1) If a prospective agent says, ‘I did XXX million in sales in 2012 and
have been in the Chancellor’s Club 7
years in a row,’ move on. Look, I’m an ordained minister in the
Universal Life Church (really, I am) but I don’t think you want me conducting
your wedding. Designations mean little. Is this process about their awards
or about the sale of your home?
What’s your sense of how they’ll treat you? How innovative are they? What are they doing
differently?
2)
If
an agent tells you….‘I’m the
neighborhood specialist,’ their
vision is VERY narrow and not totally honest. One agent virtually never has a
majority of all of the sales in one neighborhood. What kind of sense does this
person give you about who your competition is?
What do they say about other neighborhoods that are also direct comps to
your home? How will they market your home against those neighborhoods? ‘Neighborhood
specialist’ usually means they don’t see the bigger picture.
3) Ask
the agent if they use a professional photographer. If they try and give you some
nonsense about how great their camera is and how they really have a ‘bug’ for
photography, dismiss them immediately.
Pictures are the single most important element of your marketing
campaign. An agent who insists on taking their own pictures is doing it on the
cheap. Non professional photographers simply don’t have the best equipment. Do
you really want ‘on the cheap?’
4) Ask
the agent approximately how long it takes to get their pictures in the MLS/BLC
after your listing is entered.
If the answer is ‘usually within 24 hours,’ show them the door. Thousands of web listing sites get their
information from Realtor.com and your local MLS very quickly after a listing
gets entered. Here’s a little secret most agents don’t know about that. Many of
these sites make one pass of Realtor.com to gather new listing information and
never come back. If your pictures aren’t uploaded immediately, some sites will never have them. Ever looked at a
listing with no pictures? I didn’t think
so. They MUST go in within an hour of MLS/BLC entry. NO EXCEPTIONS or it can
cost you money!
5) ‘My
team will be updating you as we move through the process.’
Let me translate this for you. They’re really telling you you’re not
going to hear from that agent again until it’s time to get paid. You need to
know that when things happen, THE AGENT will be calling or emailing you. THEY
will be analyzing the market data. THEY will be sharing news about your home’s
sale with you directly, good or bad. This is a transaction worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Do you want to go through this just speaking to an
assistant? greg cooper, top selling carmel indiana realtor agent broker, east carmel indiana homes for sale, east carmel indiana neighbhrooods 46033
