Your decision to place your Anchorage home for sale involves more than simply running an ad, holding a few open houses, and waiting for the sale proceeds check. And your decision to buy an Anchorage home clearly involves more than looking at two or three homes, making an offer, and moving in.
Hiring the wrong Anchorage real estate agent can mean the difference between making or losing money, selling or buying quickly…or taking a long time, a trouble-free transaction, or a living nightmare.
Unless you have experience interviewing people (and Anchorage real estate agents in particular), you won’t always know what questions to ask. Further, you won’t always know what answer best suits your needs for buying or selling. Here’s a list of 12 important and insightful questions you should ask ANY Anchorage real estate agent BEFORE you sign.
Question #1: How Long Have You Been Practicing Real Estate?
This question will reveal more than just years practicing. You want to delve into the number of transactions, average price range, specialized areas and types of Anchorage homes they’ve helped people purchase and sell. You also want to know how productive they’ve been in each year in practice.
An Anchorage real estate agent who's been in business less than five years may have more experience than another licensees who's been in business 10 years or more! You want to know how many brokers they’ve worked for, and what kind of experience they have that will apply directly to your real estate situation.
Question #2: What Qualifications Do You Have to Sell Real Estate?
This question looks for their overall commitment and dedication to building his/her personal skills. If they’re not willing to commit to improving themselves, they may not commit to your needs and satisfaction either.
First, look at their overall education. Did they go to college? Do they have any Realtor or professional designations? How often do they invest in improving their skills and keeping up with technology and other industry trends?
Experience should also carry over to negotiating and financial skills. And don’t forget the ancillary experience required for real estate.
Question #3: Tell Me About Your Personal Real Estate Operation.
This is an open-ended question designed to get your Anchorage real estate agent talking about his or her business. You want to know how much they’ve invested into their business as it relates to giving you competent and quality service. For example, do they have an assistant to take inquiries when they’re not in the office? Do they have a Team so they can provide you better communication; service your needs in addition to other clients? Do they have a private office? (A home office is not a business, but a seperate private office is likely a telltale sign of a top producing Anchorage real estate agent.)
Here’s what you’re looking for: If they are one person performing multiple duties and serving the needs of many clients, you may not get the service you deserve. The more an Anchorage real estate agent invests into his or her own success, office, and systems, the more he/she will be able to commit to you.
Question #4: Can You Give Me a List of Client References to Call?
An Anchorage real estate agent who doesn’t accumulate a list of satisfied references either doesn’t do much business, or isn’t providing the kind of service or follow-through you need. References don’t always need to be past Anchorage clients. Ask for the names of the past three clients they have served. Then YES!, you had better call them. Don't get into the transaction and look back wishing you’d done your homework up front. Get professional references as well: Anchorage bankers, mortgage lenders, appraisers, attorneys, etc.
Question #5: Do You Have a Formal and Written Marketing Plan for Selling Homes?
This question applies more to sellers than buyers. Your licensee’s marketing plan needs to be extensive – not just holding open houses, entering your home on MLS, or running classified ads.
The key to selling a home is CONSISTENCY. Your home must be consistently marketed to those people capable of buying. This cannot be accomplished if a licensee doesn’t have a diversified arsenal of marketing strategies. Look for special ideas, consistency, and persistence in his or her marketing plan.
Question #6: What Systems Do You Have for Tracking the Home Market (Buyers)/or Tracking My Home Listing (Sellers) on a Regular Basis?
This is a very important question. If you’re a buyer, you want to know his or her competence in understanding values of certain areas. They also need systems to keep you continually up-to-date with opportunities in the market. You want them to have more than “access to Multiple Listing Service.”
If you’re a seller, you want to price your home correctly, and be regularly updated with important buyer activity. How many calls did you get on your home this week? What marketing strategies did you use? How many home visits from other licensees did you have (and what were their comments)? How many people visited your open house?
If a licensee does not have specific systems for measuring and reporting these items, perhaps you should consider someone else.
Question #7: Do You Guarantee Your Performance?
Some licensees will give you a blank stare at this question. If they do, you might want to consider taking your business elsewhere. Why? You need to know if your interests are aligned. Is your licensee willing to stake his or her successful outcome with yours?
Why shouldn’t your licensee also guarantee his/her performance?
Smart licensees guarantee their services for two reasons: 1) They’re confident they can perform for you because of their experience, commitment, and work ethic; and 2) its smart marketing for a licensee to guarantee his/her services. If you buy a television, it’s guaranteed. If you buy a car, it’s guaranteed. These days, nearly everyone must offer a guarantee to help stimulate a sale. Licensees on the cutting edge of marketing guarantee their services.
Question #8: Can You Refer Me to a Reputable Mortgage Lender, Appraiser, or Real Estate Lawyer?
This question reveals how active the licensee is, and how well connected they are professionally. At some point in the buying or selling process, you will need the services of a reputable and competent lender, appraiser, title company, etc. If your licensee is active, committed, and diligent with their practice, he or she will be able to give you a few names of each right on the spot.
Question #9: What Percentage of Your Business Comes by Referral?
Here’s the “$64,000 question!” Competent, well-known licensees get a large part of their business from satisfied past clients and members of their sphere of influence.
If a licensee gets less than 25% of new business through referrals, it may be because: 1) the quality of service they offer is not up to standard (hence, people don’t feel compelled to refer to them after a transaction); 2) They lack the marketing experience or skills required to market for referrals (which means they may not bring strong skills to your transaction); or 3) They don’t cultivate contacts in their business (which means they won’t have many people to speak with about your home).
Clearly, the best way clients show their gratitude for outstanding service is by referring their family, friends, and associates.
Question #10: How Many People Do You Speak with Each Day About Real Estate?
This question will tell you how connected a licensee is, and how active they’ll “talk-up” your home to buyers, or find a home for you by talking to other licensees. Hopefully, your licensee talks to at least 25 people a day about real estate. If not, they may not be very active.
Question #11: Where Do You Advertise Your Listing/Services?
This question pertains more to listings, but it’s also a question a buyer should ask to determine a licensee’s commitment to invest in the successful outcome for their client. There are two situations to identify here:
1) Licensees who are very busy and who produce a lot of income for their broker will frequently advertise and have open houses systematically. Get sample of their ads, postcards etc… This will determine their marketing ability, organization, activity level and systems. You should also ask to see samples of ads they write for homes they list, and for their own services. Do the ads appeal to you? Would they make you act? If not, don’t expect their marketing of your home to be any better.
2) Ads and Open Houses rarely sell a listing. These two techniques are used to obtain new clients and provide a market presence. To sell a listing you want buyers that are ready, willing and able. Those buyers normally have licensees already, so the best place to market is to those licensees. Find out if your licensee knows what “reverse prospecting” is and how it works. Reverse prospecting is where a listing licensee goes into the Multiple Listing Service and finds buyers looking for homes like yours. Licensees that don’t know how to reverse prospect may not have a great deal of experience listing homes.
Question #12: Will You Personally Handle Contract Negotiations for Us?
Surprisingly, many licensees simply submit or receive offers, and act as a conduit between you and the buyer (or seller). That’s not good enough. You want a licensee who has excellent negotiation skills. You want a licensee who’s committed to your interests.
They’ll need to represent you to other licensees and buyers/sellers. It’s a good idea to follow-up the above question by investigating specifically HOW their negotiation skills saved other clients money, hassles, or helped a transaction come together.
There are “Real Estate Licensees”…
And then there are Committed Professionals.
Which One Do YOU Want Representing Your Interests?
The answers to the above 12 questions should give you a good feel for the commitment and competency of the real estate licensee you’re thinking about using. Remember, all licensees are not the same!
Over the past 19 years Lonnie Logan has recognized this fact. That is why she wrote this special report, and structured her practice to give the most competent service possible.
There’s a difference between licensees who simply sell real estate, and those who COMMIT to whatever it takes to serve clients beyond expectation. Lonnie and her team members have over 25 years of combined real estate experience. They have negotiated and closed over $500 million in sales and average approximately 45 sales a year. The average licensee closes approximately 12 transactions a year.
Lonnie's priority is to educate the customers and clients about every aspect of buying or selling a home. She has a long list of past clients and professional references available for you to call and inquire about the quality of service and follow-up they received.
She has an unprecedented (and EXCLUSIVE!) multi-step marketing plan that is unequalled by anyone in the industry. She has specifically designed market tracking systems for buying markets, and for homes she sells. And she has an automatic system in place to keep the client updated and informed on a regularly basis.
Lonnie guarantees her team's services in writing. This places the burden of risk and performance on THEM, not you. She also has references for reputable people in mortgage lending, appraisals, title and escrow companies, tax specialists, and attorneys.
Over 90% of the customers and clients served by Lonnie and her team are referred from customers and clients and repeat business. Her personal marketing involves such outstanding and continued service to her existing clients and personal network that they’re inclined to share her services with family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.These Things Are Not Said to Impress You,
But to Impress UPON You the Difference Between a
Real Estate Licensee, and a Competent, Dedicated Professional.