6 Crucial Questions to Ask a Realtor When Selling Your Home

1. How did you arrive at your suggested list price? Setting the right asking price is key to maximizing your offer price and selling quickly. Your home is worth what someone is willing to pay for it, but the listing price sets the initial tone. Set the price too high and you’ll discourage motivated homebuyers from even visiting. Price it too low and you could be leaving money on the table. You want to see a breakdown of how your house compares to each recently sold property.
2. How will you market my home? Buying a home is an emotional decision, and the best agents incorporate emotion into their marketing plan. Experienced agents are willing to deploy additional market resources that might include video, 3D walkthrough, staging, and social media ads will get the job done. Diving deeper and listen to their specific approach to make sure you are in agreement.
3. What are the selling features of my home? Every home has selling features whether it is a fixer-upper or in great condition. A good agent will do their homework before your initial consultation so they can tell you which selling features they will focus on when marketing your home.
4. What do I need to do to get my home ready to sell? The appearance of your home will have an effect on how fast you sell and for how much. The goal is to spend the least amount and only on things that will bring a return on your investment. A common mistake made by sellers is spending too much time and money on things that don’t matter. Answers from your agent should include low-cost or no-cost fixes and upgrades that have a big impact on the visual appearance of prospective buyers. Ask the realtor which items inside your home can stay and which ones should go.
5. What are the costs to selling my house? Of course, you want to know how much you’re going to walk away with after selling. Here is the equation to figure this out: (Sale price – anything owed on the property – closing costs = your net proceeds). Asking the realtor about the costs will allow you to compare their services and fees to those of other realtors you might interview. Commission is typically 6% and the agent should give you a general idea of what other fees you will incur.
6. How often will we communicate? Will the agent update you every few days, once a week? Knowing how often you’re going to communicate with your agent is key. The ideal answer is something like, “As often as you’d like.” The last thing you want is an agent who isn’t communicating with you. You want a real estate agent who has no problem discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly.

And finally, it’s important to make sure you’re hiring someone who will care about making you the most money in the shortest amount of time.