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DH and I are considering putting home up for sale and are in the process of selecting realtors to interview.
We evaluated last years sales volumes in our county, selecting the brokerages whose listings in our price range (within a 100K estimate) sold the most and also looked (to the degree possible) how closely the sales prices appear to have matched listing prices. We realize that we would have to drill down to be sure that the given listing price was actually the original listing price.
It is pretty clear that two brokerages move the most homes; however, the most attractive agents to us would appear to be in the same brokerage firm. [I say that based on looking at the the quality of the write ups, pictures of their current listings on the web and the number of recent transactions].
Is it OK to interview agents within the same brokerage...or is that generally not done? In that case, we would need to choose one from each of the two brokerage firms?
Any other factors we should consider? Some have said presence on zillow and trulia, but I do not see much cross over between that and actual sales volume in our area.
Yes, it's kosher to interview agents from the same brokerage. It's not the brokerage who helps sell the house but the agent immediately involved who helps. Every agent is different with different personalities and different philosophies. You need to work with one that will work well with you.
I wouldn't choose a real estate agent based on which brokerage sold the most homes. Volume doesn't say anything regarding customer service, negotiation skills, etc. Sometimes that volume is simply because of the sheer number of agents that work for them. I would ask for recommendations from friends/neighbors etc. As you can see based on some of the forum posts.. your real estate agent can really make your life miserable if they are not good at what they do.
Yes, it's kosher to interview agents from the same brokerage. It's not the brokerage who helps sell the house but the agent immediately involved who helps. Every agent is different with different personalities and different philosophies. You need to work with one that will work well with you.
Yes, it's ok to interview agents of the same brokerage, but to say the brokerage doesn't help may be the way your brokerage works, but at our office, we participate actively in marketing properties.
Now, that being said, our agents have total freedom to negotiate commissions and terms of the employment contract. Terms include different marketing approaches, even by the same agents.
Thanks for your comments. I have asked around, but no friends with recent experience with real estate agents and we don't have any local family. So, this is difficult.
Our house is in the 500 to 600K price range in a market with a median price of probably 300K. Like many areas, sales have been slow,particularly of upper end homes. About 120 homes in our range sold in our county last year, half of the soled ones were listed at 5 brokerages with the remainder of the sold ones listed by 40 different brokerages (often only 1 or 2 per brokerage).
However, there are a couple agents/agent groups within the larger brokerages that have personally listed multiple higher priced homes that sold and also have 25 or more personal transactions (either as list or selling agent) in the past year and also have at least 5 or 6 listings currently. All of that seems to say to me that they are pretty dedicated, would seem to have talent in negotation and presumably follow through and thus would merit an interview.
I have not been able to think of any other objective way to select realtors to interview. Any additional thoughts would be welcome.
Sounds like you are on the right track. One thing I would ask is how they manage their multiple listings, multiple buyers they might be working with, etc. Do they have an assistant, how often do they check email/messages, etc.. I only say that because it's one of the number one frustrations I hear most often from friends/clients. My agent won't return my calls, I can never reach my agent, I have no idea what's going on with my listing/offer/contract, whatever, all because of communication issues with the agent. Some are just too busy to do it all well, others have great systems in place to make everything flow smooth. Make sure you get one that has great systems and good communication, as well as all the other things you have mentioned and you will be in great shape.
It is OK to interview people from the same company since most Realtors are "independent contractors" so each agent at the company will offer uniquely different levels of service.
An agent's volume is not an indicator of quality since Walmart is not known for it's five star service, nor is McDonald's known for serving Kobe beef in their hamburgers!
I suggest looking at agents list to sales price ratios, how many listings of theirs failed to sell compared to the local market, and their average days on market compared to the average in your area.
As the potential agents to "sell the home to you". Are they just stating facts (3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, ...) or are they actually selling benefits of the home? Your home is great because it is in the best school district in our area and was built by an award winning builder, ...)
These days, over 90% of the consumers are going online for their real estate needs (as noted by this forum). Make sure the potential agents understand how to use today's online tools, social media, smart phones, QR codes, etc., to add into your marketing mix!
Location: Danbury CT covering all of Fairfield County
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Two weeks ago, about 90% of the way through the listing about, the perspective seller mentioned that she had another agent from my office come out over the summer. The seller did not like this person, since they only talked about themself, how many homes they sold and not how they would market the property. They didn't get the her home is considerbly nicer than most in the neighborhood and how much it would cost to make the other homes as nice as hers. Because of the upgrades,the sellers property should list and sell for more than the other homes.
Once it's time for her to sell in the next year, she will be listed the house with me. If the other agent says something to me, I'll just say those things...
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