FAQs for Sellers

There are many benefits to using an agent for selling your home. The top real estate agents can guide you on setting an appropriate listing price, list your home on the local MLS, market it to other real estate professionals, and negotiate receiving the best offer. According to the National Association of REALTORS, sellers who use an agent sell their homes for $105,000 more than those that don’t!

Request a range of proposals. Interview the agents for local expertise and degree of personality fit. Check their listing price recommendations and sale price estimates using publicly available Automated Valuation Models (AVMs). Identify the agent you like most and negotiate their fee using information from the other proposals you received. Make sure you talk to your agent about things like whether you could vacate the property before it gets listed, and staging options.

When you sign a listing contract with your agent you’ll typically agree on what you’ll pay the agent when they help sell your home successfully. Fees typically range from 2-3% of the sale price for the listing agent and 2-3% of the sale price for the buying agent, although the exact structure and fees will vary from market to market. We recommend getting proposals from a range of agents before committing to one in particular. RealEstateAgents.com makes it easy to get proposals from multiple heavily-vetted and hand-picked agents, just click here to get started now.

For Sale By Owner, or FSBO for short, is a type of transaction where a homeowner attempts to sell their home themselves without the aid of a real estate agent. While this is often done as a cost savings mechanism, it can often lead to other challenges as the average person lacks the comprehensive understanding of the real estate transaction process held by a top agent. Additionally, it can leave you legally liable for any potential missteps, which may ultimately cost the seller much more than standard agent fees.

A 1031 exchange is a type of tax transaction that allows a party to “swap” an existing investment property with a newly acquired property, allowing the party to then defer the capital gains tax paid.

A top real estate agent can help you sell a mobile or manufactured home.

The timeline of every transaction is different and will vary based on a variety of factors, including market conditions, location, price, and more. According to the National Association of REALTORS, in 2022 the typical home sold was only listed on the market for two weeks. Including any preparation that needs to be taken prior to listing, and the average escrow period of 45 days, you can expect a home sale from start to finish to take anywhere from 2 - 4 months.

This consideration varies for everyone and can depend heavily on your personal situation and financial capacity. Discussing your options closely with your agent and mortgage provider can help inform you of your options.

The real estate market is always changing and follows typical trends of picking up in the spring, peaking during summer, cooling off in the fall, and slowing during winter. A top real estate agent will be able to offer you strategic advice about the timing of your home sale to get you the best possible outcome.

Preparing your home before it goes on the market can include everything from cosmetic fixes to major repairs. Before going on the market, your REALTOR should advise you on which items should be completed prior to the listing going live. Some best practices include cleaning the yard of any major debris, cleaning the home’s interior (kitchen, bathrooms, floors, etc.) and the exterior (windows, doors). A great agent will also advise you on whether it’d be best for you to move out of your house before selling it, and whether you should get it staged.

An appraisal is a process where a professional home appraiser visits and evaluates a home in order to determine its price. An appraisal is often a necessary step when selling a home in order for the buyer’s loan to be funded and approved.

This will depend on the specific terms of your listing agreement with the agent and on when the listing agreement is scheduled to terminate. Even if you are eligible to have the listing agreement terminated, the new agent you list with might be responsible for paying your previous agent a referral fee.

A title search is a process where a search is completed to determine if there are any parties (in addition to the principal who is selling) that may have a claim, or lien, on a property. If other parties are determined to have a valid claim, then the title is said to be “clouded”. If no such parties exist, the title is determined to be clean.

Every agent has their own unique approach, and the best real estate agents will take a creative approach to marketing your home, but there are a variety of ways to market a property. This can include some or all of listing it on the MLS, posting the property on online listing websites, featuring the listing in their client newsletters, informing other agents in their brokerage about your listing - and more!

A listing agreement is a contract that states the terms and conditions related to the sale of your property. It should include details like how much commission is paid, how the property might be marketed, and what your rights are as the property owner. This agreement also grants agency to the listing agent, meaning they have a fiduciary responsibility to act in your best interest.

The most common way to determine a list price is to look at comparable listings (or “comps”) in the neighborhood and surrounding area that have sold or listed recently. Based on this market activity of similar properties, your agent will recommend an appropriate list price, although ultimately the price to list your home at is your decision.