HOW TO CHOOSE A MARKETING AGENT

Please click on Links for Sellers for answers to many questions.

HINT:  These are reasons you need to talk to Mary Sheridan, Realty Executives in Johnson City

Moving is stressful, even when you're going toward something good - the new job, the move-up home as your family grows, getting nearer your children, etc.    If you're moving for less happy reasons, it's even more stressful.   One way to lessen the stress is to choose the right agent.

You want someone who is serious about the task - a full-time, well-trained agent who knows a lot about a lot of things.    Your agent needs to know more than how to get a listing and put it in MLS.   That's minimal. 

Key skills your agent must have if you get what you're paying for:
* Knowledge of the local market to help you set the best price and have realistic expectations
* Experience - Both training and experience are crucial to success for you and the agent.
* Full-time dedication to the needs of her clients.  
* Compatible personality - you'll be almost family for a while as she helps you decide how to best stage your home, cope with showings, keep you informed, keep you comfortable.
* Negotiation skills:  Getting an interested buyer (with or without another agent) is just the beginning.   This takes training and lots of experience.
* Good priorities.   If your agent has too many listings or too many buyers, your main contact may be with an assistant, who may or may not be as knowledgeable or as reachable as you'd like.
* Patience and persistence.    In this market, things may not happen as quickly as either or you would like.  Will the agent keep on keeping on with a variety of creative advertising methods?
* Networking.   An agent who is known and trusted by other agents will have an easier time getting feedback, getting agents to show her properties, negotiating offers.  

* Training - from company and various professional organizations.   Some that add value:
      GRI - Graduate Realtor Institute - usually the first professional designation serious agents earn
      CRS - Certified Residential Specialist - Good training for helping both sellers and buyers
      ABR - Accredited Buyer Representative - Knows how buyers think, how to meet their needs, which is essential to meeting yours.    (And ABRs who show your property will be easier for your agent to work with.)     
      SRES - Senior Real Estate Specialist - If you're a senior, it helps if younger agents have earned this designation.   Experienced older agents may well  already have the necessary skills without taking the additional training. 

E-PRO - This one is increasingly important - internet marketing is crucial and this the best way to improve those skills.    Ask the agent you're interviewing for addresses of current listings.   Google them and see how easily they're found on the web and how attractively they're presented.   Look at their personal web sites in detail, to see both how they'll market your property and how they'll attract buyers who might want it.    Information and organization are the keys, as well as  SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so their good information gets found.

Ask about web resources they use regularly - REALTOR.com Featured Homes, Point2NLS listings, a personal real estate site (look at it in detail), blogging, etc.  

The agent who says, "I'll put it in MLS and on the internet" isn't saying nearly enough.   Every listing automatically goes from MLS to Realtor.com - the issue is how thoroughly and attractively and where else it goes.