a Real Estate agent (Seattle: how much, selling a home, buying)

[seamama]

Is it common practice to interview agents before choosing one? What are the usual subjective and objective ways to evaluate them? How much should one expect to pay in comission for help w/ selling a house and buying another in the greater Seattle area and given this market? Anything else you can tell me to help in choosing an agent would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Ira500]

The old standard when you're selling a home is that you pay the entire 6% commission, half to the listing(your) agent and half to the buyers agent. Many listing agents nowadays will accept a listing for less than 3%, just ask...When you are the buyer, the seller of the home pays all of the commission, not you, but again, nowadays some agents will be willing to share their share of the commission with you.
It's a very good idea to interview the agent beforehand. Aside from letting you know the areas they specialize in or are most familiar with, it's important that you feel comfortable with them. They're going to be working for you. Are they good listeners, or are they telling you what they think you want to hear?

[Ira500]

...Also, prices have gone down in the Seattle area from 10-30% from the peak high, depending on the area. When interviewing an agent when you're selling, some of the less scrupulous agents will tell you they can sell the house for a figure that's unbelievably high. What they tell you what they can do and what they can really do might be very different. Ask the agent to bring you recent comps, to show you what nearby homes have sold for recently.

[Heiwos]

seamama, I think the underlying thing you want is honesty--no b.s. Someone like Ira500 above.

[seamama]

Thanks to both of your for your posts! I am looking around right now so that's helpful. So for an initial meeting/interview, would we expect the agent to come w/ comps and suggestions for how to make the place show better, etc? Or does that happen only after you've retained them? Are there professional certifications or whatever else we should be looking for? My friend says that professional pics absolutely must be taken for the flyers, for example- is that standard these days or really so critical? I've heard some agents include staging consultations, too, is that really important these days? Is is appropriate to ask the agent for flyers they've done in the past? I guess to me the pics and write-up about the place are really important. At least it makes a difference to me when I'm looking for a place to buy... And what kind of marketing should I expect or ask about? That's all for the selling side of course. For the buying, I want a good negotiator- how do I figure out if the agent has that talent/skill? And how do I figure out if the agent is a good advisor? Our last agent pretty much just told us our options and said we could do whatever wanted w/out really giving an opinion. Is that common or should I expect more? I walked away wishing I'd be given more advice. Thanks for taking the time to read and reply...

[seamama]

Originally Posted by Ira500

...Also, prices have gone down in the Seattle area from 10-30% from the peak high, depending on the area. When interviewing an agent when you're selling, some of the less scrupulous agents will tell you they can sell the house for a figure that's unbelievably high. What they tell you what they can do and what they can really do might be very different. Ask the agent to bring you recent comps, to show you what nearby homes have sold for recently.

Thanks, Ira. Speaking of "peak high", where do I find that? I was looking at Zillow for my house and saw the price that (at least Zillow says) my house might've gone for (which was around Jan07)- is that the peak high for my house?

[Ira500]

In the Seattle area the peak was July 2007, a bit later than most other areas.
I don't know about Zillow. Sometimes they're accurate, but sometimes they're way off.
I know people who bought houses in the summer of 2007, against my advice. They're happy where they're living, and can afford the monthly payments. but they keep looking their house up on Zillow, and it just makes them feel bad.