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The 21 Most Important Questions To Ask A Realtor Before You Hire One
1. How much experience does the Realtor have?
- This is important in marketing & negotiating on your behalf.
- Experience is often the difference when making or breaking a sale as well as keeping a deal together.
2. What is the Realtor's commitment to advertising your home?
- Consistency is everything in marketing your home.
- Where will my home be advertised & how?
3. What is the Realtor's commitment in the follow up?
- Will the Realtor follow up all showings and convey the feedback to you (even on new homes or vacant homes)? Are they able to track this on a computer? - Ask us about our new client only section of our website for showing feedback 24 hrs a day.
4. How close does the Realtor follow the market?
- Will they update you to let you know what has been listed and sold while you are selling?
5. What can the Realtor's Company do for you, and what is their Company's and Personal Market Share?
- Are they part of a large referral network? If RE/MAX has the largest market share in most cities in North America averaging 40% in Canada, what do you think the odds of RE/MAX selling your Buyer's home and then referring them to a RE/MAX Realtor?
6. What kind of support staff does the Realtor have?
- We have systematized the way we run our real estate business. We have built a team of professionals to help us be in 6 places at once, therefore greatly enhancing the quality of service we can deliver to our clients. By having assistants and Buyer's Specialists things will get handled efficiently and effectively creating more time for your Realtor to SELL for you.
7. Will the Realtor make it easy to buy?
- There are many things a Realtor can do to make it easy to buy. If your Realtor is asking you several questions, he or she is gaining information so that when the Buyer has questions, they can be answered promptly. Being prepared for the Buyer will make their decision making easier. Ask your Realtor how they will make your home "easy to buy".
8. Will a Realtor pre-qualify Buyers?
- Does the Realtor work closely with a Banker or Broker to ensure their Buyers are qualified? Access to the lowest interest rates can make your home easy to buy. Pre-qualifying Buyers results in less lookie-loo showings. Ask your Realtor how they pre-qualify Buyers.
9. How does the Realtor market to other Realtors?
- According to the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board 40% of Buyers find out about properties through a Realtor. It is important to keep your property in front of them. Ask how this can be done. There are many ways beside multiple listing.
10. Does a Realtor have a marketing plan?
- Ask, "Do you know from A to Z how to get my home sold?"
11. Will A Realtor give a guarantee?
- Ask, "What if I'm not satisfied with what you are doing? What if I just change my mind about selling? What are my options?"
12. How many Buyer inquiries does the Realtor get a week?
- How do they qualify these calls or emails?
- Do they just show up to show your property?
- How wide is the property being exposed on the internet?
13. What is the Realtor's average time to sell and what percentage of the Realtor's listings sell?
- How does this compare to the industry average? This is a critical question.
14. How do the calls get handled when the Realtor is away?
- Do they take regular days off? A fresh Realtor can SELL.
- Do they have a partner, or do they simply give a listing book to a fellow Realtor and ask them to do their best?
15. What percentage of the Realtors business is repeat, referral, or ads?
16. What percentage of list price does a Realtor achieve on average when they SELL your home, and how many of the Realtor's listings do they sell themselves (double end)?
- An experienced negotiator will get more money for you!
17. Does the Realtor have their own website with multiple pictures, slide shows and full details of their property listings?
- All MLS listings are on the Internet, but if your Realtor has a website, their listings should be linked to it making it easy and fast for a Buyer to find (with much more information).
- How much traffic do they attract & how do they attract traffic?
18. Is a Realtor's sign working?
- Do they have reflective signs? We live in B.C. and experience the dark when potential Buyers come and go home from work most of the year.
- Do they have advertising on their signs directing potential buyers to their website where they may get information immediately?
19. Is your Realtor committed to you?
- Do you feel the Realtor has your best interests at heart? Will they work hard straight through until the job is done?
20. Results
- What kind of results have they had over the long term? Ken has achieved many of RE/MAX's highest honors, including RE/MAX Of Duncan's Top Realtor 13 out of the last 14 years, and has been consistently in the top 100 Re/Max Realtors in Canada.
- Ken has had a sale on average every 3 days since 1998, and has been the #1 MLS® Realtor 8 years in a row in the Cowichan Valley Zone 3 for the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board 1994 - 2001 for units and dollar volume sold.
The MLS system stopped the Realtor rankings at the end of 2001.
21. Is the Realtor telling you everything you want hear, or everything you need to know? Ken has the answers!
Contact us now for your free market evaluation of your property.
To read more on why Ken Neal and Associates to sell your home Click Here
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