If you need to sell your home in a market that is tough, how do you decide which agent to use? If you think placing it on a couple of web sites will do it, that is asking the elusive buyer of your home to find a needle in a haystack! With all of the search engines and agents buying more adwords, search placement, twitter, blogs and the list goes on and on. If you look at it from this perspective, you will begin to see a picture of the competitive nature of the business. You need to find an agent who is web savy, but also adheres to the simple business of marketing via print media. If your agent doesn't believe in print, then I would move on to the next until you find someone who understands 360 degree marketing.
Interview several agents until you find one who is on the same page with you on goals, attitudes and communication. Find out if they can text you if that is your best communication tool. Tell them when you expect a phone call and when you want to be emailed.
Ask friends for a referral and how the process worked for them.
Have them show you their 6 month plan. Everyone signs up for color pages with a contract to get the best placement in the four color back pages of the suburban papers and magazines. If they don't have a plan in place, then you need to move on and please get it in writing! The one with the most pages, will more than likely have better placement & have more flexibility with their vendors.
Rather than have them over to your home, go to a few open houses on a Sunday afternoon and see how they work. Are they friendly or introverted? Do they follow up? Do they seem approachable?
Get the agent's statistics. How many homes do they sell per year? What are their average days on market? Be careful on this one. Once, I had an agent say theirs was 22 days on the market and while it was true, they only had one listing for they year!
Get the details before you sign! Do they work with a variety of prices? Are they available in the evenings and weekends? If they have a team, who will be the primary contact? Do they do it "all" or do they have someone to do the fact sheets, ad layouts, take photos, maintain office hours for questions about showings or technical questions. Are the team members licenses or unlicensed? You don't want an agent who is out delivering fact sheets to a home themselves instead of being available to answer questions about your home when the call comes in? Do they maintain regular hours of operation?
Ask what they will do to expedite the sale if someone is on the fence. Then, sit back and listen to their experience and what they have done in the past.
I hope this is helpful to those thinking of those thinking of selling and buying this year. We think it is going to be a strong market with the interest rates dipping below 5%!
Take care, Susan
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