Know what to ask when an agent tries to sell you their skills!

Knowing what the real estate agent is pitching.

We have talked about how to work through finding the right real estate agent for your needs in past shows. Today, we take a real life example of a situation where an agent makes a claim that seem focused on the kind of results you are looking for. However, the devil is in the details and there are questions you should ask to help pin down whether or not an agent can actually deliver the goods.

In this case, an agent has approached someone and explains how they have managed to sell a home for the highest price ever in that community! That is great news, right? I mean you want to sell your home for the highest possible price, don’t you? Now an agent trying to earn your business by showing off an achievement like this is completely valid. But, does it really mean that they achieved something amazing for their client?

To know for sure, you need to ask more questions.

If the market is generally favoring sellers, as it is now, how much of that success came from the market and how much from what the agent did? If you look at the comparable homes that sold, do this agents claims really “beat the market”? In the show today, we will cover these additional questions you should ask to drill down and discover if this agent actually is achieving the kind of results you would want from the sale of your home.

Expectations of a “Top 1%” agent.

To make it even more interesting, this real world example involves a “Top 1%” agent. For long time listeners, you know and understand my issues with what the real estate industry sells as the criteria for what makes a “Top 1%” agent. In fact, it is probably worth doing a new and improved show on the “Top 1%” lie in real estate.

The short version is that these “Top” real estate agents measure that success in terms that do NOT indicate they will get you the best results. Somehow, the real estate business has convinced the public that the number of homes an agent sells or the total value of the homes they have sold is somehow linked to the quality of the work and the results that a buyer or seller can expect from their real estate agent. The bad news, is that the opposite tends to be true.

In addition to the usual questions (which I have linked to in this show), we will be covering some follow ups to ask when your prospective real estate agent is saying the right things.

Using the example for todays show, we can help you decide if paying an agent a premium for their services is worth it to you. Usually, unless you really do not want to handle any of these items yourself, it is not worth it to let your self be charged more.