Cowgirl Properties: Tips on choosing an agent based on realtors tour

Tuesday, my day is mostly consumed with real estate. In Bend, we have a weekly meeting that members of the Central Oregon Association of Realtors can attend. The meeting is held at 9:00 at the COAR building on 4th street.  

We start with a flag salute, we move on to hearing about a cause or charity, we pass a basket and give money to the cause or charity and then we move on to real estate.  The meetings are divided by quadrants of the city. Each week, we as realtors, have the opportunity to tour new listings in the quadrant.  NE, SE ,NW, SW.  New listings are not automatically put on the tour.  Your agent has to sign you up. The point of this blog is to help you know what questions to ask a potential listing agent.  There are many reasons why you wouldn't put your home on tour. The pictures of the property arean't up yet, it went pending already, you have a little more work to do on your house and you want to wait until its finished. You may not want 20-50 agents coming through your house. 

But trust me.  You want your house on the realtors tour.  The agents have the buyers and this Tuesday afternoon, is a way for buyer agents to preview property, pick the best 15 to show their out of town clients the next weekend. So plan for it. Have your photos ready, have your house ready to go, and make sure you have hired an agent who knows how to do it right. Because having your house on the market is tough. Pick the right agent.  Price it right, stage it right, and sell it!

Quiz your potential agent and make sure they answer the following questions, like this:

1. Yes, I plan to put your house on Realtors tour

2. Yes, I plan to be there and host it,

3. Yes, I plan to put out directionals, so your property is easy to find.

4. Yes, I plan to provide a light snack for the agents who come through, because they are busy and on the move, and if they slow down enough to have a snack, I can ask them questions like "what do you think of the price? and "Do you have a buyer that this home might work for?" etc....

5. Yes, I will stand up at MLS in front of all the other realtors and tell the agents what makes your house special and worth showing and selling. 

6. Yes, I enjoy hosting houses on the MLS tour because I know good, producing, professional agents go on tour and they are my peers and they sell most of the houses.

If you are not interviewing an agent who operates like this to list your house,... keep looking.

This house has the most amazing setting, but no host, no agent to promote its rareness and awesomeness at mls, and map quest was incorrect.