Important Questions to Ask Your Real Estate Agent
Whether you’re trying to sell an inherited house, you’re thinking of moving, or you need to sell your house fast, finding a real estate agent is only the first step. Everyone’s reason for selling their home is unique to their situation, but the desire for a stress-free sales process is universal.
At Bill Buys Houses in Minneapolis, our investors and licensed realtors specialize in helping homeowners sell their homes quickly so they can move on with their lives. This blog post will share important questions to ask your real estate agent or realtor during a home sale.
Keep these questions handy when you’re getting ready to sell your home!
1. How Are You Compensated?
Make sure you understand exactly how your real estate agent will be compensated before hiring them. Typically, real estate agents are paid by commission based on the percentage of the overall selling price. Ordinarily, real estate agents’ fees are paid by the seller. This commission is then split with the buyers’ real estate agent.
This fee can vary according to many factors, including brokerage, market, and region. Find out ahead of time how your agent will be compensated so you can go into the process knowing what to expect.
At Bill Buys Houses, you won’t have to pay any realtor fees or commissions because you’re working directly with investors. We pay all of the closing costs, so you won’t have to pay any out-of-pocket expenses. Because our walkthroughs are obligation-free, we’re happy to come out and generate a cash offer completely free of charge.
2. Do You Sell Homes on a Full-Time Basis?
Many home sellers prefer to work with a realtor or real estate agent who works in real estate full-time rather than a part-time agent. Some real estate agents pursue real estate part-time and may have less time to help you sell your home fast.
When you partner with Bill Buys Houses, you’re working with full-time investors. You can expect your home to be sold quickly because all we do is buy homes.
3. How Long Do Your Sales Usually Take?
Ask your real estate agent how long they usually work with clients, from the first time you meet to the closing table. You don’t want to end up with your home sitting on the market for months, especially if you’re trying to sell your home fast.
There are some external market factors that can alter the length of time a home stays on the market. However, it would help if you steered clear of an agent who isn’t selling homes in a reasonable time frame.
If you’re under pressure to sell your home in a short time frame, our team at Bill Buys Houses can help. Our closing process can typically be completed within a week.
4. Where Can I Check Your Reviews?
Whether you’re hiring a new hairdresser or looking for a car lot to buy from, you’re probably going to check out their reviews online first. Reviews can reveal a good deal about a company or service, like whether they’re trustworthy and what to expect when using their service.
Just as you wouldn’t hire a doctor without checking out their reviews first, be sure to read up on your realtor or real estate agency to find out what others are saying about them. Our many satisfied reviews show that our Bill Buys Houses customers are raving about our fast closings, honest advice, and fair prices.
Check out our reviews to find out why Minnesotans love working with Bill Buys Houses!
5. What Is The Process for Selling My Home?
When you work with a real estate agent or realtor to sell your home, you can expect the process to be somewhat long and complicated. Make sure you understand exactly what to expect from start to finish if you’re getting ready to list your home.
You’ll need to find out about the showing process. Will you need to make special arrangements when your home is shown? What will the staging process involve? Will you need to put some of your belongings into storage? Next, ask about home inspections. Find out if you’ll need to make any changes to your home to make it ready to sell. Finally, find out about the closing process.
When you sell your home to Bill Buys Houses, you’ll start by calling our office or submitting an online form to get an offer. We’ll set up a walkthrough to assess your home’s value and provide an accurate quote.
To put together your quote, we usually take two to three days. Once you’ve accepted our offer, we’ll issue a cashier’s check or deposit a check in your account. The entire process usually takes about a week from start to finish.
6. How Did You Arrive at Your Suggested List Price?
It’s not enough for a real estate agent to suggest a selling price for your property without telling you how he arrived at that price. Setting your price at the right asking price plays a key role in influencing your offer price and ability to sell quickly.
When you ask this question, you want to know if the real estate agent has enough knowledge to justify the price when negotiating with a potential buyer. Whatever reason he gives for arriving at that price must stem from comparative data analysis (CDA) in the price of listings.
At Bill Buys Houses, we usually present a price for your property after we must have carried out a CDA. A CDA helps us compare your house to the recently sold houses and gives us further reason why any price we give you is justified.
7. What Needs to Be Done to Get My Home Ready for Sale?
If you want to maximize your chances of selling your house at a good price, do not forget to ask this question. The appearance of your home at the point of sale matters a lot and determines how fast and how much buyers are willing to pay. Do not make the mistake of spending money on irrelevances.
A good agent should be able to walk around your home and provide you with a list of what needs to be done to raise the value of your home. The end goal is to make sure that you spend less on what really matters most.
However, if you do not intend to spend a dime on your house, that’s not an issue as you can still sell your home as is toBill Buys Houses.
8. How Many Homes Have You Sold?
Asking a real estate agent this question will help you to determine how long they have been in the business and the experience they bring to the table.
Working with an agent with limited experience will negatively impact how much you may earn from your property and how fast your home is sold.
You can also ask to see the portfolio of their homes sold. This question lets you know how fast and how often they sell.
9. Can I Cancel Our Agreement?
Agreements are meant to bind both the seller and the real estate agent for at least six months. This question should suffice, especially if you want to sell your home as soon as possible.
After signing an agreement with you, some agents list your property and go to sleep. Of course, they know that they are entitled to their commission whenever the property is sold and do not bother to commit to marketing the property. This can delay the sale of your home, which could be to your detriment.
However, this question can test the integrity of the agent you want to sign a contract with. If the answer is not an outright yes, then the agent does not have the integrity to keep to his promise of selling your property fast.
A real estate company with a strong history in the real estate industry would say ‘yes’ if you threw this question at them.
10. What Marketing Strategies Do You Use?
Your agent will need to conduct some marketing research to sell your property fast. Try to find out where they promote their listing on the internet.
Ask the agent what digital and print marketing methods they employ and any other marketing channels they use. The answers to this question will give you a clue about how committed they are to quickly selling their clients’ properties.
Sell Your Home Fast in Minneapolis
If you love the idea of selling your home fast without the hassle of staging or showing your home for weeks or even months, Bill Buys Houses can help. When you sell your house directly to Bill and our team of investors, you get to skip the hard part of selling a home.
Contact us online or call to request an offer at 651-270-9191!