First, I want to make one thing clear.... If the agent you are interviwing to sell your home says they want to "List" your home for sale, RUN!!!  I know it's just a matter of semantics, but I don't look at it as a listing.  My goal, and the goal of the home owner is to SELL your home!  At the end of the day, I am not a "listing agent", I am a salesperson, and I'm proud of it!

Over the past 4-5 weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak with over a dozen home owners, who were either currently "listed" for sale and unhappy with their listing agent and/or broker, or who previously had their home on the market.  They decided to take their homes off the market (known as a Withdrawal in real estate agent lingo), and others whose (forgive me if my grammar is wrong, it wasn't my strong point in school) "listing contract" had expired.  The main resons for this are as follows;

- We were told we could get $X for our house, and all we got were low offers.

- We never heard from our agent after the first week or two (and in 2 cases, never!).

- My neighbor(s) sold, but my home is still sitting on the market

- No one is coming to look at our home.

- The only time I hear from my agent is when they are asking me to drop my price.  Yes, the same price they told me they could sell it for!

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the idea.  And this is exactly why my industry gets a bad rap!  

The reality is that no one has a crystal ball that will tell you exactly what your home will sell for, but a true professional can use the appropriate market data to show you approximately what your home will sell for based on current market conditions, location and condition of the house.  Yes, you can research most if not all of this information on your own, but a true "advocate" will listen to you, anayize your goals, and then help you interpret this information in order to use it to YOUR advantage. 

Tweet this post with the title "Questions to ask before listing your home with a Realtor"