Here’s what you should ask any agent to see if they’re right for the job.
There are literally thousands of real estate agents in our area, but the problem is that half of them can only muster one home sale every so often. Nearly 90% won’t sell a home in any given month. The chances of you interviewing somebody who’s doing the job of a real estate agent at a high level are truthfully pretty low, so it’s in your best interest to ask the right questions up front and sift the underachievers from the high performers. Ask these five questions to ensure you’re hiring the right person to help you:
How many homes have you sold in the last 12 to 24 months?
If they’re an individual agent who’s part of a team, find out both their individual and team production stats. This is important because you don’t want to do ‘financial surgery’ with a surgeon who only does one operation every other month. The average agent in our market sells six to eight homes per year. I would never want to put anyone I cared about in a position where they have to rely on someone who’s simply not performing at a high level.
What’s your list-to-sales price ratio?
This reveals their accuracy in helping people price their homes. The market data (which I’d be glad to share with you) shows that if you’re off on your listing price from the start, there’s a 100% chance you will ultimately get less for your property, and it will take longer to sell. A weak agent allows the seller to price their home high, not realizing (or caring) that this is a huge disservice.
“You don’t want to do ‘financial surgery’ with a surgeon who only does one operation every other month.”
Do you have a step-by-step marketing plan to sell my property?
Believe it or not, marketing principles have escaped a lot of agents; they’ll throw a home on the MLS, stick a few signs in the yard, and pray it’ll sell. Here at High Performance Real Estate Advisors, we have a repeatable, detailed, and proven multi-step marketing strategy that yields results for our sellers. At this point in our journey, we’ve served over 4,000 families using this plan.
How long are your properties staying on the market?
In a balanced market, you’d expect to see an average time of 30 to 45—maybe even 60—days on market. In a tighter market like ours, it’ll be less. You’ll want to know the dynamics of the current market, but you’ll also want to find out that specific agent’s ratio in terms of days on market.
Can you refer me to testimonials from satisfied clients?
This is probably the most important question you can ask—where’s the proof that they truly do a good job? For example, we have over 1,200 five-star reviews, and we pride ourselves on allowing our clients to succeed.
So, if you’re thinking about listing your home, we’d love the opportunity to interview for the job of being your real estate professionals. Our team approach gets us results that separate us from the rest of the agents out there. ‘High performance’ means that we do the hard things that others can’t or won’t do so we can get you the results you deserve. Check out our website, and give us a call if you have any questions in the meantime. We’re always here to help!