The Questions Most Sellers Don't Ask — But Should
How many homes did you personally list and sell in the last 12 months (not your team's production — yours)? What is your average days-on-market vs. the market average? What is your list-to-sale price ratio? How many of your listings have you had to reduce in the last year? These questions reveal more about an agent's actual capability than any marketing presentation.
Marketing Execution Is Everything in the First 10 Days
Great listing photography is not optional — it's the minimum standard. Ask to see examples of the agent's professional photography across different price points. Ask about virtual tours, social media marketing, agent network promotion, and email campaigns to buyer databases. Ask how many open houses they hold and what their showing policy is. The first 10 days of a listing drive a disproportionate percentage of the final outcome.
Local Knowledge That Actually Matters
Your listing agent should know your neighborhood so well they can tell a buyer's agent which lot premium to pay attention to, which streets get the most foot traffic, which subdivision improvements are coming, and what the buyer profile for your specific home looks like. Generic market knowledge is not the same as intimate neighborhood-level knowledge. Ask your agent to tell you about the last three homes that sold on your street or in your immediate subdivision — in detail.
Beware of Commission Shopping and Overpricing
Two of the most common mistakes sellers make: choosing the agent with the lowest commission and choosing the agent who gives the highest price opinion. The lowest commission agent is often the least experienced or the most volume-dependent — which means less individual attention on your sale. The highest price opinion is often a strategy to win the listing, not an honest market assessment. Both can cost you more than the commission savings or the inflated list price ever generates.
What the Tye Group Delivers
22 years in Greater Cincinnati. 1,750+ closed transactions. Top 2% globally at Coldwell Banker. Professional photography and video on every listing. Targeted digital marketing reaching verified buyers in your specific price range. And a pricing strategy grounded in real market data, not wishful thinking. If you're interviewing listing agents, I welcome the conversation — and I'll show you the data on every question you ask.