What kind of questions are asked at a job interview?

Sometimes being a real estate agent seems like a series of job interviews. As agents, our product is really ourselves. It is up to us as individuals to keep ourselves employed. Bad customer service, bad advice, too much pressure, not enough gentle guidance, poor and insufficient communication…can all lose us our clients.

And we lose clients every time we help them buy or sell. When we are successful, our clients move away to another town or into a forever home. Successful real estate agents are often looking for new clients. We call this keeping the funnel full.

As we ramp up into the autumn market, home buyers and home selling clients have been contacting me (and I assume other agents) to get the process started. It is quite common for home sellers to interview three agents before they choose the one they want to work with. Home buyers sometimes interview a few too, but this is less common.

There are lots of websites with questions you can ask potential agents.

Some of the questions are good:

Which neighbourhoods do primarily work in?
How many clients are you currently working with?
Are you part time or full time?
How long have you been a Realtor?
What separates you from other Realtors?

Some questions are idiotic:

What is your average list price to sale price ratio?
What kind of guarantee do you offer?
How many homes have you sold in the last six months?
What professional memberships do you hold?
What is the price range of most of the homes you have sold?

Get to know the person

Real estate is really a relationship business. Although the agent-client relationship is a business relationship, you should try to get to know the person behind the agent. When you are buying or selling a home, you spend a lot of quality time with your agent. You share financial and other personal information. You will develop trust and confidence in him and he will nurture and coach you. With that in mind, here are two more questions that I think are good ones to ask your potential Realtor: