Not to me. I don't feel like how many listings/past sales etc. matters if they do a good job of providing a good listing. Good comps, advice on selling and negotiations, can handle negotiations, don't talk too much about our personal situation - we're buyers and have run into agents that do that. They are doing the sellers a disservice. Is available to talk to when needed and accessible to buyers or buyers agents.

One who has a lot of listings may not have the same time to spend on mine either.

Also buyers don't decide to see a property (assuming the listing is correct and good), based on who the selling agent is. Buyers decide based on their criteria and how well the property meets that.

I don't think so. First, all listings, no matter the agency, will go into the MLS. As said above it sounds like agent 2 really did a good job. A lot of listings can be a signal that you won't get a lot of attention or communication. Some agents list a lot and, of course, end up with a lot of sold listings. It doesn't mean they are better overall. It just means they are good at listing properties.

So how do you account for 259 vs 16 sales/purchases

I think the third realtor is worth a second look.

PS NEVER choose a realtor based on a quoted high asking price!

@SaltiDawg - That was my initial thought. There's such a huge discrepancy in the sales/purchases. And both have been in the business for many years.

Since the first two agents agreed on the listing price, I was concerned that the third realtor was low-balling the price for a quick sale.

I think since the listing price was agreed on by the two agents and I'm assuming you saw the comps and that the listing price was in line with those an not higher then I wouldn't be concerned about that.

I did deal once with a realtor I didn't select, but interviewed because he had a lot of listings in my area. He recommended a listing price almost 100K less than what I sold for and several 10K less than the average of the other 4 agents that I interviewed as well. Some of them were also all over the place as the house I was selling was in a niche neighborhood. I ended up selling for 15K more than the price of the realtor I had decided to list with (but not yet signed with) had recommended and selling FSBO as one of the realtors I interviewed brought a buyer before I listed and another realtor (I had not talked to) heard from friends in the neighborhood that I was considering selling and contacted me with buyers she had.

I think you need to consider more than just the listings/sold. Having a referral counts a lot in my book too. When you're talking about past purchases/sales properties - does that include acting as a buyers agent or is that only sold listings? Is agent #2 part time only? Is agent #2 not relying on the income

Suggesting a low selling price does not get a listing. Getting a listing and persuading a seller to lower the list does.

If you are like me and by far most every seller, you've likely overvalued your home.

In any event, best of luck!

Actually Agent 3 sounds like they might purposely want to underprice the house for a quick sale. My son was an agent for several years and one of the top sellers would constantly undersell properties.

There is an agent in our area claimed he was our neighborhood specialist. He sold a lot of houses in our subdivision with quick sales. The houses he sold usually had 4-5 offers on the first day when they hit the market.

When we FSBO our previous house he stopped by to introduce himself. Right away he recommended a selling price while he never left our foyer. I asked if he would like to tour our house, he refused. We were two engineers, we did research to prepare for the FSBO. We thought the price he recommended was insulting low, as he never saw the new carpet and tiles throughout the house.

Around the same time he got the listing of one house on our street, it had similar floor plan and condition as ours. He sold the house in two weeks, we sold ours in one month. Our selling price was 18% higher than the house he sold, not bad as it was our first FSBO.

We later learned our house had the highest sold price of similar size in the subdivision. We also figured out being the neighborhood specialist, he monopolized transactions, and had artificially suppressed the house price in our subdivision for a long while.

Agree with SaltiDawg.

Zillow doesn't have all the information and past sales could be under represented or over represented. Do have each agent provide you with the actual sales they have completed in their career so you have accurate figures. Those accurate figures come from the MLS for MLS sales and many of us have sales that are off MLS (new construction, or other sales).

If accurate, you are comparing 16 past sales with 259 past sales and there is no contest. 16 sales in a long career is not a good track record at all. I would be cautious with the Realtor that had the professional presentation but very few sales over the long term. It indicates she doesn't know how to price properly or she is not a career agent, but someone that dabbles in the business, despite her presentation.

I agree with cpartist - we had a really high volume (and very personable) realtor in our old town who seemed to sell quickly by pricing low. That may be Realtor #3’s approach as well.

How you avoid the issue of pricing too low is by analyzing the comparable sales. True comps, not just neighborhood sales. We don't know the OP's neighborhood and to assume agent #3 is lowballing the price when we don't have the stats or the info needed is a logical fallacy. The seller needs to go back to the comps to know proper pricing.

I agree that realtor#3 is lowballing. She didn't provide recent comps.

Realtor#2's comps support the listing price. I really like her, but am still concerned about her experience. Both zillow and trulia show that, in the last 8 years, she has been the selling agent for only 12 homes, and the buying agent for 4 homes. I've asked her to explain.

Ratio of sales price to list price is very important. 259 sales means you might be passed on to an assistant who got a license last week. Realtor 2 is clearly a part timer. This might be fine, or not.

There is an agent here who sells a lot of homes because she relists them all at a "new price " (lower price) within a couple of weeks. If you can't even get the price right the first time, that's not a good sign. I let this agent come through one of my homes, to see the pitch, out of curiousity. She never took her eyes off her cell phone, which rang every two minutes, and I really didn't have her attention at all, so I politely excused her.

DH has been toying with the idea of obtaining his real estate license and found out quite a bit about the business by visiting with a local, very successful agent.

She said that here, there are several types of agents. Some agents need to make a living selling houses and work hard to get listings and to sell houses. Other agents want a part-time job and work less hard (they may have a spouse who makes a good living, or they are independently wealthy). Still other agents do it for fun, a hobby, and obviously only work when they want to (these agents are typically retired from other professions and have a steady income stream).

Something to consider when comparing numbers of sales of various agents. A former boss told me if I wanted to sell my house I needed to find an agent who needed money. :)

Pretty good synopsis littlebug.

Just remember that the high-volume agent is the one who underpriced the house. Yeah, she needs money, so she moves them fast, regardless of what the client deserves to get.

I think you did the right thing, Agent #2. If high-demand, experienced Agent #3 couldn't be bothered to provide you with updated comps and a market analysis, then you don't want her. You won't get good service. Her heart wasn't in it. There are listing agents who are good at getting the listing and not much else. Chances are she has a "team" and you will never hear from her until the closing table when she shows up for the check.

If I had run into her around town and she asked, I would have told her that I didn't list with her because she didn't provide me with an updated market analysis. It's business. I bet she won't do that again.

It seems to me that your thought process was sound and professional.

Well... it turns out didn't do my homework.

I questioned agent#2 about her low sales numbers, she said she was glad that I am doing my research... and that it's good that I'm verify the credentials of any agent I am considering. And, although Zillow is good at certain statistics, they are not the most reliable source of information. So she educated me on her background and produced a list of over 100 houses that she has sold in the last few years (from MLS, not Zillow). Her office does lower volume sales than agent#3's agency, but they are a smaller, more personal office. Not a mega-agency.

I am satisfied with her explanation, and will be listing with her. And I am thrilled I don't need to search for another agent. :-)

Thank you everyone for your feedback.

This is an awesome forum with terrific, helpful people!

Two more things to consider, other than comps:

1. What is the Realtor's marketing plan? Comps and analysis aren't indexes of successful marketing strategies.

2. Of the 100 homes she's sold, how many are in your neighborhood? Basically, what you're trying to find out is how much "juice" she has- what sort of contacts, etc.

I think I'm late to the party. Good luck!

Why would you care how many of those homes sold were in the OP's neighborhood?

When choosing an agent, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Can you communicate well with the person?

2. Do you get the gut feeling that their morals and values match up to what you expect?

3. Do they listen well to what matters to you most?

The agent that can best fits these criteria is the one you should go with. All else will fall into place.

Agent number 3 would have been off my list the minute I realized she quoted me a sales price w/o explaining or showing me how she came up with the price.

You did good with agent #2.

ncrealestateguy- the reason I would care might not apply to a small town. But, as I'm sure you know, bigger cities-even mid-sized- can get very neighborhood specific. And, at least in my area, Realtors trying to list from the suburbs in a city center neighborhood they don't really work isn't wonderful for the client. Pricing can be way off- usually far too much, as they get greedy- especially if they want to establish themselves in the neighborhood..

Your scenario is easily countered by interviewing more than one agent.

Decorating Ditz, I'm glad you are now more comfortable with your choice of agent. Good luck with the sale of your home!

I'm surprised, though, that no one has voiced an objection to Agent 3's bad-mouthing. It is one thing if you ask about their impression of another agent; quite another if they bring it up on their own to cut other agents down.

In my neighborhood, there is an agent that sells a lot of homes here and has been in business for many years. She seems quite knowledgeable. At an open house, we were talking to her about another home for sale of the same model. She explained that she was the buyers agent for the owners of the other home about 6 years ago. But then she continued on about how upset she was that they had not made her the selling agent now that they were putting it on the market. She said she didn't understand why they didn't choose her as their agent this time, etc. The unprofessional behavior made me uncomfortable, and I doubt she will even be considered when we sell our home.

What makes a good listing agent is not necessarily what makes a good buyer's agent. They are different skill sets with different responsibilities. I've done the same thing multiple times. Of the 9 homes that I have bought and sold through the years, I've only used the same agent for both once. While some of this is due to changing locale and I could recommend a number of them in the future, I wouldn't consider most of them for both jobs.