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Thanks, Charles. Most of your questions would be the ones that I would ask if I was looking to find an agent to find me a house to buy(not all). But I guess I should have been more clear in my original question in that I am the seller not the buyer.
I'm sure lots of buyers will benefit from your question set, so its not a wasted effort.
Z
I see that you added this point of clarification, while I was responding to a potential need for a buyer's agent. So let me reframe my response.
To add onto what Silverfall posted:
Make the assumption that the buyer's agent is well, me:
I know the local dirt and why area homes sold for what they did, when they did. I will use the facts of the local market to negotiate.
I know your back story, why you are selling and the consequences, if any, if you do not get sold. I will use this information to negotiate. I know the complete history of your listing. I know if you have made a series of insignificant price adjustments or one meaningful correction which tells me something about you and your listing agent. I will use this information to negotiate.
I understand how markets work. This means that if we are in a declining market, the longer you sit unsold, the less net proceeds you will likely receive. If we are in an appreciating market, the longer you sit unsold, the more likely you will get more net proceeds which may or may not be the same thing as your asking price. I will use this information to negotiate.
I know your listing agent's back story. If your agent is a so called Top Producer, I know he/she tends to do one thing better than most other agents, persuade sellers to list with them and stay listed with them. I also know the agent's stats and MO. This means I know the listing agent's pattern. That the agent tends to close within 1.5% of the ask price is meaningless without knowing the original asking price and how long a given property remained positioned amongst the unsellables. I know if the listing agent plays silly games like cancelling a stale listing and relisting it with a new price. And yeah, I use this information to negotiate.
I educate my clients so that they negotiate from a position of power. We know your ideal closing date and terms before we offer. We are going into the offer as pre-approved, meaning that the buyer's income and assets have been verified. I will use this information to reduce your risks and negoiate.
I do not operate as a dual agency, meaning my responsibility is with my client.
And lastly, I do not work with buyers who are unreasonable and waste everyone's time making insane low balls that cannot be defended. This does not mean however, that you will not consider our offer a ridiculous low ball. The difference is, I can and will defend it with facts.
The listing agent you choose to represent you has to be as good as me.
Last edited by middle-aged mom; 04-23-2010 at 08:50 AM..
Due to my distrustful nature, and my bad experience with 50% of the realtors I've worked with, I hesitate to tell them everything(especially remembering the one who got let go for telling potential buyers too much about the houses he was selling in a negative way---his broker manager told him he needed to remember he didn't work for the EPA he worked for the seller).
The question: I know what the house across the street listed for($XXXK, but sold for $35K less). Though my house is a bit smaller, their property only had 1/3 acre and mine has 7/8 of an acre, so I suspect that the broker will suggest a listing of between $XXXK and $15K less than that. Should I tell the my broker: That if push comes to shove I would actually accept $60K less than the high end of the listing. this would be a sale of actually $25K less than the guy across the street got. I have numbers that I need to get to pay off the retirement house I'm moving to, pay the movers(from 600+ miles away), do some minimal renovations to the retirement house and appliances therein, and have a small emergency nest egg. Anything above the $170K increases the nest egg fund.
Should I tell him/her that I'm retiring and really want to get started on my new life 600+ miles away and don't want to spend one minute more here than I have to?
Just be honest with the agent, but keep the information to a need to know basis. Should go something like this:
A: why selling
Z: retiring and relocating
A: when would you like to be there?
Z: as soon as house sells, but I would like fair market value because I don't have to be anywhere by any certain date
A: if house is taking longer to sell than desired, would you rather adjust price or wait it out?
Z: whichever it is.
The agent can recommend worthwhile renovations, if any. Then you can decide which ones you'll do. Never give an agent your bottom line price as a seller, or your max you'll pay for a particular home as a buyer.
Also, left one out of interview questions. Agents average days on market vs. market average.
What questions should I ask a prospective broker to determine if they know what they are doing, and will have enough time to work for me. And is there any place to go to find out information about prospective brokers.
I am a skilled talker, but I don't know what questions I should be asking to find out and what answers I should hear. If you are a skilled Broker, then you will know what makes you a cut above the others, and how people would be able to identify you.
(If you are a broker and you find this question offensive for various reasons, please save me the time and don't bother to reply.)
Zarathu
I would suggest two things to determine if someone is a good listing agent.
1. Listen for what they say they do that other agents in their office don't do. If they do not do anything more then they most likely do not do anything more then any other agent in the city.
2. Search for their name on Google. If they can not advertise themselves then how can they advertise your home.
3. Go to their website and see what they say their accomplishments are. If they post incorrect information, other agents will turn them in with an ethics violation. If they have quite a few accomplishments on a public website, they most likely did the things they say.
Ask for a resume and an MLS print out of everything the prospect has closed in the last year. Even without the print out, your local realtor association or the broker of the company the agent is affiliated with can give you info to verify what's on the resume.
I think you should be just as concerned with how the agent will market your home as you are with experience. You can have an agent who sells 1000 houses a year with crappy customer service skills because he only cares about volume and not repeat business. On the same note, just because someone does a lot of transactions doesn't mean they have a lot of experience or knowledge. I average only 30 transactions per year, but I am extremely knowledgable; education and staying current are very important to me. I consider myself a much better agent than others who are closing a lot more than I am. I'm in it to provide a valuable service, not just to collect a paycheck.
Will the agent provide you with a copy of a marketing plan so that you can measure performance?
Check properties that are similar in size to yours that have sold in the last 30 to 60 days, this will help you figure out about where your home should be listed. Is your prospective agent in the ball park? If he's way over or under, find out why??? And ask how pricing so far off market benefits you?
How responsive will the agent be to your needs??? And if he doesn't do what he says he'll do, will he let you out of the contract?
I'm sure there are lots of other things you can ask, that's all I can think of for now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarathu
Is there any way to check on any of their answers, just in case they might feel like blowing smoke? I'm sorry, but like cops, one of the liabilities of spending 40 years (almost 2/3 of your life) working in mental health services, you know that EVERYBODY LIES. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people all around you don't lie constantly.
You can have an agent who sells 1000 houses a year with crappy customer service skills because he only cares about volume and not repeat business. On the same note, just because someone does a lot of transactions doesn't mean they have a lot of experience or knowledge. I average only 30 transactions per year, but I am extremely knowledgable; education and staying current are very important to me. I consider myself a much better agent than others who are closing a lot more than I am. I'm in it to provide a valuable service, not just to collect a paycheck.
If someone sells a thousand houses a year, I'll hire them. They didn't get there by accident and they are probably gonna get it done. If someone is knowledgeable it will come through, I agree with that. My questions I posted earlier gives the agents a chance to show their knowledge. Most top end agents will have a strong marketing plan, you just need to make sure of it.
Websites are eye candy for sellers. They like to see their house, but the listing rarely sells from the listing agent's website. It's feel-good marketing. That said, if an agent can put canned marketing on his/her site, and it gives good google, he/she will most probably gain more clients. I've not seen a significant difference in quality of the transaction.
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeniece
I would suggest two things to determine if someone is a good listing agent.
1. Listen for what they say they do that other agents in their office don't do. If they do not do anything more then they most likely do not do anything more then any other agent in the city.
2. Search for their name on Google. If they can not advertise themselves then how can they advertise your home.
3. Go to their website and see what they say their accomplishments are. If they post incorrect information, other agents will turn them in with an ethics violation. If they have quite a few accomplishments on a public website, they most likely did the things they say.
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