Juliestate

Hiring a Realtor to sell your house is a big step.  Interviewing several local Realtors is recommended.  You might have notepads, pens, calendars and various marketing items that have been sent to your home over the years.  The agent that has been giving you these items is telling you that they “work the neighborhood” and know it well.  So be sure to include that agent in your interviews.

So what do you look for in a Realtor?  Same thing you would want in any other professional: Integrity, honesty and good work ethics.   All the Realtors you interview will have comparable sales for you to review.  These are facts that won’t change from one Realtor to the next.  They all should give you a marketing plan of how they will market your home.  This should include a detailed list of items they promise to do for you such as putting up a sign, making flyers and keeping a good supply in the flyer box, promoting your home at their office meeting, advertising in the local paper.   If you want your Realtor to hold Open Houses, then let them know.  Some Sellers don’t mind having a couple of Open Houses when the house is fresh on the market.  I would encourage you to allow your agent to do at least one.  I tell my Sellers that by doing an Open House I can get feedback from the Buyers.  Buyers are smart and they know what the market is like because they are out there looking.  They have the internet to search and once your home is on the market there are sites like Redfin.com that give information on the last time your house sold, taxes, schools and neighborhood safety.

Let’s talk about lockboxes.  I highly recommend that you have one on your home.  Why?  Because if a buyer’s agent has 5 or 6 homes to show and yours is the only one that doesn’t have a lockbox and has limited viewing times then be prepared for your home to sit on the market for a long time.  If you can’t see it, you can’t sell it!   After all, you have packed up all your valuables and readied your home for sale, put a lockbox on it -  they give your Realtor information about what time your house was shown and who showed it.   I know there are special circumstances, small children’s nap schedules and dogs that need to be put in the dog run but if you really want to sell, you will figure out with your Realtor how to get arrange these things.

Last but not least – pick a Realtor that you LIKE.  That’s right, you need to feel comfortable calling, texting and emailing your agent.  They need to be there for you.  Ok, I’m getting on a tangent here but if you see your agent on a billboard, they probably aren’t the agent for you.  Why?  Because you will probably only see that Realtor once – when they come for the interview.  After that you will be dealing with an assistant.   In my opinion,  you deserve better.  There are many intricate details that can get lost in translation if you are dealing with assistants.   Selling a home is a personal thing that most people go through only a couple times in their lifetime.  Hire the Realtor with a heart and you won’t go wrong.