If you are planning on selling your home, you might want to interview a few agents. Asking the right TYPE of questions is key. Some of the questions I have received during an interview have been good – others not so good! Watch the video at the end to hear some of the funny questions I have been asked by potential sellers.
Why Interview Agents to Sell your Home?
Most sellers are interested in finding a Realtor to represent them in their home sale that is:
- Competent
- Experienced
- Educated
- Professional
- Like-minded
- And someone to trust
But unfortunately, sellers ask the wrong type of questions to get to these answers. Sellers kind of go through a list of yes/no or close-ended questions that cannot give the seller any insight into whether this agent is knowledgeable and competent.
Questions like:
- How many transactions have you done?
- What firm do you work for?
- How long have you been licensed?
These are important questions but they don’t get to the heart of what most sellers really want to know about their agent. And the other problem with these types of questions is you have no context and cannot judge what is a “good” answer or a “bad” answer.
Example of how a Close-Ended Question can Backfire
In my video, I discuss the example of asking a Realtor how many listings they currently have and how this is problematic because this is a close-ended question. As what happened with my brother, he had a number in his mind of how many listings a successful agent should have but had no context for that agent’s answer.
Using this question as an example, in Thurston County last year, there were 5,904 listings that sold and 1,848 listing agents. Using these numbers, on average, each agent would have had 3.19 listings. But the real question I pose to sellers is, what is a “good” number of listings an agent should have? Is the better agent one that has ten listings? Or is the better agent the one that has zero listings?
For more context, what is the market like? Currently, Thurston County is in a very strong seller’s market with very few listings. Again I ask, is the agent with 50 listings a more successful agent than the agent with zero listings? Maybe the agent with zero listings sold their inventory.
I don’t know the answer to these questions. I’m suggesting that answers to this question and other similar questions are meaningless to a seller in figuring out which agent is competent, experienced, and can do a great job.
How to Interview a Realtor
I’m suggesting that to be successful in learning about a Realtor’s strengths and how they can help you is to ask OPEN-ENDED questions. This is where you can get really good information about the agent, how they work, and if they will be a good fit for you.
The other day, I had a seller ask me a great question:
“How do you handle multiple offer situations?”
This is a great open-ended question because as a Realtor, I can share with the seller my past experience with this, how I approach this challenge, and my answer will also give the seller insight into my personality, work process, and rationale. All of these things would be important for a seller to know.
Other questions to focus on would be more “how would you do X..?” and “what would you do in this situation?”
Funny, Crazy Questions I’ve Been Asked
Real estate is never boring and many times results in some funny stories. Watch this video to hear what questions I’ve been asked during a seller interview!
As always, if you have any questions (open or close-ended!), call, text, or email me any time. I’d love to have a conversation with you if you are considering selling your Olympia area home.