Selling your home is a huge undertaking and can be stressful under normal circumstances, but making the wrong choices can make the experience even worse and could cause your home not to sell.

This will be the first article in a series of articles that will focus on choosing the right real estate agent and what you should expect from your agent as well as your agents obligations to you as a seller.

Agents that are affiliated with a broker will work on a commission. A selling agent will receive a commission for listing your home and finding prospective buyers for your home. The commission paid to agents in our state of Pennsylvania are generally 6% of the final selling price of your home. If your selling agent also sells your home they receive all of the commission. If another real estate agent sells your home your selling agent splits the commission with the other agent.

So what should you expect from your selling agent? I have always started by interviewing the selling agents before I made a decision. Communication is the key for their to be a good working relationship and short interviews with prospective agents should help you in your final decision.

Your selling agent has certain responsibilities to you the seller. These are sometimes referred to as fiduciary duties. Fiduciary duties are to be considered as the highest business or legal relationship owed to you the seller and acting in accordance with any state and federal laws.

These fiduciary duties that are considered obligations to you are and should include include the following:

• Loyalty-Your selling agent must place there principal interest in you above all others and themselves when working in regards to the sale of your home. They may not share nor are you obligated to provide any personal information about you other than that deemed necessary by law or sales contract deemed necessary in order to sell your home.
• Confidentiality-Your selling agent must keep all personal information in confidence. This confidentiality must continue even after the sale of your home. This confidentiality is limited to legal activity, and they must disclose all defects in your property. In Pennsylvania we are required to fill out and sign a disclosure sheet that would make any buyer aware of these defects before they would sign a sales agreement with you.
• Disclosure-Your selling agent is obligated to disclose any information to you that would be considered critical to the sale of your home.
• Accounting-Your selling agent is obligated to account for all hand monies or properties held on your behalf.
• Licensed-Your selling agent should be a licensed agent in the state in which you are selling your home. They should be familiar with the laws in regards to selling your home in that state or refer you to someone who is.

It’s very easy to become anxious when selling your home but choosing a good agent is key to your success. Take your time in making your decision, don’t be afraid to ask for referrals. Consider the amount of experience they have and if they have the time necessary to focus on selling your home. Many agents are interested in listing homes and letting other agents do the leg work. A good selling agent will make every effort in finding a buyer by networking with other agents, brokers and buyers to get the job done.

There are many types of agents that you should become familiar with. They are a seller agent, buyer agent, dual agent, designated agent and subagent. I will discuss all of these types of agents in my next article.

Author: Mark Boehm
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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