Before you list your home, make sure your agent has the track record, marketing strategy, and responsiveness needed to sell.

Before you list your home, there’s one decision that matters more than most people realize: hiring the right agent to represent your property.

More often than not, many people think all agents provide the same service. We all help people buy and sell houses, but that’s where the common threads end. To get the best results, you need the best person for the job.

Here are five specific things you should look at before you sign any contract:

1. Check their Google Reviews. Google reviews are a preview of how an agent promotes themselves. If they don't have many reviews or their ranking is low, it tells you a lot about their digital presence.

If an agent cannot successfully promote their own business in this market, how can you trust them to promote your property?

2. Verify the list-to-sale ratio. Anyone can list a home on the market, but actually selling it requires marketing skills that many agents simply don't have. A listing agent usually operates at a higher level than a buyer's agent, so you need to see their stats.

"Anyone can list a home, but selling it takes strategy, marketing, and experience"

You can look up these numbers on sites like HomeLight.com. For context, our team maintains a 99% list-to-sale ratio. You want to find an agent who actually closes the deals they start.

3. Audit their advertising. A lot of agents will promise to run ads for you, but are they actually doing it? You don't have to take their word for it.

You can go to the Meta Ads Library for free. Just search for the agent’s business Facebook account. You can see every active ad they are running, just like you could for big brands like Nike or Ford. If their library is empty, they aren't running the ads they promised.

4. Test their response time. How fast do they answer the phone? Communication speed is everything. In today’s market, if it takes longer than 15 minutes to return a call, you are 21 times less likely to get that person back on the line. That is a missed opportunity. When selling your home, we cannot afford to miss even one lead.

5. Look at recent sales volume. Check their recent activity on Zillow. Some agents sold a lot of homes five or ten years ago, but their priorities have changed, and they’ve slowed down.

Think about it this way: if a mechanic only worked on one car a month, would you consider them a professional or a hobbyist? Most agents are, unfortunately, hobbyists. When you are selling your biggest asset, you don't want a hobbyist; you want a professional whose career depends on their results.

If you have any questions about how to vet your next agent, you can reach out through our contact form, give us a call at (855) 935-6673, or email us at [email protected]. We believe you should expect more and get more from your real estate experience.