How to Choose a Listing Agent to Sell Your Home

One of the first things you want to do to get your home sold is to hire a Listing Agent. Listing Agents (or what some call Seller’s Agents) are agents who look out for the best interests of the sellers, perform tasks required to sell the property and guide sellers through the real estate process.

Here are five tips to help you choose a Listing Agent to sell your home:

1. Find a Listing Agent who blogs. Reading his/her blog posts gives you a feel for who this agent is and his/her level of knowledge about the local real estate market.

2. Consider one with a CRS and/or GRI designation. CRS means Certified Residential Specialist, and GRI means Graduate, REALTOR® Institute. While this does not  guarantee the agent knows more than other agents in the area, it does show that the agent is interested in learning.

3. Ask for their marketing plan. How much and what type of advertising will they do for your property? Do they have a website? On what other websites will they promote your home? Will they create a video of your home? Where will they post it online?

4. Ask for their opinions on the local real estate market. You want to hear their opinions and see the data they’ve gathered. The more information the better because it shows their level of knowledge.

5. Ask what you need to do before putting your home on the market. You want an agent who can tell you what needs to be fixed, repaired, cleaned and changed in order to sell your home faster and for more money.

Links:

Listing Agent

http://homebuying.about.com/od/buyingahome/qt/1or2agtsbuysell.htm

Graduate, REALTOR® Institute

http://www.realtor.org/designations-and-certifications/gri-designation/value-of-a-gri-designation

Marketing plan

Link to your marketing plan or link to:

http://homebuying.about.com/od/sellingahouse/tp/markethome.htm