How to Pick the Right Agent to Sell Your Home

Our real estate agents know you have plenty of options when it comes to selecting a professional to help you sell your house. Choosing the right one is a step that will help you reach your goals with ease.

So, no matter whether you select us or not, we want to help you make an informed decision.

There are two significant mistakes sellers make when looking for a listing agent:

1. Picking an agent based on who will list your home for the highest price.
2. Picking an agent based on who will offer you the lowest commission.

Let's delve deeper into the reasons that these are mistakes:

Price
The truth of the matter is, even the most experienced listing agent can't tell you what the final selling price for your home will be. In the end, you choose the listing price – but the agent is responsible for providing research, especially recent, comparable sales, that will help you. Do not base your listing price on the emotional value of the home: Very few buyers are willing to pay that!

When it comes to price, follow these tips:

• Look for agents who offer you a price range instead of committing to a single figure.
• Beware of agents who cannot support a suggested price with recent market research.
• Remember, it's always better to start with a lower price rather than lower it later on.

Commission

When first exploring your options for selling a home, the commission seems like a major sticking point. As the process goes on, however, you'll soon run into plenty of other costs. With help from the right listing agent, you'll have to opportunity to reduce many of these and could even negotiate for the buyer to pay some of them. That can save you thousands of dollars.

On questions about the commission, follow these tips:

• Remember, about 10% of the agents do about 90% of the work – they are in demand.
• Agents may come down on a fee if you can offer them referrals or other transactions.
• If an agent appears to be desperate for an agreement, there is usually a good reason!

What to Focus on Instead of Price and Commission

Luckily, you have plenty of resources right at your fingertips for finding the perfect listing agent. Once you get into the right mindset, you'll see the challenge is much easier than it looks. By reading articles like this one, you're already off to a terrific start.

Build on that with these ideas:

• Always Check an Agent's Testimonials
  When it comes to gauging how well a real estate agent performs, testimonials are #1. Of course, you can find positive commentary on any agent's website: They'll be glad to showcase it for you. You should always check to see if impartial third party sources list feedback as well. If you spot negative feedback, don't hesitate to ask the tough questions about how its resolution.
• Test Their Communication – in More Ways Than One
  Your first sign of whether an agent is worthy of your business is how long it takes to answer your first email or phone call. Unless it's the end of the day, you should get a response within a few hours. You'll be counting on that responsiveness later! Set an appointment for a face to face meeting and ask plenty of questions to see if you'd feel comfortable working with the agent.

Contact us at Laffey Real Estate to get started selling your home.  Our Long Island REALTORS® have the experience and local neighborhood knowledge to get the job done for you.