REAL ESTATE AGENT SPEED DATING: SELLER'S EDITION

Planning to sell your home in 2020? NOW is the time to choose a real estate agent!

But how do you choose when there are so many fish in the sea - and in your book club and your yoga class and the waiting room at the dentist and every single Facebook group you belong to?

Here are 5 questions to help you quickly decide if an agent could be a keeper or needs to be kicked to the curb:

1. HOW MANY HOMES HAVE YOU SOLD IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD?

   If they say “none,” run! Your agent needs to have sold at least 3 homes in your neighborhood in the past year to know exactly how to price your home, who your potential buyers are, how to reach those buyers and what makes your neighborhood special.

2. HOW MANY HOMES HAVE YOU SOLD IN MY PRICE RANGE?

   If your home is worth $400,000, your agent should have experience selling homes between $300,000 - $500,000. The rock star agent with a bunch of $2 million + listings may not give you the love and attention you deserve or even know how to market to buyers in your price range.

3. WHAT IS YOUR “AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET?”

   “DOM” is the amount of time between the day a home is listed and the day it’s under contract. An agent’s Average DOM tells you how long it typically takes them to find a buyer for their listings. The lower the better! Under 60 days is good. Under 30 days is amazing!

4. TELL ME ABOUT THE SCHOOLS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.

   Who cares? Buyers! You may be leaving, but you need to make sure your agent knows every little thing about your school district because many potential buyers will ask. Plus, if they don’t know about the schools, they’re definitely not an expert on your neighborhood.

5. HOW WILL YOU PRE-MARKET MY HOME?

   Even if you’re not ready to officially hit the market just yet, your agent should let other agents know you’re coming - by posting on the Private Listing Network in the MLS, sharing at brokerage office meetings and in agent-only Facebook groups or just picking up the phone and calling agents who often have buyers in your neighborhood. The more connected they are in the local community the more likely they can have your home sold before it’s even officially for sale!

Once you find an agent or two who passes the speed round, take some time to get to know each other better before handing over the keys. Tell the agent about yourself and what’s important to you. Ask about their specialties in the real estate industry and outside interests that you may share. Making a great match on paper is important, but a little chemistry goes a long way too.

What else is important to you when choosing a real estate agent???

To pee, or not to pee...Chicago house hunting etiquette

Congrats! You’re ready to buy a new home! You have your mortgage pre-approval letter and 8 showings scheduled for this weekend! But before you head out, do you know how to behave when looking at homes?

There’s a fine line between being an interested buyer thoroughly investigating a home and a creepy peeper.

To help you stay on the right side of that fine line and avoid creepy peeper status, here are a few key etiquette tips for house hunting in Chicago and around the country:

Using the bathroom

It’s always best to avoid this, but chances are somebody will have to go. If you bring the kids, probably a #2 at every single home.

If the home is vacant, it’s no big deal. Just give it a practice flush first. You do not want to discover after the fact that the plumbing is shut off.

If someone is living there, you treat that bathroom like a crime scene. Coming home to discover a stranger used your toilet is devastating for germophobes like me, so there can be no evidence. Especially if you want these people to sell you their house.

Wearing shoes in the house

It doesn’t matter if the ground outside is dry today, it’s also covered with invisible traces of fecal matter - and so are your shoes. You don’t want to drag that through the house you might soon live in, do you? Just take your shoes off or slide on some booties.

The only exceptions to this rule are if the floors look like they’re already covered in fecal matter or you’re a baby wearing those cute tiny useless baby shoes.

Making yourself at home

It’s totally understandable that you want to get a feel for what it’s like to live in a home, but there are boundaries.

Most importantly, beds are off limits! Do not sit on them let alone lie down. I know it’s tempting and you’re tired from all those showings, but would you want some weirdo snuggling up in your bed? Don’t be a weirdo.

Sitting on a couch is OK, but only for a quick rest. NO watching TV. No fixing yourself a snack. No making coffee. No trying out the hot tub.

Looking inside of things

If it comes with the house, it’s generally OK to peek inside. Though it may feel dirty, opening medicine cabinets, kitchen cabinets, refrigerators and even bedroom closets is totally acceptable. Hopefully it goes without saying that trying on clothes is a no-no.

Dressers, armoires or any other piece of furniture are strictly in the no-open zone. There’s no socially acceptable reason to open a stranger’s underwear drawer.

Any questions or house hunting etiquette tips I may have missed? Do tell by clicking COMMENT below!