I am planning on selling my house. What are some question I should use to shop around for a real estate broker

Question

I am planning on selling my house. What are some question I should use to shop around for a real estate broker

Answer 1

Ask them what commission they will charge.  It is negotiable, but a really good agent usually won't budge on their commission rate, newer agents usually will.  You also want to ask them where they will advertise your property.  Open houses are usually just a way for the Realtor to generate buyer leads for themselves.  Newspaper adds are usually just to appease the seller, to make it appear that they are doing their job.  A Great place to advertise is on a local cable Real Estate show.  Make sure that they are part of the local Multiple Listing service, some small local companies aren't.

Answer 2

Ask what their commission is. It is negotiable.

Where will they advertise? The best advertisement is the MLS book but newspapers don't hurt.

Have "realtor" opens at least every 3-4 weeks.

Ask him/her what to do to smarten your house up.

Remember, you don't have to like your realtor, you want him/her to sell your house at a good price.

Don't over price your house or it may never sell.

Answer 3

I came online to get some feel for how home owners are feeling about the market in Seattle.  I spent the day on a study of ratios between listing price and selling price in price brackets of 50K increments for North Seattle and for West Seattle. Looks like in most brackets sellers are getting within 3% of their listing price. And closer to 2% of the price when the homes went pending.

A couple upper price ranges got over 100%.  The most important piece of info the Realtor can give you is an honest estimate of PRICE and TIME On MARKET.

When you sign a contract with an agent, you agree to pay a certain figure.  Make sure the agent agrees to give you certain services. Get it in writing.  And remember that any contract for services can be set aside if one of the parties doesn't perform.

I'm telling you this because I am a realtor and I've seen good agents and sloppy ones and some just plain gooey greedy ones.

Interview the agent like you're hiring him/her for a job because you are. And it really helps to feel comfortable with this person because you might spend a lot of time in each others company.

Answer 4

what their profit is and what exactly they will do to get your house sold.