Not all real estate agents are the same. If you decide to seek the help of an agent when selling or buying your home, you need some good information before you make any moves.

Picking the right agent is one of those critical issues that can cost or save you thousands of dollars. There are very specific questions you should be asking to ensure that you get the best representation for your needs. Many agents would prefer that you don't ask these questions, because the knowledge you'll gain from their honest answers will give you a very good idea about what outcome you can expect from using this agent. And let's face it - in real estate, as in life - not all things are created equal.

Hiring a real estate agent is just like any hiring process - with you on the bosses side of the desk. It's critical that you make the right decision about who will handle what is probably the single largest financial investment you will ever make.

Fact: With 1.3 million members, the National Association of Realtors? (NAR) is the largest trade association in the United States.

Fact: Realtors? (i.e., members of NAR) constitute about half the population of people who are licensed to sell real estate in the United States.

Fact: As a home seller with almost 2.5 million agents to choose from, you should be able to find a qualified agent to help you.

Finding the Best
The first step in choosing an agent is figuring out where to find the good ones, and there’s no better place than right outside your door. Seriously. Take a walk or a drive around the neighborhood and check out the For Sale signs. Are there a lot from certain companies? Are their signs well-maintained, are their fliers or other marketing materials available, and do SOLD signs go up in days, weeks, or hardly ever? Or, to put it another way, if an agent isn’t actively marketing his or her other properties, chances are he or she won’t be much more committed to you.

HOWEVER: you should also be aware of the "bait and switch" nature of certain mega-producing agents. This is the phenomenon that has Joe Citizen hiring Jane Superstar to sell his home, only to find himself handed off to young Chad or Heather, after the initial meet-and-greet with Ms. Superstar. The fact is, Superstar is an agent maintaining such sales volume that common sense should tell Joe that Superstar can't give every home a whole lot of her personal attention. If Joe's selling something priced in the top 5 percentile of Joe's market, he'll get the Superstar treatment. Otherwise... who knows?

THEREFORE: the best strategy is to try and identify the agent who has a proven track record for selling listings while not delegating almost everything to a junior associate.

You can also:

Stop by open houses for other homes on the market. It’s a good way to meet agents in a casual atmosphere, collect business cards, and see how friendly, informative, and professional they are. Is the agent hosting the open house the same agent whose name is on the listing?

Check out the Web sites of the companies you come across. Are they well-designed, with good photos, virtual tours, and home descriptions that are enticing but not overly embellished? How intrusive are they? That is, do they seem more concerned with learning all about you than they are about providing useful information?

Get recommendations from mortgage lenders, appraisers, and other professionals who regularly work with real estate agents. At the same time, however, be aware that all of these professionals will likely refer the folks that refer them. Still, taken with a healthy skepticism, "asking around" is always a good idea.

Ask friends, relatives, or co-workers who have sold homes about their experiences. Would they work with the same agent again? This is probably the best bet of all. Real estate agents generally enjoy dismal rates of return business. Because if anything at all goes wrong during a transaction, the agent is likely to suffer guilt by association in the consumer's mind - regardless of how well that agent may actually have performed. So, when people are happy enough to suggest their agents, then that's - statistically - really saying something.

Of course, if any of those friends, relatives, or co-workers recommend themselves, thank them for their interest and let them know it’s not personal. It’s business. You have to qualify them just as you would any other agent; they might work even harder for you because of your relationship, but if they aren't good agents you are better off going with someone who has great references.

How to Choose
So, you’ve narrowed your search to just a few agents (not bad, considering there were 2.5 million or so to choose from). Now it’s time to interview a few ? we recommend at least three ? to determine exactly who’s going to get the privilege of selling your home. There are hundreds of questions you can ask, but it's good to narrow them down before your interviews begin.

When a High Price Is a Bad Deal
Let’s say you interview three real estate agents and one suggests a listing price substantially higher than the other two. Maybe that agent is a truly exceptional salesperson. Or maybe he or she doesn’t really know the market. Or maybe they’re doing what’s known as “buying the listing.” Less-than-scrupulous real estate agents know that a high price is music to a seller’s ears. And in the worst case scenario, they may lure you into signing a contract, knowing they’ll still get their commission once you’ve been forced to drop the price to a more reasonable level.

A good agent, on the other hand, will help you set a price that reflects the market ? high enough to maximize your profit, but not so high that it scares off buyers. Conversely, if an agent has consistently sold homes for less than their listing price, it’s worth finding out why.

Cautionary Note: Beware of the market superstars that will only take listings priced below market value. They are like the surgeons who decline difficult procedures simply because they won't risk jeopardizing their winning numbers. The superstar agents usually don't take listings that might slow their winning momentum. Ask for a "CMA" (Comparative Market Analysis). And scrutinize the comparable properties your agent chose to use in the CMA. It's not unreasonable to ask your agent to list your home at the higher end of the range if you're willing to tolerate a longer time on market. Every agent knows that sales are mostly a product of price and time. If your agent is not willing to invest the additional time and effort needed to market a modestly over-priced home, even if you are, then you and the agent - obviously - have somewhat different priorities.

Real Life Example...

Who: Jennifer, who just decided to sell her home.

The agent: Leah, a former co-worker who'd gone into real estate after moving to another town.
What happened: Leah called Jennifer and said, “Let me sell your home for you. I know you, you know me, and I know how to get you a good price.” Jennifer, who had already been dreading the idea of finding an agent on her own, was only too glad to sign a listing contract.

Oops: There was just one problem. Leah was no longer familiar with the local market and priced the house a few notches above similar homes in the area.
Outcome: After several months with few lookers and no offers, the contract expired ? along with what remained of Jennifer and Leah’s friendship.

Unless you’ve sold a home before, the prospect of selecting a real estate agent can be pretty intimidating. And if you have sold a home before, you probably already know that the agent you choose can make the experience pleasant or painful and profitable or not.

You cannot single out any agent whether new or seasoned, there are benefits to both. Seasoned agents have recognition and have been in the industry for the ups and downs, while most of the time knowing how to market and expose a property, where as newer agents might not be as fluent in the process of selling a home they usually have a mentor to assist them that has been in the industry for sometime to supervise them through the process and make sure everything goes right, most newer agents are just as motivated if not more motivated then bigger agents to sell a home because they want to get their feet wet and create a name for themselves. My best advice is to make sure you choose to work with an agent that you feel you can trust as well as comfortably work with. And do not forget you want to make sure you have an agent that knows the area you live in, your homes time on the market is critical, not knowing the area can cost you time and money.

Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Listing Agent

Agent Experience
How long have you been selling real estate?
How many homes did you sell last year (as a seller’s agent rather than as a buyer’s agent)?
Of the homes you sold last year (again, as a seller’s agent), what was the average number of days between the original listing and an accepted offer?
What is the average ratio between the listing price and the selling price?
What is your experience with my particular neighborhood?

Marketing Plan
How do you propose to market my house? Open houses, previews for agents, yard signs, listings on one or more Multiple Listing Services?
At open houses: will you be there to interact with potential buyers, or will you send an assistant to sit my open house?
What advertising will you do & why? Online ads, newspaper ads, direct mail?
What sort of Web marketing can I expect? Photos, virtual tours, links to other Web sites?
Do you take professional-grade photographs (or work with actual professional photographers) so potential buyers can see numerous great photos of my home?
How often do you expect to communicate with me regarding inquiries and other buyer interest?

Personal Info
Do you consider yourself readily accessible? Evenings, weekends, by cell phone or beeper?
Do you expect to be out of the office while my home is listed (vacation, etc.)?
If so, who will be handling the listing in your absence?
Can you provide (at least) three references?

Money Matters
What do you think my home is worth, and how do you determine your valuations?
What is your fee structure? Commission, flat-fee, a la carte? Do you recommend one or another?
What do the fees include and, perhaps more important, what don’t they include (e.g., document preparation, etc.)?
“That’s a hunk of change” (or something to that effect). Why do you believe you’re worth it?

That last one, by the way, is something of a trick question. Ultimately, you’re not looking for hard and fast answers, but rather, how your interviewees respond. If they have trouble answering, hem and haw, or take offense, it may shed some light on what sort of future relationship you may have. If their responses (or lack thereof) make you uncomfortable, things probably won’t improve down the road.

If, on the other hand, you like what you hear, you’re just about ready to sign on the dotted line.