How to Hire the Right Realtor to Sell Your Home
How to Hire the Right Realtor to Sell Your Home
Learning what makes a good realtor can feel overwhelming, but with the right information, the discovery process can be seamless. The best place to start is with you: the seller. Understanding your priorities for selling your home will give you a strong foundation for choosing a realtor who’s right for you. Whether you’re looking to sell your home quickly or for the highest price, knowing how to pick the right realtor will help maximize your selling potential. Here, we break down what you need to know and how NurtureSource can help.
Agents By the Numbers
Before learning how to pick a realtor to sell your home (also called a listing agent), it’s important to learn what makes the best agents. The top 15% to 20% of agents outperform all others by a significant margin, and these are the ones you should consider working with to maximize your selling potential. Top listing agents at premium brokerages know how to attract other top agents and their buyer clients, resulting in better outcomes for home sales.
Asking the Right Questions
Empowering yourself with information will help you identify a listing agent who’s best equipped to help you sell your home. Here are the main questions to ask when searching for the right realtor:
How much of the process does the agent handle for me vs. how much do I have to take on? (i.e. how comprehensive is their service?)
Are they juggling too many home sales, leaving less time for mine?
Are they a value-creating agent or a transaction agent?
Are they familiar with selling in my geographic location?
What is their strategy for marketing (staging, photo quality, property website, agent network, market timing, network outreach, open houses, support from brokerage)?
Do they understand the buyer profile in my area and how to position my home, including a renovation strategy, to best suit that buyer?
Find A Resourceful Agent
The best seller’s agent is resourceful and driven to get the best value for your home with the lowest possible investment. When searching, consider your agent’s thought process for creating value. Strategic, pre-listing investments can make a big difference in the sale price of a home by creating value. The right realtor knows the market and geographic landscape and will match home upgrade recommendations with what they know buyers in your area are looking for.
You’ll also want a listing agent with a deep pool of resources. They can use their trusted network to help source licensed contractors, organized project managers, and expert interior designers and stagers, plus professional photographers and media companies to share your home with buyers.
In addition to a trusted network, a good realtor values transparency and communication. They prioritize alignment in their client relationships with a focus on you, the seller, and what you’d like to see in an offer.
How NurtureSource Can Help
At NurtureSource, we understand the context and landscape of what makes a good realtor. We’ve worked with hundreds of Bay Area agents and we’ve seen what makes the most successful realtors expert sellers. In addition to our design and renovation services to maximize your home’s value, we can also connect you with our highly curated network of top agents.
We take pride in sharing our vast knowledge about the complicated world of selling and will make sure you’re armed with best practices, like shopping on service instead of price—especially because commissions at non-discount brokerages are generally the same. Our goal is to partner with you to give you the information and resources to make the right decisions throughout your selling journey. Schedule an introductory call and let us know how we can help.
