Listing appointment calls. The call that REALTOR’s always love to receive.
The process often goes something like this. We get a phone call from a seller who is looking to get an idea of the market value of their home. REALTORs typically see the house and provide a price or report or some type of relevant information with regards to the value.
Sellers will often be kind enough to let us know that we are one of three REALTORs that they are interviewing or visiting or talking to. The order of operations is somewhere along the line of meeting the REALTOR, getting an idea of their background, asking a few questions and then from there, the seller makes a decision with whom they want to list their home.
The one mistake that we see sellers make is that while they want to ask questions and dig deeper, they often don’t know the questions they should be asking to do that digging. The big question we get is the commission question. Sometimes we hear the ‘where do you advertise’ question. Some of the other questions a seller should be asking of the REALTOR include:
- what is your knowledge of this area?
- what experience do you have as a REALTOR that would help you sell our home?
- how many listings do you currently have?
- have many homes did you sell last year?
- will your advertising be sustained for the duration of the listing term?
- what is your general as well as specific marketing strategy with regards to our home?
- aside from plonking a sign in our front lawn, what are some of the other services you offer?
- what is your online marketing strategy?
And the list goes on…
The point here is that while sellers often have great intentions, the fact is they should dig for more real, relevant information rather than simply a) what is the REALTOR’s commission rate and b) do we like this REALTOR.
Don’t get us wrong…having a personal comfort with your agent is important.
There should be some kind of common ground but that should be only one of many variables.
If you are meeting with us, please feel free to ask any of the above!
Thank-you for visiting.
THEbTEAM
Thank-you to Dylan Gillis for the photo.