Dashboard

Find us on...

Dashboard

Login using...

New Search X

Questions to Ask Your Realtor When Listing Your Condo

Posted by Denise Stewart on Sunday, January 7th, 2018 at 9:35pm.

Questions to Ask Your Realtor When Listing Your Condo

By: Melissa & Denise Stewart

When you are talking to a Realtor and trying to decide if you want this Realtor to list your  condo, you need to be prepared.

You are actually interviewing the Realtor, just like the Realtor would be interviewed if he or she was going for a job. The bottom line is that you are trusting the Realtor to sell possibly the largest asset you have ever owned, and you have every right to ask questions, and base you decission on how comfortable you feel after you receive your responses.

In no particular order, these are the questions that you need to ask the Realtor that is going to list your condo, and hopefully get adequate responses:

1. How much experience do they have selling similar condos?  (KEY WORD is Similar) This is about as basic as you get, but it is probably the most important question to ask... If you look at Zillow and Trulia, the biggest thing they tell you about an agent is the relative experience that agents have in selling the various types of properties. Not only do you need to know what types of properties the Realtor has sold, but also have they sold property similar to yours. In order to get to the root of the question, you need to determine what is important about your condo, and in order to accomplish this, you need to make a list of attributes that your condo has, and this is a partial list: The value, amenities, size, number of units, rental restrictions, is it waterfront, age of average residents, financing issues, age of buildings, unit configurations (are the units for permanent or transient residents), do they have washer & dryers, furnished vs unfurnished, is there issues with noise, are the residents sophisticated, what are the parking issues, do they allow commercial vehicles, and is the association picky as far as the rules are concerned. Any agent that tells you that they have dealt with all of these issues, the agent is probably stretching the truth a little, but as you can see, if you unit is in a building wher 90% of the residents are over 65 years old, and you are dealing with an agent that has never sold a condo to the elderly, this could be an issue.

2. What types of advertising and promotions will the Realtor do in order to promote your condo? The days of simply listing a condo on the MLS and expecting it to be sold in 30 days are long gone. Realtors today have properties professionally photographed, use drones, have slick brochures, do mail-outs, advertise on Zillow, Trulia, Realtor.com, in magazines, and do a host of other social media advertising in order to sell properties. You need to compare apples-to-apples, and see exactly what your Realtor will be doing in order to get your condo seen by the largest audience possible. If 50% of the residents in your Condo building are from New York City, then the Realtor should know this and you should ask how can the Realtor get New Yorkers to look at your condo.

3. What will the Realtor do as far as showing the condo to prospective buyers? There are a lot of different condos, and a lot of different situations, Some condos warrant a Realtor to be present at every showing and other condos are okay being on a "Lock-box" where other Realtors can access your condo without your Realtor being present. The real differentiating factors are the unit itself, and the amenities. Ask yourself, what is the Realtor selling, a condo or a Lifestyle?. If your condo has a weight room,  2 pools, a sauna, 2 tennis courts, a dog park, card room, underground parking, valet parking, a billiards room, underground storage, and othe amenities, the Realtor is selling more than a condo, and closer to a Lifestyle. Selling a Lifestyle will yequire your Realtor to be there!!! This is something that should be discussed with the Realtor up front, just so you know what to expect.

4. How much experience does the Realtor have in negotiations of similar condos. The last thing you need is a Realtor that will fax or email a contract to you, and say "Here is an Offer, do you want to accept it?"  You are trusting this Realtor to negotiate on your behalf, and the Realtor should negotiate just as if the property was their own. It also helps if the Realtor has done several transactions in the past. If they were to offer that this deal will be their first, but they are very ready for anything that comes their way, perhaps they should experiment with someone else's property.

The bottom line is that selling a condo is not like selling any other type of asset, and there are a lot of contributing factors for a successful venture. You have every right to ask very direct and pointed questions, and certainly you should ask for references.  You only hope that you get Honest responses... Just like everyone else, there was a point in time when we were "rookies", but we were fortunate enough to work with experienced mentors that showed us the proper ways to market, sell and negotiate deals. When we talk to potential Sellers, we offer every opportunity for the Seller to inquire into as many areas as they feel necessary, because transparency is the name of our game.

If you ever have any questions about selling properties, please give us a call. Call Denise Stewart at 866 783 6011 or email Denise@condo.net

 

Leave a Comment