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Step One in the home selling process is to hire a real estate agent.
Before selling your Northern Virginia home you’ll need to find and interview real estate agents. From there you’ll discuss your plans and goals before finally hiring an agent to list your property.
How to hire a Northern Virginia Real Estate Agent
What is the first step in selling your Northern Virginia home?
Let’s face it.
You’ll probably begin your search online. There are numerous websites like Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor.com available that can show you how much your neighbors are selling their homes for or at least the list price.
The internet is just a starting point for determining market value. Sadly, these websites often have incomplete information and lack adequate reviews.
I’ve got news for you.
Many of these real estate portals fail to maintain up-to-date information about recent Northern Virginia home sale figures, sales statuses, and more. Often times these sites may not even include the square footage making it challenging to make an accurate comparison.
What’s more For Sale by Owners (FSBO) and Pocket Listings (a home that is not listed in the MLS) may be entirely unrepresented on these websites.
Simply stated:
The purpose of these websites is not to provide you with accurate information to make the best real estate decision. They are designed to treat you like a prospect and generate leads for the real estate agents and professionals marketing on their platform.
In fact, online lead generation websites make hundreds of millions of dollars every year off of unsuspecting home sellers and buyers.
Do you find that SURPRISING?
Check out a property on any website I mentioned at the top of this post. Look at the right, left or scroll to the bottom of any webpage.
Do you see how they conveniently located three to four agents with beautiful headshot photos next to the property listing?
What does that mean for you?
They are not concerned with providing you with quality information to help you make the best decision but instead are selling your contact information to the highest bidder.
The first step to selling your home in Northern Virginia should be finding and hiring a local real estate agent to represent your best interest.
Interview Agents
Where can you find the best Northern Virginia Real Estate agent?
Hopefully, you’ll reach out to us at 703-539-2053 or [email protected].
After the selection process, set up initial phone interviews. Be sure to pay particular attention to how quickly the agent responds to your request. These small details will give insight into how responsive they will be as your representative.
What is an ideal response time to telephone inquiries? Responses should be within 2-3 hours, the faster, the better.
During your initial phone screening, find out the depth of what your professional knows about your neighborhood. Ask about the agent’s experience in the local area.
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At Ask A Walker, we call this interview a consultation because we ask several questions during the meeting.
And, once we meet, you can determine if we’ll be a good fit to work together. Selling your home will be a working partnership, and we want to make sure we are compatible and share the same goals for the sale of your house.
Be prepared to answer some questions about the home, such as how much owed on the mortgage and if you plan to make any repairs.
At your face-to-face consultation, ask questions you’d ask an employee or future business partner. The real estate agent will be working for and with you. You should not be the only person answering questions. (For a list of questions to ask, click here).
If you feel comfortable with this initial interview, ask for a Competitive Market Analysis (CMA). The CMA is a side-by-side comparison of homes for sale and homes that have recently sold in the same neighborhood and price range. Ask them how they came to the figures in the CMA, look at the comparable homes they used.
My point here is:
Don’t be afraid to question properties they’ve chosen on the CMA. These questions help you get into alignment on the right price for your house.
Ask about the average Days on Market (DOM) for your area. Ask them what fees they charge for their marketing services, and what they cover.
Listen, watch out for agents that charge excessive fees for administrative support. Admin fees are the latest trend in our industry. Agents are hiding these costs in the additional terms section of the listing agreement. Be sure to ask the agent questions about this fee at the appointment or on the phone.
I say this over and over and people still don’t seem to get it:
The consultation is the time to discuss your minimum needs, timeframe, and hash out details regarding your goals for the transaction. Share as much information as possible to help the agent you select guide you in the right direction.
Hire a Real Estate Agent
Finally, be prepared to sign on with the real estate agent you’ve chosen. There will be a few legal forms to sign before the real estate agent takes the listing.
These forms protect all parties to the transaction and ensure your protection from certain liabilities. These also authorize the real estate agent to do their job on your behalf.
Do you have a property in Northern Virginia you would like to sell? We can help sell your property! Call 703-539-2053 to discuss your home’s value or receive your free home value report done by an experienced Northern Virginia Realtor®. We are here to help you with all of your Northern Virginia real estate needs.
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Are you ready to start the home selling process?
Send us an email to [email protected] or call (703)539-2053
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