choosing a selling agent

[georgeharrison]

We are hoping to sell for the first time.  None of the local referrals we received are going to work out, so we are pretty much just finding someone using google.  

I believe I have heard/read that it's okay to "shop" selling agents.  I plan to meet with three people this week.  This is okay, right?  It's not weird to have them in my house, have them give me info, and then say I will let them know?

[thatgirl2478]

When we decided to sell we brought in 3 different realtors - the lady we eventually went with, a lady from another MAJOR realty group (excellent photos, did the photo/floor plan walk through vs the photo video), and a man who was 100% unaffiliated.

The realtor we selected charged 6% split, the other lady charged 7% split and the guy charged 5% and would drop it to 4% if you bought & sold with him.

We didn't go with the guy because his photos were HORRIBLE and because it would be relatively difficult to get a buyer realtor to work with you for 2 or 2.5% when they are used to working for 3/3.5%. We didn't go with the high end lady because she wasn't flexible on her pricing and we just didn't click with her.

All of the realtors had the same marketing ideas - photos on all the websites, open house after the first week on the market, putting it on their various facebook pages and in the local newspapers. Honestly, there's not that much they can do aside from giving you a good picture of the market to determine list price. (and honestly, all 3 realtors we spoke with were relatively close to the same price - however the higher lady thought that we should list around 10-15k lower than we ended up at because she was using comps on the other side of town where the school district is significantly worse).

To answer your question - no they expect you to 'interview' multiple realtors.  It's not weird at all.

[Pom]

Yes, interview multiple REA and be sure to find a good fit. Make sure you review their proposal for marketing your home (check other listings), talk about how communication is handled and how often.

[UnderProtest]

YES, shop around and make sure you get someone who knows your neighborhood. We talked to two realtors and got vastly different information on pricing and staging. We went with the one whose signs were all over the neighborhood (despite both living in the neighborhood). We ended up selling in two days for 30K more than the other one wanted to list the house for.

[mdgirl]

We just sold at the end of last year and we interviewed two agents. They both completely understood and were fine with it. One is the woman who sort of owns the neighborhood from a listing standpoint, and the other one we remembered from when we were looking for houses because we had been impressed with his marketing. So that would be my tip--if you talked to any listing agents when you were house hunting who stuck out to you for one reason or another look them up.

[sadlebred]

No matter who you go with, I suggest you get a real estate photographer to take professional photos. Your realtor should be able to recommend 1 or 2. Look online at the listings with their photos to get a feel for what they do. It's not usually more than $300-400. Some photographers take pictures of 4-5 houses/day.