Expert: Jessica Bryan - 6/22/2006

Question
Currently, my husband and I are working to try to cancel the current contract we have with the agent listing the property.  We have about a month to go on the contract so if we cannot get out of it we want to be prepared to hire a new broker when the contract expires.  

We obviously made mistakes when hiring our current broker and actually we started with someone we liked and she left the agency and could not take our listing and we have not been happy with the new listing agent they stuck us with so we want to be prepared to hire someone new.  I am looking for suggestions on what we should be looking for when we hire a new broker, what questions we should ask, and can we check references.  Any suggestions or advice in hiring a broker to sell our home would be very helpful.  

Thank You.

Answer
Dear Bryn;
Hiring a broker who works well with you and your needs is as important a decision as selling your home. Consequently, much thought should go into whom you choose to represent your property. Interview several people when making this choice. The reasons that you are not happy with your current agent should be the things that you need to ask another agent about when interviewing the future listing agent.  

To find a good agent, you can begin by noting who is  active in your area.  Check signs, look at ads, read listings on the Internet (realtor.com). You should also check with friends, neighbors, coworkers, and anyone else to get a recommendation. Once you have a few names, it is time to start the interviewing process. Ask this person about the things that concern you the most. (Perhaps it is response time or maybe it is what they will do to earn their commission.  Maybe it is a matter of experience.) Make sure that you feel satisfied with their answers but more importantly, make sure that you communicate well with this agent. By all means, ask for references and then call the references and ask about the same things that bothered you about the current agent.  If you made mistakes this time around, you will learn from these mistakes and will know what to look for in another agent.  Discuss what you expect of an agent and see if your expectations are realistic. If not, you may need to make some adjustments as well.  Once agreements are reached put everything in writing.
 
I wish you lots of luck with this.

Sincerely,
Jessica Bryan
Managing Broker
House to Home Realty Services