The seven questions to ask an agent before you sign
Print one per agent. Fill it in while they're talking it visibly changes the quality of the answers you get, because it signals you intend to hold them to what they say. Agents notice.
13 pages. Seven questions, two pressure tests, scoring, and a side-by-side comparison sheet for three agents.
Download the PDF, free- 13pages
- 7questions
- 2pressure tests
- 3agents compared
Three rules before you start
- Interview at least three agents. Two isn't a comparison. One isn't a decision.
- Write their answers down while they're speaking. This isn't administrative. It changes what you're told.
- Pay more attention to how they answer than to what they say. Confidence, specificity and willingness to be pinned down are the signal. So are vagueness, deflection, and "the market's very unpredictable at the moment."
Score each answer out of 5 and total at the end. Then apply the gut-feel test, which overrides everything.
The seven questions
What sales evidence did you use to arrive at your price assessment?
Listen for specific addresses, dates, sold prices, and why each is comparable to your home. Vague answers about "market feel" mean the number was chosen to win your listing, not derived from anything.
How will you justify that price to a buyer?
Listen for a clear argument they could actually deliver under pressure. Every buyer will challenge the price. If they can't make the case to you sitting in your kitchen, they won't be making it to a buyer.
If you already have buyers on your database, why do you need my advertising money up front to find one?
Listen for a comfortable, straight answer. Both things can be true, but watch for discomfort. This question produces the most interesting silences of the whole interview.
Why do you need 90 days? Will you accept 30 or 45?
Listen for confidence, or a genuine property-specific reason. A good agent doesn't need 90 days to sell correctly priced property. If they need a long term, the real question is whether you're overpriced.
Walk me through exactly how your strategy maximises my price.
Listen for an actual plan. Pricing approach, method of sale, what happens in the first fortnight, how buyer competition gets created, and what happens if week three is quiet. Not a brochure.
What method of sale do you recommend. And what percentage of your listings get that same recommendation?
Listen for advice about your property. If they recommend auction for your home and auction for ninety percent of their listings, they have described their business model, not made a recommendation.
Can I have three recent seller references. Including one campaign that took longer than expected?
Listen for willingness. Anyone can produce a happy reference. The second half of the question is the real one. An agent who handled a difficult campaign well will have a client happy to say so.
The two tests that matter more than the questions
Test one, the pressure test
Ask them to reduce their commission. Then say nothing, and let the silence sit.
If they can't defend the value of their own fee. The thing they understand best and care about most. How will they defend the value of your home against a buyer actively trying to talk it down? And if they fold immediately, what else will they fold on?
Test two, the written test
"That sounds great. Would you put that price in writing, and if it sells for less, you cover the advertising?"
Then stop talking. The point is diagnostic: you're finding out whether they believe their own number. Watch for the price suddenly becoming "a range" or "an indication only."
Advertising payable on settlement only, rather than up front, is very valuable and worth asking for on its own.
What's actually in the 13 pages
The PDF has the scoring sheets, the comparison table for three agents, and space to write their answers down in front of them.
Download the PDF, free