The Questions Sellers Forget to Ask Before Hiring a Listing Agent
Most sellers interview two or three listing agents, ask about commission and price, and hire whoever they liked best. That leaves the questions that actually predict how your sale goes unasked. Here are the ten we would want answered before signing a listing agreement in Scottsdale or Paradise Valley, and what a good answer sounds like.
The ten questions
1. How many homes have you sold in my neighborhood and price range in the last twelve months?
Not the team, not the brokerage. The agent in front of you. A strong answer is a specific number with addresses you can look up. Selling condos in Tempe is not the same job as selling a $2M home in Paradise Valley.
2. What are your average days on market and list-to-sale ratio, compared with the area?
This pair of numbers tells you whether the agent prices accurately and sells quickly, or lists high and grinds down. Anyone who has the data will share it. Anyone who dodges it is telling you something too.
3. Walk me through the first fourteen days of your marketing plan.
Most showing activity happens in the first two weeks. You want to hear a dated sequence: prep, photography, video, pre-marketing to their buyer database and agent network, launch day, open house, and follow-up. “We put it in the MLS and on Zillow” is not a plan.
4. Who shoots the photos and video, and can I see three recent listings?
Presentation decides which homes get shown. Look at their last three listings the way a buyer would, on your phone.
5. How will you arrive at the list price, and what happens if there are no offers in thirty days?
A good agent shows you the competing homes, not just the sold comps, and has a written plan for day 30 that is more than “we reduce the price.”
6. Who will I actually be talking to, and how often?
On many teams the person who wins the listing hands you to someone else the next day. Ask who returns your calls and what the update cadence is.
7. What does your commission include, and what does it not?
Staging, photography, video, print, and paid advertising are sometimes included, sometimes billed, and sometimes skipped. Get it in writing.
8. If I am not happy, can I cancel? What is guaranteed in writing?
An agent who is confident in their process will put it on paper. We guarantee your home sold or we buy it ourselves, and 100% satisfaction or our commission back. Details are on our Home Sold Guarantee page.
9. How do you handle showing feedback and multiple offers?
You want an agent who chases feedback after every showing and who has a process for turning two offers into a better third one.
10. What would make my home harder to sell, and what would you change before we list?
The honest answer to this question is worth more than any pitch. If every agent tells you the house is perfect, none of them has looked hard enough.
How to compare the answers
- Proof over pitch. Ask for the sales records, the marketing examples, and the guarantees in writing, then compare those instead of personalities.
- Specific beats confident. Dates, numbers, and names of neighborhoods. Vague answers usually mean the agent has not done it in your price range.
- Read the listing agreement before the meeting ends. Term, cancellation rights, and what is included should all be in there.
Bring these questions to a 30-minute call
John Gluch has sold Scottsdale and Paradise Valley homes for more than twenty years, with 205+ five-star reviews and offices in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Chandler. Ask him every question on this list. Pick a time below, or call or text (480) 378-6700.
