What matters, is this agent the best agent for the job?

It really shouldn't matter as long as the agent is good as said above. The reality is that a buyer is going to see your home listed online no matter who the agent is. They'll start to ask questions if their agent doesn't show it.

Our first house was in a large (350 houses or so) subdivision. We lived a block from one of 2 main entrances to the subdivision. Because these were "starter" homes and many of us bought around the same time so many of us were ready to move up at the same time. That meant that 30-40 houses were for sale when we sold. Quite a few people were using one agent. We selected a different agent that we thought would do a better job. Our house sold in 7-10 days to the first person that saw it. In February in the Chicago area at that time it was amazing.

The agent was irrelevant in getting the offer (and it was before the internet). What mattered was the weeks of effort we put in cleaning and storing things, the painting, and the competitive price (and the location was pretty nice too-backed up to a large park.). The agent did matter during negotiations and when the buyer started requesting ridiculous stuff after we were through inspections and done negotiating. (They suddenly realized we didn't have a garage door opener and wanted one. We said no. The play set we agreed to leave was worth a lot more than a garage door opener.)

Go with a listing agent who closes sales on a lot of homes (hundreds over their career) and who focuses on your neighborhood (is physically present in the neighborhood most of the day). Also try to get that agent at a 2% listing agent's commission.

Right on spot Lily.

realtor.com, zillow.com, and probably others have a link to check realtor's numbers. Like it says a realtor sold 25 houses in the last 12 months and has 2 listed.

We met another realtor last night. Been in business 40 years. I liked her, but dh wasn't impressed. She seemed to me to be on top of things, and she listed a house down the street in June that sold within a week. After reading this thread after she left, I started looking for her sales numbers and that's when I found the realtor.com and zillow.com links. She owns her own company with about three agents. Her company website shows 3 listings, none are hers. 8 sales in the last 12 months.

The first realtor, who we both liked, is with a company known more for farms, ranches, and land. He has been in real estate for 2 years, 7 current listings, 5 sales in the last 12 months.

The one we haven't met yet, the one who said she could sell a house in 7 days, has 16 sales in the last 12 months and the zillow map has so many dots of houses listed that it's too hard to count. She listed and sold a house in the neighborhood a month or so ago. She also just listed one on the next street. The only things that bothers me so far, and I haven't talked to her yet, is that she likes to list on Friday and her professional photographer uses a lens that distorts rooms, maybe a wide angle lens. He seems to take photos for everyone in that office from what I could see on their listings.

Lily, our house probably looks better than most around here. Both realtors so far have said we should list higher, around $260. But I'd like to stay under $250 so we don't lose people who have that as their cap.

Funny you should ask about comps. The two realtors had totally different comps.

Realtor #2 man (which I called the first one) didn't sell us our current house. He sold us the land we are buying now. We haven't closed yet. He didn't mention cutting the price after a certain time. Neither did Realtor #1 woman. She just said it might take longer at $260. Realtor #2 man knows that we would like to sell this house so we don't have to take out a mortgage to pay for the land. And he knows that we will be flexible on negotiations in order to close before then AND even more so if it is someone who will lease back for a month. He is ready to get his 3% from the land sale and if we have to get a mortgage, it could delay that closing too. So he might be more motivated to get this one sold before then. Also, he offered 5% where #1 woman was 6%.

And yes, we are tired of waiting to list. Were supposed to meet with Realtor #3 Tuesday, but had to cancel. She has teens and couldn't do tonight either. Dh just discussed this on our way home a few minutes ago and have decided to call #2man and get it done even though we've only talked to two realtors. I looked at their website and they have quite a few houses listed too. And like you said, it's being listed on MLS that is important.

The two houses that sold recently are so different from ours that it is hard to compare. #3woman's listing was on 17 acres, totally remodeled inside and out and a pool and barn. It listed at $182 sq ft #1woman's listing was on about an acre, like us, but in serious need of updating. It listed at $86 sq ft. House across the creek but very similar to ours in updating and room sizes, though smaller than ours sold in 30 days. Listed $122 sq ft. If we listed just under $250, ours would be $108 sq ft.

P.S. I talked to a lady who lives on the street behind us and they have listed with realtor #3. Will go on mls tomorrow (Friday, of course). Their house is smaller and they only have one car garage. Listed at $100 sq ft. I'd like to get ours on mls tomorrow too though they are below $200K so it may be a totally different set of buyers looking at their house.

Two years ago sold a rental property I owned- signed listing contract on a Friday at 10 am, photos online at 1 pm, first showing and full price sale at 4:30 pm. Friday seems good to me!

Thanks Lily'smom and bry911 for the explanation. It must be when it appears on MLS because the neighbor signed her contract with the realtor Tuesday and said it will be on MLS Friday. We signed the contract tonight and he said he will try to get it on MLS by midnight tomorrow.

If the home is marketed correctly and priced fairly, it does not matter what day of the week it hits the market. To try to correlate the amount of money a buyer will pay based on the day it was listed is rediculous. After all, most buyers don't even know what day of the week a home was listed.

Is it possible new listings show up on Friday could have more people to tour, as next day is the beginning of a weekend when most working people are free?

In theory, when new listings are equality priced right, and equality being marked well, when more people touring a house that creates more demands/enthusiasm/sense of urgency, as the result, it brings in higher sold price.

To echo ncrealestateguy, all of this conjecture is based upon local market conditions. California is not New York is not Miami is not Chicago. What works in one area, won't work in another. Not everyone lives in an area where there are bidding wars. All markets are local. Most places don't have frenzied activity. If your house hasn't sold in seven days, you are not a failure. So, quit stressing over it. Update and clean your house, interview agents using some skepticism, have the pictures done, review the listing information with a fine toothed comb, and put it on the market. If you have done this, chances are someone will want to buy it. After all, you bought it.

Let me clarify something about the listing on Friday thing - Correlation is not causation (or more correctly - correlation does not imply causation).

There is certainly a correlation to listing on Friday and good results, and honestly it is a pretty strong correlation. As I stated earlier I suspect there is a bias in there (something like a certain desired home type is more likely to be listed on Friday because the people who are most likely to sell that type of home are not as busy on Fridays), or it could simply be spurious.

I don't believe it, but I wouldn't kick my realtor to the curb because they did.

There is no appropriate method to measure the effect that listing a home on a Friday has when it comes to the # of showings, the sales price, nor the length of time on the market... after all, those exact same homes were not listed on some other day of the week, at the exact same time, with the exact same type of marketing in order to compare apples to apples.

Every home is unique to another, even homes with identical floor plans...

Well, I guess Tuesday isn't crucial. Our listing came out this morning, we had two showings and one offer. I'm not sure I really understand the offer. But it is FHA so that's probably going to be a big hassle if we accept. We have two showings for tomorrow.

Wouldn't that be nice! But if this is the only one we get, then so be it. I'll just trust that it will go through on schedule, even though the closing for it and the closing on our land are only days apart. Not enough time for us to get a mortgage if this falls through.

Missouribound, Congratulations. If you decide to accept the offer, you need to talk to a mortgage loan officer about any next steps. You can get a mortgage that is contingent upon the closing of your home provided you have a signed contract on your house. I don't know your particular circumstances but it is possible you are limiting your options. Be sure to discuss this with your realtor and mortgage loan person before you shut the door on any possibilities.

We've already qualified for a mortgage. We just have to reapply since it's been over 3 months. We got another offer today. I have questions, but will start a new thread when I see the actual contract. So far we've heard what our realtor has to say about them.