Most people hire a realtor the way they pick a restaurant they drive past. A yard sign, a Zillow ad, or whoever a coworker used one time. We did it differently, and only because my brother Damien is a realtor in Oregon and we were selling in Florida. He could not list the house for us, so he did the next best thing. He interviewed about 15 agents on our behalf, cut it to a final three, and we met those three in person and picked one.
One thing to say upfront, because you would want to know: Damien did receive a referral fee from the agent we hired. That is standard practice when an agent sends a client to an agent in another state, and it comes out of the agent’s commission rather than showing up as a separate charge on our end. It also did not change a single question on this list, which is the important part.
Here is the thing he kept saying: none of that advantage was really about him. It was about having a list of questions and asking every single agent the same ones.
The short version: the questions worth asking a realtor fall into seven groups. Pricing, track record, marketing, your specific house, how they work with you, how they handle the offer, and the listing agreement itself. Ask all of them to every agent you interview, write the answers down, and compare them side by side. The comparison is what protects you, not any one clever question.
So no gatekeeping here. This is his whole list, all 22 questions, in the order I would actually ask them.
The one question that got agents cut fastest
Our house had solar panels. Solar can be a real sticking point with buyers and with lenders, depending on whether the system is owned, leased, or financed, so we put one question on the list on purpose:
“Have you ever sold a house with solar panels?”
That question did more work than anything we asked about price. Some agents had a clear answer and a plan. Some had clearly never dealt with it and tried to talk around it, and that told us everything.
You probably do not have solar. You have something else. A septic system, a pool, an HOA with teeth, a converted garage, a flood zone, a house that has been renovated within an inch of its life. Whatever the complicated thing about your house is, write a question about it and ask every agent. Screening for your house instead of shopping for a likeable person is the entire trick.
How we ran the interviews
Three things made this work, and none of them are hard.
Ask every agent the same questions in the same order. Take notes while they answer, not after. And do not let anyone talk you out of interviewing three people, even if you liked the first one.
Before the real list, Damien opened with three quick screeners that weed people out fast: How long have you been doing this? Do you actually know this neighborhood? How many houses do you sell in a year? Those take two minutes and they tell you whether the other 22 are worth your afternoon.
Pricing
1. What price would you list our house at, and why?
Ask them to show you the comps and walk you through the reasoning. Be careful with the agent who simply hands you the highest number. That number is sometimes a sales pitch for your listing, not a plan for your house.
2. What do you realistically think it will sell for?
This is a different question from list price, and asking both is the point. You want their real expectation, not the headline.
3. What is your pricing strategy?
Price aggressively to pull in multiple offers, price right at market value, or start high and leave negotiating room? There is no single right answer. There is a right answer for your market and your timeline, and they should be able to tell you which one they are using and why.
Track record
4. How many homes have you personally sold in this area in the last 12 months?
Then follow up with the question that matters more: how many of those were similar to ours?
5. What is your average list-to-sale-price ratio?
Also ask how often they end up doing price reductions. An agent who lists high and cuts twice is not the same as an agent who lists right.
6. What is the average time your listings spend on the market?
Have them compare that number with similar homes in your local market, not the national average.
Marketing
7. Who do you think the buyer for our house is?
This one is a surprisingly good test. A strong agent is already picturing the person they are marketing to, and they will answer this in about four seconds.
8. Exactly how will you market our house?
Get specific. Professional photography, video and Reels, drone, floor plans, staging, MLS, Zillow and Realtor.com, social media, their email list, open houses, agent-to-agent marketing, and paid ads. “I market aggressively” is not an answer.
9. Who pays for the professional photography, video, and staging?
Find out what is included in their commission and what is going to show up as a separate bill later.
Your specific house
10. What would you change or fix before we list, and what would you NOT spend money on?
If you have renovated, pay close attention to this one. A good agent knows which improvements buyers actually pay for and which ones you will never see again. Ours gave us seven specific things to fix and a short list to leave alone, and that was some of the best advice we got.
11. How will you position the renovations and upgrades we have made?
You want someone who can sell the story of the house, not just upload 30 photos to the MLS and wait. I had a whole house full of DIY projects and how those got described mattered to me.
21. What do you think will be the biggest obstacle to selling our house?
Yes, I am jumping ahead. This is one of my favorite questions and it lives right here in the conversation. It forces an agent to tell you something other than what they think you want to hear, and you learn fast who is willing to be honest with you before there is a signed contract.
22. If this were your house, what would you do differently before putting it on the market?
Same energy, slightly different door. Some agents answer 21 with a shrug and then answer this one with a page of notes.
Working with them
12. Will I work directly with you, or mostly with your team?
If you are interviewing a big producer, find out whether the person in your living room is the person who will actually be handling your sale.
13. How often will you communicate with us, and how?
Text, phone, email? After every showing, or a weekly summary? Get this pinned down now. Almost every unhappy seller story I have heard is really a communication story.
14. How do you collect and pass on showing feedback?
Feedback is how you decide whether to adjust price or fix something. An agent with no system for gathering it is guessing.
The offer and the negotiation
15. How do you handle an offer when it comes in?
Have them walk you through how they evaluate price, financing, contingencies, closing date, inspection terms, and appraisal risk. The highest offer is not automatically the best offer, and you want to hear them say that.
16. Tell me about a deal where you negotiated substantially better terms for the seller.
This is much more revealing than asking “are you a good negotiator?”, because nobody has ever answered that one with a no.
17. What happens if the house does not sell in the first two to four weeks?
You are listening for an actual strategy. If the only plan is “lower the price,” that is not a plan, that is a reflex.
The contract
18. What commission are you proposing, and exactly what does it cover?
Ask them to break down the listing-side compensation and how they plan to approach buyer-agent compensation and concessions. Rules around this have shifted, so have them explain it in plain language.
19. How long is the listing agreement, and can we cancel it if we are unhappy?
Ask both halves out loud. The answer to the second half tells you how confident they are.
20. Are there any fees we would owe if we cancel, do not sell, or decide not to move?
Get this one in writing, not in conversation.
The last question, and I would ask it every single time
“Why should we hire you instead of the other two or three realtors we are interviewing?”
Ask it right at the end, and then stop talking. It is a little uncomfortable, which is exactly why it works. You find out whether they have thought about what they actually offer, or whether they were counting on being the only person you called.
A few things to do before the interviews
Interviewing agents goes better when the house is already close to ready. Take the personal stuff out first so they are reacting to the house instead of to your life, and if you are moving soon, start the packing system early. Both of those made our conversations sharper.
Frequently asked questions
How many realtors should I interview before listing?
Three is the number I would give anyone. We screened about 15 on paper and met the final three in person. Fewer than three and you have no comparison, more than three and the answers start blurring together.
What questions should I ask a realtor about commission?
Ask what the commission is, exactly what it covers, how buyer-agent compensation and concessions will be handled, and whether photography, video, and staging are included or billed separately.
Is it rude to ask a realtor why I should hire them over someone else?
No. Every good agent expects it, and the ones who get flustered by it have told you something useful for free.
Can a realtor in another state help me find an agent?
Yes. An agent licensed elsewhere can research, interview, and refer agents for you, which is exactly what my brother did from Oregon while we sold in Florida. Referral arrangements between agents are common, and one applied in our case, so ask upfront whether one applies to you.
What is the most important question to ask a realtor?
The one about your house specifically. Whatever is unusual about your property, ask every agent whether they have sold one like it. For us that was solar panels, and it cut the field faster than anything else on the list.
Go make your list
You do not need a realtor in the family to do this. You need the list, and the nerve to read it out loud. Put it in your phone, take it into the first meeting, and write down what they say while they say it. By the third interview you will not be guessing. You will be comparing, and that is a completely different feeling walking into a listing appointment.
And if you are selling in Oregon or Florida, I am happy to point you toward ours. Damien covers Oregon, and I can pass along the agent we hired in Florida. Leave a comment or send me a message and tell me roughly where you are. Same disclosure as above: when one agent refers you to another, there is usually a referral fee involved on the agent side.
If this was useful, I send one email a week about what I am building, what is working, and what I got wrong along the way. The house and moving posts land there first. Sign up here and tick Real Estate so the selling posts come straight to you.
Read these next
- What to Fix Before Selling a House: My Realtor’s 7 Rules, which is the answer our agent gave to question 10
- What to Take Out of Your House Before Listing It, including the tool room I built and then had to dismantle
- DIY Projects That Add Home Value, where I made my realtor brother grade every project in the house
- Top 9 Moving Tips I Learned Packing Up a Whole House, for whatever comes after the listing appointment
