Choosing a real estate agent to list you home- What are you paying for?

A Brokers Open The first thing you should expect of your real estate broker is a "brokers open," which is part of an open house tour, usually on a week day, held specifically in order for brokers to preview new inventory and familiarize themselves with the features of your home before presenting it to prospects. By the way, homes have been sold during brokers opens by home buyers who stopped in while cruising the neighborhood!

You should also expect him to serve some kind of refreshment. If your agent tells you that it's not worthwhile, that the brokers "only come to eat," tell him or her that's precisely the reason why you expect him to serve something. It's no secret that brokers, like other rational humans, will go where there's food, open houses included.

The marketing of your home is a kind of courtship, and the more suitors who view your home, the more likely you are to sell it- and in a timely fashion. That's why it's so important to price your home correctly, right out of the box. All the food in the world can't help brokers sell an over-priced home.

You're also entitled to a Sunday open house, at least one Sunday a month (we hope it sells in 30 days). Yes. Undoubtedly, you'll get some "nosy neighbors." Let's hope so. Someone who likes his neighborhood enough to go to an open house is the best kind of advertising. Let's also hope that a home buyer who comes to your open house asks your neighbor about the neighborhood- he'll most likely rave! And if the neighbors come to your open because they're thinking of putting their house on the market too, let's make absolutely certain that your house is perfectly priced - so that yours is the one that sells first!

Yes, we understand. You work hard all week and you don't want to have to vacate your home on your day off for an open house. As much as we're sympathetic, open houses are important.

Here in Central New York, industry research suggests a strong correlation between open houses and the reading of real estate ads. That means that open house ads are read, and ads for houses that are for sale, but not open, are not read.

Frequently, those non-open ads are run as a substitute for an open house by an agent who is too busy to hold one. If your agent can't hold it himself, he's responsible for finding an agent who can. Let's also say here that you shouldn't offer to hold it open yourself. That's your agent's job, not yours, and it's one of the reasons he earns his fee-for-service (commission). Another reason (among many) for not holding your own house open for your agent is that it puts you in direct contact with the buyer and his agent. This does not optimize your negotiating position, to say the least.

Internet Knowledge, Expertise, and Presence
Currently, around 70 percent of home buyers do their research on-line. That means that if your house isn't fully available to internet home buyers, it's not being marketed effectively and you're losing buying prospects. Make sure that the agent you choose is internet-saavy and works for an agency that has up-to-the-minute internet capabilities and a staff who can implement them.

Visit the websites of the real estate brokerages in your area and evaluate for yourself the sites' ease of navigation, quality and number of photos, content, appropriate and easy to use links and FAQS. While you're at it, check out ours at www.prudentialfirstproperties.com .

Photos and Virtual Tours
This means that there should be the maximum allowable number of (good quality) photos of your home, interior and exterior, at the very least, and more if the agency's website has the capability to present more photos than the local multiple listing service. At www.prudentialfirstproperties.com , we have the ability to post up to 20 photos.

You should also ask to see the agency's internet posting of your home. That way, if the photos are of poor quality, or, worse still, not there at all, you can hold your agent accountable. A reliable agent will be mortified (our local board fines us if the listing photo is missling) and take care of it immediately. Accidents happen, but follow through to make sure the omission was corrected.

Depending upon the competition, market price, and other factors, it may be in your best interest to ask for a virtual tour. As a rule, the more expensive the home, the more this is true. It goes without saying that a virtual tour of a home that's not in tip top condition is more likely to turn buyers away than bring them in. This is also true of still photos. If you haven't maintained the front of your property, you can't blame your realtor for a bad photo. If you don't like what you see, neither will a prospective buyer. Do what's necessary, and request that your realtor take a new picture.

It's also true that it's entirely reasonable that the agent who spends out of pocket to pay for your home's virtual tour asks you to extend your listing contract. After all, you're asking for him or her to commit to extra marketing expense, it's only reasonable that he or she have the extra marketing time that a more expensive home frequently requires.

Make sure you get to see the "Realtor's View Residential Listing Sheet" for your home. This is your opportunity to make sure that all the information on the listing is correct, and that your home is presented in the best possible light. We hope your agent has some flair when it comes to writing copy, as well as a good and accurate sense of direction so that agents can find it - without getting lost! You have the right to hold your agent responsible for correct directions to your property.

Things to think about before you sign a contract with a realtor!

There are a lot of things to consider when you choose a realtor and his agency, and first and foremost among them is your pototential agent's sense of personal responsibility and ownership in the listing of your property.

Personal Commitment and Focus on Your Home
Particularly as home prices soften and inventory increases, your first instinct may be to hire an agent who already has a lot of listings. Choosing someone who seems to have blanketed the market with signs is a natural reaction, but it's not necessarily in your best interest to do so.

In the first place, the more listings an agent has, the more difficult it will be for him or her to focus his marketing effort on your property, especially if the agent has many listings that are comparable to yours.

We know of a case where an agent had two virtually identical homes at virtually the same price, and not only were they in the same neighborhood, they were right next door to each other!!! An agent in this situation may try to sell you on the idea that any buyer who comes to see one property will invariably look at the other, but that would be true in any case, no matter which agent or company had the listing next door.

If the listings are substantially different--for example, one is a ranch and the other a colonial, or one has 1500 square feet and the other 2500, or one is priced $50K to 100K over the other, then they aren't comparable, and then it's an advantage to have both houses listed by the same office because of the extra attention your particular street will receive from that company, and because the sellers of one house won't be competing with the sellers of the other house for the same pool of buyers.

But if both houses have the same number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square feet, and are close in price, how can one agent possibly market both homes equally? He can't, any more than he could marry two people or vote for two candidates for the same office.

Bottom line, think about how you'll feel if your agent sells your neighbor's house first. Believe me, you won't like it, especially when the house that sells first will almost certainly be perceived as somehow superior, and people start wondering what might be the reason that your house still hasn't sold. The pressure to drop the price will be strong, and not unreasonably so.

Think about it: if the house next door sells first, then the next buyer may well perceive that your house is worth less, irrespective of the current listing price. If there are two nearly identical pairs of pants in the store and one pair sells and one doesn't, the merchant will eventually lower the price of the second pair.

So, if the agent already has a listing on your street, ask this question:
"If I list with you, how can you assure me that you'll devote your full marketing efforts toward the sale of my home?"

If the agent can demonstrate how the other home differes substantially from yours in several aspects, then you can make an informed decision. It may also be to your advantage to investigate the other listing yourself, to see how a prospective buyer would compare them. If the agent can't satisfy you that your house won't be competing for the same pool of buyers, you should keep interviewing.