By: Robert Parker You have decided to list your PEI real estate - it is time to sell. How do you decide the real estate agent to use? Who will get you the most money for your property in the least amount of time? These are hard questions to answer and a little research in your community will save you the experience of being contracted to a realtor that does not perform, holding you up for the next 3 months and making the experience frustrating. I have looked at the issue of realtor choice and have 5 suggestions, pointers that you can use to decide if you have a good realtor and also to use when choosing a realtor. 1. Agent is full time and has listings It should be obvious, but if your realtor is working at another job, he or she is probably not committed to real estate and therefore to the sale of your home. Many provinces do not allow part-time realtors however here on PEI you can be part time and doing another job. 2. Agent brings 3-5 comparables and makes a realistic market assessment Some agents will overestimate the value of your home just to impress you and get your name on the contract. If the value that a prospective agent is more than you, the vendo, were thinking that your home was worth that should send up a red flag. It doesn’t mean that they are wrong, but they should be able to offer you a basis in fact for their assessment. Agents should, before they make an estimate of the value of your home, check for comparables, homes in your neighbourhood that have sold in the last 6 months or so. These homes of course should be as similar as possible to yours. They will then tweak these values up or down to reflect the differences between these properties and yours. Many realtors of experience are so familiar with their area that they can do this from memory, but if you have a doubts about the price mentioned ask to see copies of the home sales that they are basing their estimate on. 3. Agent has a Marketing Plan to suit your property Your agent should be able to offer a marketing plan to sell your PEI real estate. They should be aware if the property is best suited to local sale or if you are looking for an out of province or even out of country buyer. Many PEI properties are sold to non-residents especially if yours is a waterfront property. Homes and properties within the cities are more usually sold to islanders. The steps that your agent proposes to take to sell your home including open houses, community publication advertising, community television advertising, specialty publications both here and in other provinces and possible the US, etc. should all be listed out before you sign the listing agreement. 4. Agent uses the internet and maintains websites of his/her own to support marketing plan. The internet offers a way to reach potential buyers worldwide and since many of our properties are being sold to international buyers this is an important means of promotion. Don't forget though that many local purchasers start their search on the internet so your prospective realtor should have his or her own website as well as access to their company’s site as well. Check out the agent's site by searching “PEI real estate" on the major search engines to see if it is easily found. Most people surf based on what they can find on the search engines. 5. Agent is well connected with the community The final pointer is to make sure that your agent is well enough known in the local community to have the contacts that often will result in a sale, especially if your home will most likely sell to a local family. Realtors that have built a community profile are most likely to know who is looking for what. Use these 5 points to help you find and assess your realtor and happy selling on PEI.
