Finding a realtor to sell your home

We're thinking about listing our townhouse for sale. How do you go about choosing a realtor? I guess we'll get a market analysis from a few different agents. Anybody have a list of questions to ask or any tips?

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

Where is your townhouse?

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

You need to feel 100% comfortable with them and you will know right when you meet them. You also need to ask how they plan on advertising/marketing the house.

I learned my lesson the hard way and I am so happy with my agent now. I truely feel like I wasted the fist 6 months it was for sale because what thought the agent was doing and what they actually did was completely different. Everyone is going to show you comps and they might even draw you a chart to show you how the market is going (I had 2 people do this) but your are hiring them and before you tell them what you want to list at ask them what they think they is fair. They do this for a living and know better than we do. We also made the mistake of starting to high and now I think it is reasonable ( I wanted to start lower by my DH didnt). You also need to know what is the lowest amount you are willing to sell for and don't list it at that price. Buyers do need some room for negotiation even if you think the house is priced fairly.

Good Luck and just be patient.

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

There are a few regular posters on here who are REA's. Mrs Erod, Alnem and Diana 1215(I think?) Maybe fm one of them?

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

We're in NJ.

Thanks for the advice Adriana! We have appointments with 2 different agents this weekend so I guess we'll take it from there.

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

You also want to observe how they present themselves to you. One agent we met with seemed very disjointed and unorganized. We actually LIKED her the best, but we didn't think she would represent us well with buyers.

I would also ask each how they plan to market your home. Where do they list? What websites or newspapers do they use? Will they include your home in ads? How long will they have an exclusive listing before posting your home on MLS? Some agents may want a week or two exclusivity, but much more than that will cause you to miss buyer opportunities IMO. And you want to know how many open houses they like to do.

I agree with another posters comments about following your instincts. You may be working closely with this person for a long time (hopefully not, but these days, things are taking awhile to sell) and you want to feel comfortable with them. The process is stressful and you don't want to work with someone who rubs you the wrong way. One agent we met seemed pushy to us (not in a good way), and I am so glad we did not hire her. She would have driven me nuts.

Re: Finding a realtor to sell your home

Oh, I forgot to say, you also want to find out what commission he/she expects, but you probably thought about this. This may be negotiable, though sometimes it's not.