What to Expect from Your Real Estate Agent

Part One – Listing Your Home for Sale

Most of the “For Sale” signs that you see around town feature a real estate agency, and often the name of the agent responsible for the listing. There is a good reason that most people opt to list their homes through a reputable and established real estate agent. There are many things that an agent can do for you that will help your listing and sale move along smoothly and professionally.

Here are just a few of the things that you should expect from your real estate agent when you list your home:

Knowledge. A good real estate agent is an expert listener. He or she will sit down with you and explain the sale process if you are a first-time seller, and answer your questions about the process and his or her role in it. A listing agent will help you price your home to sell based on the current state of the market in your area and recent comparable sales (“comps”) of homes similar to yours in your neighborhood or nearby neighborhoods in your town. Since pricing your home right is essential to whether it will sell, and your agent has experience in home pricing, this knowledge is highly valuable and will likely make the difference between selling your home promptly or having it sit on the market for a long time. Real estate agents have experience in marketing that the average homeowner does not have.

Tools. Since they are “in the business,” real estate agents come equipped with all the marketing tools to sell your home, including professional signage, marketing outlets such as circulars and print ads, direct mail, Internet and MLS (Multiple Listing Service) database postings, and even email marketing and social media presence. They will have the ability to take professional-looking photos that make your house look enticing to buyers and may also have the equipment to create and post virtual tours of your home. They are well-versed in staging a home for sale and creating the curb appeal that will lure in prospective buyers. They also know how to run an open house and under what circumstances one might be beneficial. You should expect your agent to coordinate showings to potential buyers and other agents – if you aren’t going to be home to let the agent in, he or she can install a lockbox for access to your home.

Connections. A real estate agent has the right types of connections to help make a sale. Right off the starting block, your agent may know of a buyer who would be a good match for your home. Agents are connected to other agents as well, and by sharing information, may locate a buyer who is a good fit for your home. Additionally, real estate agents typically belong to organizations or industry boards where they can share information and network on your behalf.

Commitment. You should expect that your agent will display a high degree of integrity throughout the sale process. He or she should be easy to communicate with and answer any questions you have quickly and efficiently. If a buyer seems interested, your agent should be ready to help make certain the sale goes through smoothly. Expect your listing agent to be your partner throughout the process.

Negotiation. Once offers begin to come in, your agent is your liaison between those offers and you. Expect your agent to help negotiate a sale, to know whether an offer is legitimate or a lowball offer, and whether the prospective buyer’s demands are reasonable. By working with an agent, you eliminate the need to face the buyer and can therefore examine offers in an unbiased and low pressure manner.

As I said at the beginning of this post, there is a good reason most people hire a listing agent to help sell a home. In my next blog, I'll discuss the benefits of hiring an agent when you're in the market to buy a home.