Face time weeds out 'White Knights'

Editor's note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Read Part 1.

You're thinking about selling your house. What steps can you take to locate the right agent to represent you on the sale of your property?

Part 1 of this series outlined eight steps to take to find the best Realtor to market your property. The next step is to meet with at least three agents to see who is best qualified to represent you.

1. Presentation or interview?
The best agents will approach your appointment as an opportunity to learn about the property and to get to know you better. They will ask questions about improvements you have made to the property, what you have liked about living there, and about issues that you are required by law to disclose. Be wary of agents who talk exclusively about their achievements and how great they are. If the agent doesn't listen to you before you sign the listing, he won't listen afterward either.

2. Avoid White Knights
A "White Knight" is an agent who acts as if he or she is the seller. Key words to listen for include "I" or "we," as in "When I/we list your house." Agents who have a high need to control or to be right can actually interfere with closing the transaction. Instead, search for agents who believe "it's your house and your decision."

3. Look for a detailed comparable market analysis
Virtually all agents will provide you with a comparable/competitive market analysis (CMA). While it may be tempting to rely on sites such as HomeGain or Zillow for the value of your property, those sites have no way to evaluate the quality of your improvements or thousands of other factors that influence price. These online estimates of your property's worth usually have a margin of error of +/- 7.5 percent. On a $200,000 house, that would mean that there is a 95 percent chance that the house will sell between $185,000 and $215,000.

In contrast, competent agents are usually much more accurate. An excellent way to do this evaluation is with a square-footage CMA. The challenge is selecting the right type of comparable sales. The most common mistake is selecting properties where either the lot size or the size of the improvements (i.e. structure) is not within 10 percent of the size of the subject property. When this happens, it results in incorrect pricing.

For example, assume that two properties have exactly the same floor plan. One property has a 6,000-square-foot lot and the other has a 7,500-square-foot lot. If the major portion of the area's value is in the land, the failure to use the 10 percent guideline can result in a major pricing error. Furthermore, small houses almost always sell for more per square foot (usually due to the land value) as compared to big houses.

4. Ask for testimonials from past clients
The best agents will have testimonials from past clients. Ask for permission to contact three of the agent's most recent clients. Contact them and get detailed feedback about the experience they had with the agent. ...CONTINUED

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