How to Hire a Realtor

Selling your home can be a challenging process especially if it is your first time. You can ease the stress associated with selling a home by selecting a realtor that can aid you through the process. Here’s how to hire a realtor to ensure you experience is a positive one.

Instructions

1. Ask friends and neighbors for recommendations. If you have never bought or sold a home chances are you are unfamiliar with the realtors in your city. The best way to find good ones is to ask your neighbors and friends for who they would recommend. This should be able to give you at least a few names of realtors that you can check out before choosing a specific one to represent you.

2. Hold a meeting with potential realtors. When choosing a realtor you should have a few different options. Find three or four that you can meet with at your home if you are selling it since this allows you to walk through it and discuss how they can best market your home and represent you. During this meeting you will want to make sure you ask questions or voice any concerns you have about selling your home, and see how the realtor responds to them.

3. Ask for references, information or statistics. Realtors should be able to provide you with the number of homes they sold last year, what neighborhoods they generally work in and more when you are meeting with them. Asking about this will help you in choosing a specific one. Of course you will also want to make sure to ask about their price for selling their home.

4. Pick a realtor. After you have met with a few different realtors and learned more about them, you can pick one to represent you and your home. There is no magic formula for which one is the best fit, thus you should carefully consider what information the realtor has provided as well as their overall price and your gut instincts.

5. Sign a contract. The final step in hiring a realtor to sell your home is to sign a contract. This is something that you need to be extremely careful about since it lays out the agreement in writing between you and the realtor. You should pay particular attention to portions of the contract dealing with commissions for the realtor as well as those discussing canceling the contract or changing realtors. You want to ensure that you pay commission after the house has closed and that you only pay it once even if your switch agents.