How to Find the Best Real Estate Agent to Sell Your Home
Once you've decided that it’s time to sell your home, you need a competent and trusted advisor at your side.
Here we'll teach you how to find the most essential partner in completing the sale of the most valuable asset you own. Since every agent is a unique individual with varying experience, sales philosophies, and values, you may not work well with the first one that crosses your path. You need to find an agent who will work well with you and has a complementary working style. Here's how to find a real estate agent who's right for you.
Ask for a couple of referrals, but take them with a grain of salt
There are a lot of agents out there. So, how do you choose? Go ahead and ask your friends for referrals, but don't fall into the trap of picking an agent purely because of great reviews. First of all, your friend is likely to be recommending them based on a single purchase or sale. Plus, the old mantra of location, location, location applies to real estate agents as much as homes.
You want an agent who is very familiar with your neighbourhood, says Alaina Burnett, a Realtor specializing in the Brentwood neighbourhood of Burnaby, BC. The reason is simple: If they’ve specialized in the neighbourhood, they’ll be familiar with recent sales, and they’ll know how to market your home there.
So, a better question to ask your friends than “Know any real estate agents?" is, “Know a real estate agent who knows my neighbourhood really well?"
Try the Match Finder App by Mortgage Sandbox
Mortgage Sandbox developed the Match Finder app to match home buyers and sellers with local, pre-screened real estate agents and mortgage brokers based on aligned values. We believe aligned values lead to better working relationships and a more successful home buying and selling experience. Our algorithm finds values-aligned agents who specialize in your neighbourhood. If their work area is too far away from your home, then they get ranked much lower in our algorithm. This helps ensure that you’ll be introduced to an agent predisposed to work well with you who is also well-acquainted with your neighbourhood.
If you’re thinking of selling, try it today. You have nothing to lose.
Test their responsiveness
Once you have some potential agents, email them or call their office, then sit back and wait. This is your first test of a key component: how responsive will your agent be? Ideally, you should get a call back that same day.
“If it takes longer than four business hours without a decent explanation, I would be cautious,” says Alex Mackenzie, a North Vancouver agent specializing in the Lonsdale area. Imagine if you have competing offers for your home, or if there’s a problem with the buyer’s home inspection? You don't want to be left in limbo by your agent. You’ll want to be kept in the loop.
Probe their experience
Your initial conversation with a prospective listing agent should be like any job interview: Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions right off the bat. A good agent should know market trends and any dancing around the numbers could be a red flag. According to Mackenzie, you should ask the following:
How many homes have you sold? Aim for agents with at least six sales under their belt. Enough deals to learn the ropes and refine their skills. Don’t ask how many years they’ve been in business. Time (on the job) does not mean they produce results. A new agent with six sales to their name is better than an agent with two sales over two years. Look for agents with 10 to 20 sales in a year. Enough to have a feel for the market but not so many that they don’t need your business.
What types of homes have you sold? You want someone who is familiar with the type of property you’re selling. Is it an apartment, a townhome, or a house? They are very different types of homes, and buyers will be looking at very different features.
At the bottom of this article is a comprehensive list of questions to ask prospective realtors.
Assess their marketing skills
Everyone knows that to sell a house quickly (and get the best value), you need to reach as many buyers as possible. And the way to assess an agent's ability to do that is to ask these questions:
· How will you market my home? An agent should be using the Multiple Listing Service, Realtor.ca, and other tools to get exposure for your home.
· How will you use social media? They should use ads on Facebook and Instagram. Also, how many followers do they have on social media?
· What offline marketing do you use? While most marketing is done online now, your agent should still make use of tried-and-true methods such as fliers, yard signs, and brochures, especially at an open house. Ask for sample materials from another one of their listings.
· How much will you spend on staging and advertising? Get a solid dollar figure. Advertising costs vary widely by area, but agents should consistently spend a portion of their business expenses on advertising. By asking for a set amount, you'll know if they're doing that or not.
Don’t shoot for cheap
Finally, the most inexpensive agent is unlikely the best one for you. You would never go to a car dealership and ask for the cheapest car on the lot. You don’t want cheap, but you do want good value for your money. While there are generally accepted rates of commission, some agents may be open to negotiating a slightly lower commission. In truth, if they’re good at what they do, they will be confident enough in their abilities to stand by their commission rates, so don’t expect much of a break on the commission. So, when you’re talking terms, ask the agent if they’ll work on a discount. If they give up too much commission too easily, that might be a red flag.
Focus on the big picture. When the agent helps you negotiate with a buyer, the price will shift by tens of thousands of dollars. You don’t want to have an agent who is not fully invested in your interests because you squeezed an extra 0.25% out of their commission. On top of that, if the agent can't even negotiate to protect their own commission, how likely will they be able to defend your selling price?
Questions to ask Prospective Realtors
Ask 2 to 3 agents the same questions so that you get a good feel for who best understands the neighbourhood, has a tried-and-true selling process and is serious about getting you the best value for your home.
| Question | Agent Answer | Advice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Are you currently licenced as a real estate agent in this province? |
This sounds unnecessary but every year a few “fake-agents” are fined by the regulator. It’s a formality but always ask. |
||
| Has anyone ever filed a complaint against you with the provincial regulator? | This is an awkward question, but agents will never volunteer the information if you don’t ask. | ||
| How is the market in my neighbourhood? | You want them to tell you if it is a buyer’s market, balanced market, or seller’s market for your property type. The condo market can be a seller’s market (i.e., seller advantage) while the market for houses is in a buyer’s market. | ||
| Who will pay the most for my home? What target demographic? | They should be describing a typical buyer. (e.g., your home would be very attractive to a middle-income couple who are planning to start a small family) | ||
|
The tools they describe should match the demographic they said they intend to target. For example, if they’re targeting retired baby boomers who want to downsize then they shouldn’t be using LinkedIn. | ||
| Do you typically use a professional stager? Why? Do you think it’s worth using one for my property? | You’re testing for critical thinking. It’s great to have a tried-and-true process but you shouldn’t follow it blindly if it’s going to cost more. You’re also checking if the rationale lines up with the target buyer demographic. | ||
| Do you typically use a professional photographer? If yes, how did you come to choose your photographer? If no, why? | You’re testing for quality. For example, are they using a friend or are they using their current photographer because of their professional results? | ||
| How many homes did you sell in this neighbourhood last year? | Ideally, the number is between 4 and 12. If they are a high volume seller then likely they need to sell your home quickly and are more interested in collecting the commission then finding you a buyer willing to pay an extra ten thousand. | ||
| What do you do to prepare properties for open house events? | Do they bring another agent to help? Do they develop a script for walking buyers through the home? What materials do they have printed? How do they handle “looky-loos” (i.e., neighbours and others who are curious but have no intention of buying)? Do they like to play background music or put out snacks? | ||
| How do you like to handle the process of responding offers? | Do they try to direct buyers to submit all their offers on one day? | ||
| Please provide me with two references with whom I can speak on the phone. |
Name Phone: Address of Property Sold:
Name Phone: Address of Property Sold:
|
You can ask them if they would use the agent again and if they felt they got fair value for their home. | |
| Please provide me with copies of two of your past MLS listings | Address of Property Sold:
Address of Property Sold: |
You are looking for good quality photography and an appealing description that makes you want to visit the listing. You also want to confirm they are in the same neighbourhood as your home. |
