Sellers - how do you choose a realtor? I feel overwhelmed

[Anonymous]

Realtors, please don't respond! I'm looking for response by regular people, please.

I have a small condo I want to offload, but feel overwhelmed choosing a realtor to list. Am I overthinking? Sellers, how did you choose your realtor? THERE ARE SO MANY REALTORS!

[Anonymous]

Where do you live? Ideally based on referrals from people you know. I know a good one in Arlington we have used twice and I trust completely, but I would not use her for Silver Spring. Real estate is hyper local.

[Anonymous]

I looked at all the SOLD homes in my building, saw who the agents were and went from there. If you don't have any in your building that have sold in the last few years then just look at condos in your immediate area.

[Anonymous]

How quickly do you need to sell and at what price? If you think it's going to sell quickly, focus on what they can offer you. Will they stage it? Who will negotiate on commission? How close are they on price recommendations?

[Anonymous]

1. Interview several.
2. Do not pay 6%! At most 2 to selling and 2.5 to buyers or worst 2.5 and 2.5.
3. Ask them to provide a history of their last years sales. Then go look at those listing in the sold tab on Zillow or Redfin. I was stupid and believed our neighbor realtor when she said she sold over list and within days. The history showed that she had delisted and relisted at a much lower price. Previous history with her was multiple price drops and going stale.
4. Get a clear definition of staging. Oh, well stage it may mean we’ll bill you to have our friends do staging and you’ll pay to rent new furniture and store yours or could mean they’ll give you advice or it could mean they’ll stage with what you have at no extra cost.
5. Research everything beforehand. Know the comps in your area. A common practice is for realtors to tell potential clients that they’ll get much more than the comps. A realtors job is to sell themselves to get your listing, and sell the property as fast as possible. How much doesn’t matter to them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies.

Rate negotiation... do you do this in person showing them the property? Emailing them first? Calling them first? I'm bad at this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Interview several.
2. Do not pay 6%! At most 2 to selling and 2.5 to buyers or worst 2.5 and 2.5.
3. Ask them to provide a history of their last years sales. Then go look at those listing in the sold tab on Zillow or Redfin. I was stupid and believed our neighbor realtor when she said she sold over list and within days. The history showed that she had delisted and relisted at a much lower price. Previous history with her was multiple price drops and going stale.
4. Get a clear definition of staging. Oh, well stage it may mean we’ll bill you to have our friends do staging and you’ll pay to rent new furniture and store yours or could mean they’ll give you advice or it could mean they’ll stage with what you have at no extra cost.
5. Research everything beforehand. Know the comps in your area. A common practice is for realtors to tell potential clients that they’ll get much more than the comps. A realtors job is to sell themselves to get your listing, and sell the property as fast as possible. How much doesn’t matter to them.

Ignore anyone who tells you to focus on an agent's compensation so high in the list. Yes, it's a consideration, but it's a minor one and shouldn't drive your decision. That PP put it as #2 shows you PP is dumb.

And since I'll be accused, no, I'm not an agent. Just an experienced home buyer and seller who has watched many people choose bad agents based on the commission and paid for it in the end with a house that sat or netted bad offers or had deals fall through. Like anything else, you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

There are so many and so many bad ones. It takes nothing to become a realtor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Interview several.
2. Do not pay 6%! At most 2 to selling and 2.5 to buyers or worst 2.5 and 2.5.
3. Ask them to provide a history of their last years sales. Then go look at those listing in the sold tab on Zillow or Redfin. I was stupid and believed our neighbor realtor when she said she sold over list and within days. The history showed that she had delisted and relisted at a much lower price. Previous history with her was multiple price drops and going stale.
4. Get a clear definition of staging. Oh, well stage it may mean we’ll bill you to have our friends do staging and you’ll pay to rent new furniture and store yours or could mean they’ll give you advice or it could mean they’ll stage with what you have at no extra cost.
5. Research everything beforehand. Know the comps in your area. A common practice is for realtors to tell potential clients that they’ll get much more than the comps. A realtors job is to sell themselves to get your listing, and sell the property as fast as possible. How much doesn’t matter to them.

The vast majority, not all but the majority of SFH listings are paying the buyer's agent 2.5% - it's not exactly the chupacabra that some people like to pretend it is. Maybe it's a way to try to convince others of their financial smarts by bragging that they "negotiated the rate down" when in reality it's pretty much the standard, going rate of compensation. 2.5% for me, and 2.5% for you! Once in a while you'll see a 3% but it's not common anymore and hasn't been for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many and so many bad ones. It takes nothing to become a realtor.

Trust me the bad ones will quickly tell you it’s 6%!

[Anonymous]

We called all the agents that sold more than 2 homes in our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods for great prices (over list) in the past 5 years and went with the one we liked the best.

[Anonymous]

Referred by a friend who just sold a condo recently. 2.5/2.5 commission rate, including staging and remodel design/coordination. Other realtors charge 3/3 or 3/2.5 without staging and design/coordination. Of course we chose the one with better value. It turned out to be good choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. Interview several.
2. Do not pay 6%! At most 2 to selling and 2.5 to buyers or worst 2.5 and 2.5.
3. Ask them to provide a history of their last years sales. Then go look at those listing in the sold tab on Zillow or Redfin. I was stupid and believed our neighbor realtor when she said she sold over list and within days. The history showed that she had delisted and relisted at a much lower price. Previous history with her was multiple price drops and going stale.
4. Get a clear definition of staging. Oh, well stage it may mean we’ll bill you to have our friends do staging and you’ll pay to rent new furniture and store yours or could mean they’ll give you advice or it could mean they’ll stage with what you have at no extra cost.
5. Research everything beforehand. Know the comps in your area. A common practice is for realtors to tell potential clients that they’ll get much more than the comps. A realtors job is to sell themselves to get your listing, and sell the property as fast as possible. How much doesn’t matter to them.

This is good advice. These days, people pay between 3.5% - 5% total commission. Definitely figure out comps on your own too. Some realtors inflate the value they think they can sell for hoping you'll pick them. In reality, the seller's agent has very little impact on what the buyer is willing to pay. Verify everything the realtors tell you. It took me a while to learn that the industry norm is to lie.

Another poster's advice to contact realtors who sold other units in your building is also good advice. Use someone who works a lot in your area and even building if possible.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are so many and so many bad ones. It takes nothing to become a realtor.

It takes passing an exam and paying a crapload of money annually. So it's not "nothing"

And you'd better be good at math to pass the exam. There's a lot of weird math on it.

[Anonymous]

I recently sold my condo (300k range) and have also been looking to purchase. My previous realtor was not very good for when I was searching. He never had comps, he didn't have strategies for bidding, etc. So I am glad I dumped him for when I was ready to sell. The agent I found was recommended through a friend. She has been an agent for many years and has a good track record of selling. Her commission was 3 and we gave 2.5 for the buyers agent. Most importantly she brought her contacts to the table. My place needed quite a bit of renovations (which she suggested but definitely left it up to me to decide) and she had a contractor that started within a week and was very affordable. She also had contacts for a plumber and staging (again, she recommended but didn't push). She coordinated everything so I didn't have to worry about anything. She had given me comps prior to listing but didn't want to give a set price until closer to the list date because the market has been fluctuating a bit. My place sold within 2 days on the market.

I hear that some agents pay for staging, cleaning, etc but maybe you have to have a higher listing price to get those type of things.