What to Look for in a Listing Agent for Your Home or Other Real Estate
- Adam Garrett
- Nov 24, 2022
- 29 min read
Updated: Apr 21
The importance of a great listing agent is hard to underemphasize. Many sellers net less money & experience more problems because they weren't diligent enough with their listing agent search.
Items to look for before agreeing to interview a prospective agent for a listing appointment:
How Experienced Are They (Career Total Volume)?
While experience doesn't mean everything, an agent's total transaction history is very important. A brand new agent who just got into the business, no matter how much education or good intentions they have, will still have a big learning curve. Many sellers are wise to only consider agents with at least 50 or at least 100 transactions they have completed in their total career, depending on the value of the home and depending on the market. For instance, in DC, when I was seeking to refer a buyer to a buyer's agent, some of the more experienced agents I reached out to were unwilling to handle it personally, wanting to pass it off to a less experienced agent who didn't even have 50 transactions they had closed on. I wouldn't let that happen, so contacted others.
Have you ever heard the term "Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."? In real estate, high annual transaction volume often means cut corners vs other full-time agents who may be working even harder but putting their heart into it and seeking higher levels of excellence in their craft. While total career transaction volume is an important consideration, sellers often have reverse thinking on total past year volume. When I hire agents to fill in for me as a buyer's agent or as a listing agent if I'm unavailable at the time a buyer would like to see a property, it's typically agents with high career volume with comparatively low annual volume. They know what they are doing and will be more available than those with high total transaction volume and high current volume.
The more real estate education, real estate experience (including total sales) and years of full-time real estate they have under their belt, the better. An easy way to see their current number of years of service & total number of transactions in many cases (though some properties may be excluded due to MLS issues syncing with Zillow or reporting issues) is to look on their Zillow profile.
In my case, as of 2022 I have over 100 transactions under my belt, started in the marketing department at my firm full time in May 2014, marketed over 100 homes while in it before my first transaction, then transitioned directly into sales at the start of February 2015.
How Are Their Reviews?
It's a good idea to check an agent's reviews and the kinds of values they have as evidenced from those reviews. I have dozens of positive reviews & recommendations. That said, keep in mind that some agents are much more aggressive than others about acquiring reviews. I've seen some agents where they have more than twice the number of reviews vs the number of sales they've done.
What Are They Communicating?
Often whether in emails or calls, agents wont' have much depth in what they are communicating. Look for depth and compare it to other agents you're speaking to.
What Have They Published?
Whether they've published a book, have a great website, have published articles for Forbes, or otherwise, the volume of content that they've published publicly can give you an indication of the depth of what they can pull from privately as it applies to situations that may arise over the course of a transaction. The higher the volume of content they have, the higher the likelihood that a question you have for them may produce a new significant piece of content.
As you can see from this website (over 50,000 words, longer than some books), I spend a high volume of time in educating myself on real estate and on sharing my knowledge with others.
Are They a Team or Individual?
When looking into an agent online, be wary of teams. In a best case scenario (i.e. my dad), an agent will truly be the one who makes the deals happen where they just use assistants primarily behind the scenes. In a worst case scenario, you getting a "team" to represent you could mean that you get stuck with a brand new agent on the team right off the bat or there is a bit of a bait and switch where you start off with the team lead before shifting to the new agent. Sometimes information about bait & switch tactics are available in reviews.
Check Their Price Range
Checking their price range can actually be very important for low-end listings, not just high-end listings. If you're selling a $50k lot, and the agent hasn't sold anything under $150k in years, they'll be less likely to accept your listing.
Higher-end agents with a higher minimum price point and higher maximum price point in their former transactions do tend to offer more, but that's not always the case, and seeing the upper end of their price range can be misleading. The bandwagon effect is a significant logical fallacy that sellers often fall prey to. It's key to see what agents are actually offering, even if they haven't served your price range in the past as far as you can tell, as long as you can see that they have plenty of transactions of experience, their marketing quality is great, etc. Don't assume that because an agent has worked a lot in your price range that what they will be offering is any better than another agent. Be sure to check the details of what is being offered. As an example, I once reviewed 3 potential candidates that a seller was considering selling with. The one that offered the least online in terms of marketing was the agent who had the most higher-end sales, but who was relying heavily on the bandwagon effect, and promoting themselves almost exclusively in light of their experience rather than actually based on what they were offering combined with their experience. Likewise, while I've never sold a 5 million dollar home, my standard offerings for a 5 million dollar home are far greater than most agents who have. You may want to ask agents what their standard offerings in your price range are, which in many cases won't be public. Also, some agents may not have standard options based on commission rates and price brackets that vary, while others like myself do, with even my lowest commission, lowest price range offerings being far superior to that of the vast majority of agents, and especially my highest price range offerings. If your price range is lower than their typical range, but still within range, be sure to check to see the marketing quality of their listings in your range. Many agents overlook the lower end of what they are willing to cover.
In some cases, their typical range will be on their Realtor.com profile, but in some cases, Realtor.com won't show their sales history if their sole MLS doesn't populate that information, with the main Hampton Roads MLS, REIN, not populating the information into Realtor.com. Also, it's not possible to see their total past sales on Realtor.com. This link will get you to the best search option for Realtor.com to see all your options that list as available in a particular city or county without you needing to provide your information. While there's a price filter on Realtor.com, it's not a very good one in my opinion. For instance, if I filter by $200k-$300k in the below search, I don't see myself, or any other agent in search results, even though I have helped buyers/sellers throughout that range.
Check Their Listings
It's important to consider what your agent does on a regular basis, & what they will do with your listing in particular, regarding a number of elements of their listings, and it's good to see examples of each item consistently in previous listings or at least explained why it wasn't consistent in past listings (i.e. different commission percentages or price points offering different packages, etc.) See more details in next section.
Introduction
For sellers, a prospective listing agent's former listings speak volumes, and it's a good idea to compare some of the important elements of those listings to those of comparable prior listings at the same properties like I did for a seller here. Sometimes information on public websites like Zillow will have information taken down after sale, so it's a good idea to ask your agent for their past 6 sales. Pay careful attention to the amount of effort you see in their lowest price listing sale, especially one where the seller doesn't have it in good shape and is a fixer upper. If some listings have certain items in marketing and others don't, look at the price tags of those homes and see if there's a pattern. If not, the agent might only do something like that when requested. In some cases, the listing agent might offer different things based on the total commission offered or the % commission offered. It's a good idea to note patterns and ask your agent about the discrepancies.
Highly Enhanced Searchability & Details (standard with Adam)
For this question, it's best not asked directly in an interview to be produced on the spot. You need to see a visual here. Ask the agent for their most recent 6 listing sales compared to any previous listings on those same properties. Here's an example where I look at the picture count vs previous listings (typically maxed out or very close to the 50 picture max; at the time of this writing it's very rare for me to not max out the 50 picture limit), presence of aerials (always), presence of virtual tours (almost always excluding certain discounted commission properties under $300k), which MLS I'm listing in (4 always unless a discounted commission listing where the # can vary based on it in some cases). I also look at pricing, market time, "# of interior + exterior features present outside of the remarks to optimize searches", the same numbers for previous listings as a point of comparison (as high as a 850% increase), whether or not they input acreage, etc.
When looking at an agent's 6 previous listings, do they have plenty of details outside of the description to enhance searchability more than minimum requirements, etc.?
Examples of sections not required that I believe are good to include from the REIN data input sheet:
Garage sqft
# Bedrooms w/en suite
Appx. # acres (many agents skip this one, which means that in REIN, any time that a buyer sets up a search with an acreage minimum or maximum, if their agent was too lazy to not put this element into the data input sheet, that property won't ever pop up in that REIN search for the buyer to see. This one is a huge pet peeve of mine when I represent buyers and I wish it was required, & if not required, that the system defaulted to tax records when not input.)
Other Rooms
Interior Features
Exterior Features
Condo/POA Amenities
Equipment
Energy Efficiency
Unit Description
Sustainable
Green Certifications
Accessibility
For instance, in the below features, only 1 of the 5 sections below (starred) requires any input from the listing agent. If the seller isn't careful to review the form for it, and the listing agent is just trying to rush and only put required information, the seller will pay for it when the listing doesn't look as good and when the listing isn't even sent to prospective buyers when they happen to have non-required elements in their search that meet any of the below criteria (i.e. ground maintenance, pool, or gated community under condo/poa amenities for buyers only looking at properties with one or more of those features included):
You'd be surprised what some buyers find to be "must haves".
Also, even in required sections, an agent in a rush often won't select every applicable item, but only 1 or 2.
Aerials (standard with Adam)
Aerials tend to draw buyers in, getting more property views. More property views leads to more showings. More showings leads to more/better offers.
Matterport Virtual Tours (standard with Adam)
Matterport is the software that produces the best virtual home tours, as confirmed by many. Many agents skip it due to time and cost. Even those that do it often don't even provide an option to do exterior 3-D tours in the immediate vicinity of a home, & may skip unfinished spaces. It's extremely rare for agents to integrate area amenities into Matterport tours that are not visible from the property that the home is on. Adam is different than most, but if you're interviewing Adam & other agents, be sure to ask them about if they've done any of these things before with prior sellers. If they say they have done it, ask to see an example.
Adam's Matterport Virtual Tours
Professional Photography (standard with Adam)
Area Photos (typical with Adam)
I'm not referring to area photos that are taken directly from the location of the home of the neighboring properties, but of HOA/Condo amenities, local amenities outside the neighborhood in nearby proximity, local big job opportunities, nearby airports, nearby hospitals, etc.
Most listing agents won't be doing it except maybe some HOA/condo amenities, but when you see it from an agent, take note. Certain photographers offer area photos, and likely less than 1% of listing agents like myself take a number of solid area photography on our own, both from the ground and from the air.
Here's my page on the subject. My standard commission properties will have area photos used as long as there are previous pictures or pictures can be taken March-November (Dec-February if in a location where night photography can be used well, since it isn't negatively impacted as much by dormant grass/foliage). New pictures won't always be able to be shot with discounted commission properties.
Photo captions are important on area photos when MLS rules dictate, as they do in REIN MLS, that no captions be added directly onto photos. It's also a good idea to have pictures of names of locations, and even maps of those locations when present at times. Photo captions won't populate on places like Zillow.
What Multiple Listing Service (MLS) are used (up to 4 with Adam)?
Sellers often don't understand the importance of this one, but when I sold a home for a former agent, he shared that one of the top reasons why he decided to go with me rather than another agent that he interviewed was that I was offering to put his home in more than 1 MLS while the other agent he interviewed wasn't. Most agents aren't willing to fund being in more than 1 MLS (for instance, REIN MLS has 6021 agents, while Williamsburg MLS only has 475 agents despite REIN being more dominant than WBG MLS within Williamsburg), and among those that are, many are unwilling to consistently put their listings in more than 1 of them because of the addition of potentially hours of paperwork it involves unless the agent is doing the bare minimum requirements for entry.
In SE VA, it's very beneficial to have your listing in more than one MLS to have additional positive exposure to buyers searching outside their agent's typical coverage area. According to NAR, 28% of buyers found the home that they purchased on from their real estate agent. In the vast majority of those cases, those Realtors were using the MLS that they paid for access to & relying on whether or not properties were listed in it. I've seen where an agent in Richmond reached out to me for his buyer about a property in Hampton, and apparently had no idea about other properties in the neighborhood because I was advertising my listing in Richmond MLS and the other agents listing for sellers in the same neighborhood weren't. In some cases, I've seen where an agent is in more than one MLS, but just doesn't want to bother with the paperwork for more than one, and only lists it in one.
In my standard listings (some low commission properties excluded), I input listings located on the Middle Peninsula, VA Peninsula, & Southside in CVR, CBRAR, WBG & REIN MLS. In some of the areas where I serve, less than 1% of agents are doing that. On the Northern Neck, I don't put them in WBG MLS, but will put them in the Northern Neck MLS. Most agents will only input a property into 1 or 2 MLS. In some places, like Washington DC, that's not a problem, since the nearest other MLS is over 80 miles away. In SE VA, it's a different story:
Unlike Bright MLS in Rockville, MD, which is the main MLS of DC, Maryland, Delaware, Philadelphia, and Northern VA, in SE VA, the small time MLS of Albemarle Area Association of Realtors based out of Elizabeth City doesn't have much action across the VA state line. Conversely REIN based out of Virginia Beach, more than 10 times the size of Albemarle, has a decent amount of action in that area of NE NC, but Albemarle is still dominant in that area of NE NC.
Here is a spreadsheet I put together of which MLS are used in SE VA:
CBRAR is based out of Gloucester, CVR is based out of Richmond, REIN is based out of Virginia Beach, & WBG MLS is based out of Williamsburg.
You'll notice that in some cities/counties, one MLS is dominant, while in others, a single MLS might not even have 50% of the total listings in that city or county (i.e. Williamsburg/James City County). The lower the dominance of 1 MLS, the more reason you have to be in more than 1 MLS. It will require extra paperwork and time, and your commission required that you pay to the listing agent may be higher, but especially if you're an area where 1 MLS doesn't cover more than 95% of the listings, it's worth it. If you don't need to pay anything extra, it's still worth it to spend that extra time as long as you're within 75 miles of another MLS that your listing agent is making available, especially when the MLS is within your state lines &/or large.
It's also a good idea to know how long someone has been closing on properties in the dominant MLS of your area and it's good to know if they have had any special education specific to the dominant contracts of the area. I've had access to REIN MLS since when I began as a Realtor in February 2015, listed my first home in Williamsburg MLS in June 2019, listed my first home in CBRAR/CVR in August 2020, & gained access to Northern Neck MLS in May 2021. I've also listened to a greater than 5.5 hour course on the VAR Residential Contract of Purchase, which is commonly used outside of REIN territory, while only rarely used within REIN territory.
Prices
The main thing to look for in checking an agents prices is whether or not the agent might cover you. If you're selling a $50k home, and the agent hasn't sold something <$300k in a decade, you're likely wasting your time reaching out to them. Conversely, if they've never sold a home half the value of your listing, that's not a reason to rule them out.
This category is important but many get it wrong in my opinion by ruling out great agents because of their inexperience in certain upper thresholds. At the time of this section's addition, I looked into 3 different prospective listing agents for a seller in another area. The one with the worst marketing of the 3 was the one that was selling the highest priced homes. That's certainly not always the case, but be sure to look more at the actual marketing that the agents are doing and the education that they are able to provide rather than focusing as heavily on price point as many sellers do. If an agent's marketing is significantly superior vs another agent who happens to sell higher priced home more frequently, you're still losing out by hiring someone who does worse marketing on a regular basis vs someone that does greater marketing on a regular basis, as long as the person doing great marketing also has great education and plenty of transactions of experience. The agent who does consistently great marketing but doesn't work a very high price point is probably going to work harder for you than they typically do if you're above their typical price range.
Related: Bandwagon Effect by Investopedia
More Details
For more details on the subject, go to my article dedicated to it here.
Items to look for in your interview(s):
Detailed Walk Through of Your Home
Some listing agents are in a rush, going after volume so much that it's at the expense of their clients. While many agents seek to reach as many buyers and sellers as they can, I have a high emphasis on quality over quantity. I have been as high as in the top 8% of agents by volume in REIN MLS (the main MLS of Hampton Roads) in a year, but I have a heavy emphasis on quality over quantity, as you can see by looking at the quality of my listings and the volume of content on this website. All the writing that goes into this website, for instance, doesn't reap many short-term benefits, but I feel that by educating buyers and sellers, they will be informed to make the best decisions. If I am able to reach fewer buyers and sellers for many years because of the time I am spending on it, so be it.
Are They Candid & Honest, or are They Saying Nothing Wrong About the House & Trying to Win You by Befriending You?
A good agent will be candid and honest with you about how to make cost-effective repairs, what cleaning needs to occur, etc. An agent who tells you that you don't need to do anything about the house likely cares more about telling you what you want to hear than being honest with you. Even relatively impeccable homes should receive some feedback on what to revise. A candid and honest agent will tend to get less listings because sellers so often go with the agent that tells them what they want to hear, who seems the most enthusiastic about their home, & who tells them that their home is worth the most. Sellers have told me before during listing appointments that out of all the agents they interviewed, I was the only one to point out things they should do to the house.
Related: Should You Sell As Is?
In an article by Investopedia, they share the following as the beginning to their 7th of 8 reasons why to pick an agent over a for sale by owner sale:
"7. You Ignore Your Home’s Flaws
Agents are experts in what makes homes sell. They can walk through your home with you and point out changes you need to make to attract buyers and get the best offers. They can see flaws you’re oblivious to because you see them every day—or because you simply don’t view them as flaws."
Where "enthusiasm" really matters is in the listing itself, and good listing agents commonly reach the remarks max in all the great things they have to say about a home. Ask each agent you interview to send you their past few listings (not cherry-picked ones), and these listings should be brimming with positive elements of homes. If the agent does that and says even more in captions visible on MLS that buyer's agents are sending to buyers (especially on area photos), that matters a lot more than their intentional efforts to win over a seller by seeming enthused about a property and getting buddy-buddy with a seller. There are certainly times when I like to relate to sellers, & even after selling I invite my former clients to events at times, attend theirs, & do meals together at times, but if I was shooting the breeze for most of a listing appointment, I would too clearly care more about winning the listing than helping the seller. When a difference in thousands or 10's of thousands of dollars are in the balance depending on the agent you choose & the marketing they'll do for you, your primary goal shouldn't be to just get a friend who puts on a face of really liking your property, but to get an advocate, a teacher, & an expert, someone who is willing to tell you what you don't want to hear because they know it's good for you.
Also, I've experienced at least a few listing appointments where a seller on a tight schedule had to cut the appointment short due to the seller's time constraints being tighter than what I had shared would be potentially needed for an effective appointment, so if I was spending high volumes of time chatting the breeze with them, I'd be shortchanging them even further.
Related:
Why Buyers & Sellers Often Choose Not to Work with Honest Real Estate Agents & How To Avoid That
Comparable Sales
Your listing should be able to show you the comparable sales that indicate the price that they are suggesting you list for. They shouldn't be picking a number out of a hat from your vantage point with you having no idea how they came up with it.
Industry Knowledge
Within your listing appointment and other interaction with a prospective agent you should be able to tell that they know what they're doing. You may be able to see additional educational information on their Linkedin Profile or website. Some of the best advice on real estate I get is from the team at my firm including my dad, who has sold more homes cumulatively than likely anyone in Hampton Roads alive.
Marketing
Ask your agent if they don't offer to tell you about what types of marketing activities they'll be doing. Listen for some of the items in the next section on "Items to look for in your agent's previous listings". It's also a good idea to ask if what you are asking about is a typical element of their marketing strategy.
For instance, do they:
1. ...typically do open houses (& would they do it for your listing)?
With Adam, the answer is yes and yes, excluding certain low commission properties & certain as is homes.
2. ...typically push your listing to a large number of other agents beyond input into MLS.
With Adam, he typically will email your listing once entered to every agent at his firm, which as of the time of this publication is around 100 agents.
3. ...typically push your listing via paper marketing to other agents
With Adam, he typically will email your listing once entered to every agent at his firm, which as of the time of this publication is around 100 agents.
4. ...typically push your listing on social media?
With Adam & his standard commission properties with some exceptions, his social media campaign is far superior to the vast majority of agents.
Here's a recent example with no paid advertising involved, numbers many agents will never achieve even if they include paid social media advertising:
5. ...typically put a sign in your yard. If so, what size?
With Adam, you'll be getting a standard large sign in your yard input by a sign company unless your association doesn't allow such large signs. Typically you'll be getting a flyer box on that sign.
6 ...have many buyers being represented at their firm?
Agents at the same firm have an easier time working with each other than those outside of their firm. With Adam, you'll be working with a firm of around 100 agents.
7. ... have any (& how much) ongoing marketing on Zillow & Realtor.com, the top and one of the top places where buyers not looking on MLS look for homes?
Because Garrett Realty Partners spends more on advertising in Hampton Roads on the #1 public platform for buyers to look online, Zillow, it is kind of like putting a sign in the yard of competing properties directing buyers to our firms. Those buyers may initially reach out about a neighboring property, and when that one doesn't work out, when the agent receives the paper marketing from me or the email from me about your listing, they'll be better prepared to let those buyers know about your listing.
What Multiple Listing Service will you put me in?
While it could go under other categories, this question is significant enough to have its own place, and can mean a big difference in sales price if you don't have adequate MLS coverage. When I listed for a former real estate agent, being in more than one MLS was one of the top reasons why he said he picked me over another agent he interviewed. In some cases, agents will have poor MLS coverage of an area, still list a home there, and if the seller doesn't know about what MLS are important, they could be completely unaware of why they keep needing to lower the price of their home.
Because 29% of buyers find homes through real estate agents (as of 2022), and those are typically via MLS, this question is very important. Adam has access to 5 MLS (more than 5 for co-listings with his dad, including for commercial property) & your property will typically go into 4 of them if listing with me.
MLS coverage should be at least 95% (ideally >99%) of the total agent listings of an area. Here is a spreadsheet I've compiled of which MLS is used most in SE VA cities/counties. Here is more on the most important locations in SE VA for you to be on more than one MLS.
Staging & Extras
Often agents will provide on the ground feedback in a listing appointment & sometimes prior on how to stage (i.e. in certain sections in here), which is important. In addition, some agents like me have an option for physical tools to enhance staging.
Enhancing Buyer's Experience In Property
Listing flyers, premium snacks, and premium drinks are all ways to enhance buyer's experience and help them have a better feeling about the property.
For standard commission properties under typical circumstances (i.e. needs AC/heat for drinks & a pest problem and food out would be a bad combination), I provide all of these (likely among the top 1% of agents for items present remaining in the home), and even for low commission properties I provide listing flyers.
What Gadgets/Physical Tools Do You Have Available?
Many agents don't have much when it comes to this question, even if they've been in the business for years. I'm likely somewhere in the top 5% of agents in this category, if not top 1%. I've dedicated a full page to the subject for myself here.
One of the most important physical gadgets/tools for an agent is their phone & options for virtual tours in the event that an unrepresented buyer ever needs a virtual live tour (since often the online virtual 3D tour isn't enough). At the time of this writing I have, some would argue, the best camera phone on the market for the task, which provides competitive video with some $5k cameras at the time of this writing. In addition, I have a stabilizer for making the video better, instructions for the buyers watching the video, lights to go onto the setup in addition to my phone camera lights, a separate camera for a higher quality recording that can be sent to the buyer after showing, the brightest flashlight sold to enhance exterior shots after dark & assist with certain interior shots, & more.
What Digital Tools Do You Have Available?
Many agents don't have much when it comes to this question, even if they've been in the business for years. I'm likely somewhere in the top 5% of agents in this category, if not top 1%. I've dedicated a full page to the subject for myself here.
One of my top digital tools that I pay extra for monthly is Showingtime.
How do you Handle Showing Requests?
Showingtime is by far the best option for showing requests in my opinion, as it connects buyer's agent directly with the occupants instantaneously &/or provides immediate availability of properties that are vacant in a much smoother way than other showing services and better than if the listing agent or their assistant was contacted. Other digital showing services can't touch Showingtime in my opinion due to serious problems with them even though Realtors may use them since they're typically cheaper or free for a single agent.
That said, some agents do Showingtime a lot better than others. My personal policy is to have plenty of details within Showingtime for agents, including some elements specific to the property within Showingtime and a link to my page dedicated for the topic of important notes for buyer's agents. I don't know of any other agent who does the latter. I also like to text agents after they've confirmed a time, which is helpful for giving agents a better feel of things and providing easier access to the agent and vice versa.
Do You Ever Engage in Dual Agency, & If so, Under What Circumstances & What Percentage of Sales?
Dual agency is where one agent represents both buyer and seller. It's so fraught with problems that it's illegal in some states and prohibited by many brokerages including mine without special permission from leadership. It's an important question I found on this list by Soldnest with details there about why it's important.
"What are the selling features of my property?"
The listing itself should include some of the top selling features of your home for marketing, and the prospective listing agent should be able to identify those. They may ask you for what you feel are most important to market, and they should in case they're missing anything that's not readily apparent, but they should also have additional things they believe should be marketed typically where you feel that those are good ideas in many cases.
How do You Handle Multiple Offer Situations?
While it's highly unusual to see something this comprehensive, this spreadsheet is primarily how I answer that question if asked. The amount of information shared with buyer's agents depends on the situation, but sometimes includes the full spreadsheet, while at other times the seller is unwilling to disclose any details on existing offer(s). Sometimes what the seller is willing to disclose changes over time based on my recommendations. In addition, my standard practice is to set an offer deadline for properties. I like to list Thursday morning with a deadline of Monday night.
If they don't mention within a response to this answer, ask "how will you vet the buyer."
What do You Charge?
The answer to this question may involve common elements like the following:
A. Commission (for buyer's agent and listing agent, & in some cases, buyer agent bonuses)
B. Transaction Coordinator fees (I don't charge these, but many agents do)
C. Extra Marketing (while many agents don't mention this option, agents typically won't refuse you wanting to spend extra on marketing as long as you're willing to do it up front. If doing so, it's important to request that the additional funds be dollar for dollar in marketing rather than an upcharge.
What the agent charges may vary based on what they offer. I personally offer multiple commission possibilities to sellers with differing offerings based on the commission amount.
The amount of commission that an agent can charge can vary greatly depending on the agent. On the one extreme you have "we buy houses" investors who advertise "no Realtor fees!" but who will likely net you less than if you went with a traditional sale. On the other extreme you have agents charging more than typical commissions, whether or not their service is better than other agents.
Because a good agent can net you 10's of thousands of dollars more than a bad agent in some cases, it's best to go with the best agent, unless what they are charging is exorbitant based on industry standards of typical commissions or unless what they appear to offer is just barely superior to another agent charging substantially less.
There can be a big difference in sales price even between 2 good agents. Early on in my career, I took a listing that the seller priced above what I recommended that received 3 offers on it while I listed it. With the top offer among the 3, I recommended that the sellers counter or accept it. They refused, and passed it on to another agent shortly after. It sat on the market with that agent for about a year, with multiple price reductions. That agent was one of the top agents in VA. The market didn't go down during that year, but the sales price when it eventually sold was $40k less than the top offer price I had previously received.
Will You Offer What Another Agent is Offering?
I've had sellers tell me before that one of the reasons why they picked another agent is because another agent mentioned that they would do an open house, and I didn't when we met, but before we ever met, sent them a document that included all of my offerings which included open houses. There's a lot that an agent can offer, and for them to mention everything in a listing appointment probably won't happen. I do a full breakdown of what I offer based on price and commission amount here, and one nice element of it is that it's searchable. In some cases, what an agent is offering is something that you wouldn't even want due to the fine print, so it's good to bounce off agents what seems appealing to check for legitimacy as well.
Potentially Misleading Questions if Asked in Isolation:
Introduction
Have you ever heard the phrase, "You can't ask a bad question"? If asked in isolation, & that's a big IF, there are actually some questions you'll commonly see online for listing agents by people that you would think are experts. Some of the below questions are asked by some of the sources for this article, but where I completely disagree on some points. With additional questions, all of these can be fine, but often you're better off focusing on much of the above questions in my opinion unless you ask related questions to the below ones. Here are some examples of questions that, if asked in isolation, aren't great questions, why I think so, and what additional questions you should ask if asking these questions if the listing agent doesn't go into more detail as they respond.
What's your average time on market?
With this question, an agent who regularly underprices their listings will seem better than an agent who takes a bit longer to maximize the seller's profits. in most cases, sellers would actually prefer someone who would maximize profits, but if they do want someone as fast as possible, those who typically seek to maximize can do a lower price than they typically would in order to lower their typical timeline. This question also effectively penalizes agents who are willing to list homes for more than what they suggested.
If you do ask this question, be sure to also ask:
Do you typically seek top dollar or quick sales? (If they do quicker sales than typical, they'll often say that both can be had at the same time, but that's typically not the case for most sales in my opinion)
Does your marketing strategy that impacts speed, including sales price, vary based on the seller's preferences?
Do you accept listings where the seller won't come down to the price that you suggest?
What's your initial list price to sales price ratio?
Sometimes agents brag to sellers about getting many offers and a price that went above sales price. I've gotten many offers before myself, and had properties go above asking price as well, but I don't typically target that in my typical suggested marketing strategy unless the seller prefers that.
While pricing is important element of a sale, an agent's ability to market a home is much more important than their ability to price a home. If you want the most accurate opinion on price, you could hire an appraiser if you really wanted to, but even they typically won't get the price that the home ends up selling for unless new construction in a new construction community with flat appreciation or if they evaluate the home after contract where they are biased by the sales price that is visible to them. Someone who consistently does excellent marketing is worth a lot more than someone who does terrible marketing who knows the low amount that their terrible marketing is going to produce. Also, this question penalizes those agents who want to stretch their price to achieve top dollar when they think they can & those agents who are willing to go with a price higher than what they think a home is worth. For instance, with a property in Smithfield, a seller I represented listed with me for a price higher than what I recommended. The sellers held onto that price for a few weeks, and before a month of listing had passed, we got under contract for the list price with no closing cost assistance requested. The appraisal ended up coming back more than $50k below contract price, but if we had listed it for what it was actually worth, the appraisal is very likely to have not come in as high as it did, with us getting into a value dispute to even make it as high as what it eventually sold for with the appraiser giving it a value higher than what they initially thought it was worth based on that dispute.
If you do ask this question, be sure to also ask all of the other questions I mentioned in the section on "What's your average time on market?".
How many properties have you sold in my neighborhood?
While it doesn't hurt to ask this question, it's another one of those questions that, if asked in isolation, could give you a false impression about a listing agent.
If you speak to 2 agents, and the first agent has sold 5 homes in your neighborhood, but doesn't include any area pictures (i.e. neighborhood amenties and surrounding area photos) or ever mention positive elements of the neighborhood or area in their listings, and you speak to another agent who has never sold in the neighborhood, but who has sold in that city/county, has access to their primary MLS (especially the top 2 or 3 MLS for that city/county if a single MLS doesn't cover >99% of listings by agents in the city/county), & consistently raves about areas/neighborhoods in listings with plenty of area pictures from the ground & air, if all other factors are the same, pick the second agent any day.
If you do ask this question, be sure to also ask:
What % of MLS coverage will you have with the MLS you are putting my home on based on my city/county? They likely won't be able to provide a percentage, but you can pull that information here in most of SE VA if they tell you what MLS they are going to be putting it in.
(if they haven't sold many homes in the neighborhood) Have you sold in my city/county before? If so, how many properties?
What do you feel are the top selling features of my community/area?
Do you include area pictures? May I see examples from your past 3 listings?
Do you talk up the neighborhood in listings? May I see examples from your past 3 listings?
Can I Cancel the Listing Agreement in the Future Prior to Expiration?
While I'm not an attorney, this is a loaded question potentially from a legal standpoint unless you input specific provisions in writing into the listing agreement itself for cancellation, but it doesn't hurt to ask the question and ask for specific provisions in the listing agreement. Some agents will overpromise and under deliver. A common sales tactic is to inflate the value of your home to over what the market says it's worth because sellers tend to go with the agent that says their home is worth the most & because they may be banking on future price reductions. It's good to know your options if you end up with a dishonest or deadbeat Realtor or if you encounter a situation in life that makes you decide not to sell after all. Often in these scenarios there will be a request to be referred to another agent within the company, but buyers who don't want that typically aren't forced into it. Be sure to know if you would be forced into that if the situation arose, and if so, be sure to know who it might be to. For instance, I once got a property under contract for a seller, but the buyer took longer than what they were contractually allowed to have (10 days after the closing date for REIN standard contracts as of 1/2/23 for certain issues like financing as was the case there). The seller shared that his wife was now expecting to give birth, and because of that, they would prefer to remain in the property. With the contractual out, we terminated the contract with the buyer following 10 days after we were supposed to close and immediately withdrew the property from the market. Keep in mind that listing agreements typically have a period after expiration (often 90 days) where the listing agent is owed a commission if you sell without another listing agent involved, so if a buyer who sees the property during your listing period contacts you about something shady to avoid any commissions, pay attention to that provision.
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