Questions to Ask When Interviewing Agents

When selecting an agent, home sellers often ask the same three questions.

1. What is my property worth?
2. What are your advertising costs?
3. What is your commission?

Some home sellers believe that they can determine their profit by subtracting the advertising and commission costs from the agent's appraisal. This could not be further from the truth. Between agents who inflate appraisals to win your listing, ineffective advertising campaigns and poor sales processes - choosing an agent based on numbers will likely leave you frustrated and disappointed.

It is critical to go beyond surface-level questions and uncover the information that will set you up for realistic expectations, a smooth sales journey, and a successful result.

Think about it this way: if you were having heart surgery, you would want to know your surgeon’s experience, reputation, and expertise. If you were buying a dining table, you’d want to understand its quality, materials, and how well it’s made. Selling your home deserves the same level of care and due diligence.

Understanding how and why an agent does what they do is the first step in deciding whether they are the right person to represent you and your biggest asset.

1. What information have you used to appraise my home?
2. What data can you show me to support your appraisal?
3. How will current market conditions impact the sale of my home?
4. How often do you reduce the advertised prices on homes you sell?
5. How often do you sell homes in their initial advertised range?
6. Do you believe in starting with a high price and then lowering it over time?
7. Do you ever sell properties for a price above the advertised range?
8. Do you advertise a range or a single price, or do you not display a price? Why?
9. Do you ever advertise properties for a lower price than your appraisal range?
10. Do you ever advertise properties for a lower price than a home seller has declared as their lowest price?
11. Will you advertise our property at a lower price than we want?
12. Do you believe I should advertise the property lower than my expectation to attract more buyers?
13. What price will you tell buyers?
14. Where will my property be advertised?
15. Will my property be advertised in premium positions online?
16. Do you advertise on realestate.com.au and domain.com.au?
17. Where will my property be advertised?
18. What is your base advertising cost?
19. What will it cost me to advertise my property with all the inclusions you recommend?
20. Should I advertise my home in the local newspaper?
21. Does the advertising you recommend benefit the sale of our home or your agency?
22. What do you suggest I do to my home before taking it to market?
23. How much advice and assistance will you offer me to prepare my home for sale?
24. What expertise do you have in staging and styling homes?
25. What improvements will bring a return on my investment?
26. What are the risks of showing my property via open for inspection?
27. Will you show my property only for private inspection?
28. How will you follow up with buyers, and how often do you follow them up?
29. How will you ensure only genuine buyers will be entering my home?
30. Will you tell buyers about us and why we are selling?
31. Do you tell buyers what other buyers offer?
32. Do you tell buyers about the other buyers and play them off each other?
33. How will you be sure you've achieved the highest and best offer for our sale?
34. How long do you usually take to sell each property?
35. How often and why will you communicate with me during the sale?
36. How will I know that you have told me the truth along the way?