Powerful and Insightful Questions to ask a Real Estate Agent (Before you sign anything):

1. How many years have you been in the Real Estate Business?
2. How many homes have you sold in your career? Can you prove it?
3. What is your educational background before your real estate career? What are your professional designations and what do they mean? What awards have you won for performance?
4. Do you offer any guarantees? What are they?
5. Do you have any testimonial letters from previous clients that I can see?
6. May I call some of your past clients?
7. What kind of experience and training do you have in negotiating?
8. Can I get out of the listing if I'm not pleased with your services? Without a hassle?
9. Do you have a WRITTEN Marketing Plan for marketing my property? Can I have a copy?
10. May I see your resume?
11. Where does your company rank among other companies in the area?
12. Are you a member of the National Association of Realtors? Are you a member of the local board? Why should that be important to me?
13. Are you a member of the MLS? What exactly is that and how is that important to me?
14. Does your company have a well known logo that people would quickly recognize in order to bring more and quicker attention to my property?
15. Is your company large or small? Does that make a difference to me? How?
16. Will you work with me if I am not referred by someone?
17. Do you stay in touch with me from the beginning of the listing until the closing? How often? In What way?
18. Do you personally spend money for advertising? Does your company spend money on advertising? Where? How Often?
19. How "High tech" is your business? Do you have your own computer? How many computers do you have in your office? How advanced are your software programs?
20. Do you advertise on the Internet? How does that work?
21. What support systems do you have in place?
22. Do you do anything to prepare a house for the market? What?
23. Do you have a plan for marketing within as well as outside of the real estate profession? What is it?
24. How much time and money are you willing to invest in marketing my home?
25. Do you do direct mailings for your listings? To whom? How many? How often?
26. Do you do Open Houses? What Kind? How do you prepare for them to maximize their effectiveness?
27. Do you prepare professional flyers detailing the amenities and highlights of the home to be given to prospective buyers who come into the house?
28. Will you personally be there when contracts are presented to handle all the negotiations?
29. If you advertise my home on the Internet, how will customers find your site?
30. Do you have personal statistics regarding your sale price to listing price ratios for your listings? How about marketing time averages compared to the average agent in the multi-list? May I see this information?