Finding an Agent That Will Sell Your Home
The recent downturn in the housing market has caused many real estate agents to change careers or at least look to other avenues of income.
This is actually helpful to home sellers for two reasons.
The first is that this tough time in the business has really helped to "clean up" the industry and send fair-weather, and less experienced agents packing.
This has left a much more determined and tenacious group in the pool of available agents.
The second reason is that it is causing even the most experienced and productive agents to re-examine their marketing process.
The days of relying on the Multiple Listing Service and repetitive advertising are gone.
They are learning, or maybe re-learning, how to be creative, flexible and clever with their marketing skills.
Although this industry shake up is creating a better and more capable group of salespeople, there are creative successful agents, incompetent agents and everything in between from which to choose.
You need to make sure you are getting the right agent for you and your home.
If you keep the following agent attributes in mind, you will have a pleasurable, and more importantly, effective selling process.
Personality The agent you choose should have a personality that you can work with.
This doesn't mean that the agent should be just like you, or even that you could be great friends.
You should, however, feel you could have a professional relationship, respect their opinion, communicate openly and not be offended by their general disposition.
Knowledge and Experience The agent you choose doesn't need to be the top-selling agent in your area.
However, they should have a good working knowledge of the area and a decent sales history.
You should be more concerned about how many of their listings they have sold and what amount of time it took to sell them - NOT how many total listings.
It doesn't matter if they sold a hundred properties last year, if they had 1000 listings!You don't want to be part of those statistics.
You are better off with an agent who sold 20 of their 22 listings.
Communication Your agent needs to be someone with whom you can have open and honest communication.
This is very important.
Too many agents don't tell their clients what they need to know because they are afraid of turning the client against them.
You need to hear the good, bad and ugly from your agent without holding them responsible, and make sure the agent is someone who isn't afraid to do so.
Creativity and Adaptability This is the attribute that separates most agents.
The biggest mistake agents and real estate companies make in this tough market is treating all properties the same.
All homes are unique, the prospective buyers for each of them are unique and the marketing plan should also be unique.
Avoid agents who tell you that listings with the company "get a, b and c.
"Instead, they should be telling you how they are going to determine whom your likely buyers are, and what unique marketing ideas they have to reach them.
They should also include the basics such as the Multiple Listing Service, regular advertising and website promoting.
But even in those arenas, how are they going to set your home apart and appeal to the most likely buyers, not the ones looking for everything else?This is the most important question you can ask and the easiest way to find out how creative your potential agent is.
Keeping these attributes in mind while choosing an agent, will ensure that you will have a better home selling experience and end up on the good side of the statistics in this tough real estate market.
This is actually helpful to home sellers for two reasons.
The first is that this tough time in the business has really helped to "clean up" the industry and send fair-weather, and less experienced agents packing.
This has left a much more determined and tenacious group in the pool of available agents.
The second reason is that it is causing even the most experienced and productive agents to re-examine their marketing process.
The days of relying on the Multiple Listing Service and repetitive advertising are gone.
They are learning, or maybe re-learning, how to be creative, flexible and clever with their marketing skills.
Although this industry shake up is creating a better and more capable group of salespeople, there are creative successful agents, incompetent agents and everything in between from which to choose.
You need to make sure you are getting the right agent for you and your home.
If you keep the following agent attributes in mind, you will have a pleasurable, and more importantly, effective selling process.
Personality The agent you choose should have a personality that you can work with.
This doesn't mean that the agent should be just like you, or even that you could be great friends.
You should, however, feel you could have a professional relationship, respect their opinion, communicate openly and not be offended by their general disposition.
Knowledge and Experience The agent you choose doesn't need to be the top-selling agent in your area.
However, they should have a good working knowledge of the area and a decent sales history.
You should be more concerned about how many of their listings they have sold and what amount of time it took to sell them - NOT how many total listings.
It doesn't matter if they sold a hundred properties last year, if they had 1000 listings!You don't want to be part of those statistics.
You are better off with an agent who sold 20 of their 22 listings.
Communication Your agent needs to be someone with whom you can have open and honest communication.
This is very important.
Too many agents don't tell their clients what they need to know because they are afraid of turning the client against them.
You need to hear the good, bad and ugly from your agent without holding them responsible, and make sure the agent is someone who isn't afraid to do so.
Creativity and Adaptability This is the attribute that separates most agents.
The biggest mistake agents and real estate companies make in this tough market is treating all properties the same.
All homes are unique, the prospective buyers for each of them are unique and the marketing plan should also be unique.
Avoid agents who tell you that listings with the company "get a, b and c.
"Instead, they should be telling you how they are going to determine whom your likely buyers are, and what unique marketing ideas they have to reach them.
They should also include the basics such as the Multiple Listing Service, regular advertising and website promoting.
But even in those arenas, how are they going to set your home apart and appeal to the most likely buyers, not the ones looking for everything else?This is the most important question you can ask and the easiest way to find out how creative your potential agent is.
Keeping these attributes in mind while choosing an agent, will ensure that you will have a better home selling experience and end up on the good side of the statistics in this tough real estate market.
Source...