By Nurit Coombe
When it’s time to sell your home, it’s important to find an agent you are comfortable working with. While selecting an agent, interviewing few agents is important to learn various styles and ideas on listing and marketing your home. Knowing that your agent is knowledgeable, has the necessary resources, and is willing to invest time and money into your marketing campaign is the key to getting the best price for your home. Here are some questions and follow up questions you may want to ask.
It’s important to know your agent’s statistics. Some questions to ask:
The best agents have a stable of people behind them to help. Some questions to ask:
It’s also important for your agent to be well connected and tied into the real estate community.
Your agent should be familiar with your area and the community. The more they know about your neighborhood, the better they can market and price your home.
Your agent should be able to look at your home and immediately tell you what needs to be done to get a top selling price.
Your agent should present you with a personalized comprehensive marketing plan for your home. Some questions you should ask:
Understanding and knowing how to market your home with a customized plan that is tailored specifically to your community and your potential buyers is a key component in selling your home quicker and for better price and contingencies.
Your agent should have a comprehensive knowledge of social media. It isn’t just posting your house on their Facebook page; it is setting up a campaign that will promote your home.
Open houses are very important and many agents downplay them. In today’s digital society, almost all buyers will start the process on-line and without an agent. That means they will be searching out open houses to see without having to make an appointment and sign up with an agent. It’s amazing how many houses are sold because they were the only one open in the neighborhood. Also, Open Houses need to be done in the first three weeks your home is on the market. You are only a fresh listing once and all this marketing should be done when you list your house, to make a big impact in the market.
It’s very important that your agent not only does all the work, but makes sure what is being done is effective. You want to know the results of what they are doing and be able to adjust the plan if it is not working.
What will your agent do to set themselves apart from everyone else out there and get your house noticed? That’s the key – getting people to look at your listing.
Negotiation is a skill and an art. When negotiating, it’s important that both sides feel they have won, yet your agent is the person who needs to stand up for your interests. When an agent signs on to sell your home… they need to actually be able to sell it, believe in it, love it and be your cheerleader! Also, there are many aspects in the contract to negotiate, not just the sale price, that can be very costly to you or can even stop the contract from getting to settlement. All the aspects of the contract need to be considered and negotiated for a smooth satisfactory transaction!
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