If you are planning on buying or selling a property, you must be planning to hire a professional to work with as well. The thing is, there are plenty of real estate professionals to choose from. It’s very easy to get referrals from family, friends, and neighbours. However, it’s important to not choose someone whom you can’t have a business conversation with. When hiring someone, make sure that you won’t have trouble disagreeing with them.

It’s important to ask questions that will make you know the real estate agent on a personal and professional level. Keep in mind that the professional you’ll be hiring will definitely know a lot about your finances, and other private information. It’s important that you ask questions that will make you trust the agent, and at the same time will give you confidence that your home or property will be sold.

Once you’ve established good communication and trust with an agent, your questions should be directed to actually selling your house or property. You should know more about your agent’s plans. It’s important to still be hands-on even when you’re paying an agent to do it. If ever something goes wrong with your agent, you won’t be ignorant about the process.

Some examples of good questions when hiring an agent are:

1. How many years of education and experience do you have?

2. Are you working part-time or full-time?

3. Is your license in good standing?

4. Can you provide me with the names and phone numbers of past clients who have agreed to be your references?

5. How many buyers and sellers are you representing now? Hint: The busiest agents are the most efficient ones.

6. Will I be working with you directly or will I be handed-off to someone else other than yourself?

7. How will you keep me informed about the progress of my transaction?

8. How many homes have you closed in my neighbourhood?

9. What specific marketing systems and approaches will you use to sell my home or property?

10. Do you represent both sides of the transaction?

11. Do you work with buyers in this price range?

12. What do you know about home loans?

13. How much will I need to spend on advertising? What will I get from it?

14. How long do you think it will take to sell my property and why?

15. Can you recommend service providers who can help me obtain a mortgage, make some home repairs, etc?