"Whether you decide to sell or buy a home on your own, or hire a Real Estate Professional to handle it for you, there are certain key facts that can literally save or cost you thousands of dollars."

Not all real estate agents are the same. If you decide to seek the help of an agent when selling or buying your home, you need some good, solid information before you make this choice.

Picking the Right Agent Can Cost or Save You Thousands of Dollars.

Picking the right agent is a critical issue that can cost or save you thousands of dollars. There are very specific questions you should be asking to ensure that you get the best representation for your needs. Many agents would prefer that you don't ask these questions, because the knowledge you'll gain from their honest answers will give you a very good idea about what outcome you can expect from using this agent. And let's face it in real estate, as in life - not all things are created equal.

Hiring a real estate agent is just like any hiring process - with you on the boss’s side of the desk. It's critical that you make the right decision about who will handle what is probably the single largest financial investment you will ever make.

1. What is your company's sales record?

It may seem like everywhere you look, real estate agents are boasting about being #1 for this or that, or quoting you the number of homes they have sold. If you're like many homeowners, you've probably become immune this information. After all, what should you care how many homes one sold over another. The only thing you care about is whether they can sell your home when you want to move and for the most amount of money.

Well, because you want your home sold fast and for top dollar, you should be asking the agents you interview how many homes they sold. I'm sure you will agree that success in real estate is selling homes. If one agent is selling a lot of homes where another is selling only a handful, ask yourself why this might be? What things are these two agents doing differently? The number of homes an agent sells will give you an indication of how serious they are about their real estate career: Is this a hobby for them, or a serious business that they put all their time and expertise into?

You may be surprised to know that most agents sell fewer than 20 homes a year. This volume makes it difficult for them to do full impact marketing on your home, because they can't raise the money it takes to afford the advertising and special programs to give your home a high profile. Also, at this low level, they probably can't afford to hire an assistant, which means that they're running around trying to do all the parts of the job themselves, and probably shortchanging a lot of their clients.

2. Where do you rank within your company?

Within a company, every agent will have the same resources and opportunities. How well they thrive on this level playing field will give you a further indication of how successfully they will sell your home.

3. How many assistants do you have? Do you have a listing contact, a customer service manager, a marketing coordinator, and buyer’s agents?

Most agents work all by themselves or pair up with another single agent, making it very difficult for them to provide you with a consistently superior level of service. The job of a real estate agent has many and varied parts to it. Just as you wouldn't expect a doctor or a lawyer to answer phones or type letters, so your real estate agent shouldn't be spending his or her time on simple, but time-consuming tasks that could be delegated. If this agent does not have assistants to cover the areas mentioned, you should ask yourself how much time he/she really has to spend to get your home sold?

4. What are your marketing plans for my home?

How much money does this agent spend in advertising the homes he/she lists versus the other agents you are interviewing? In what media (newspaper, magazine, TV etc.) does this agent advertise? What does he/she know about the effectiveness of one medium over another?

5. What have you sold in my area?

Agent's should bring you a complete listing of both their own, and other comparable, sales in your area.

6. Does your Broker control your advertising or do you?

If your agent is not in control of their own advertising, then your home will be competing for advertising space not only with this agent's other listings, but also with the listings of every other agent in the brokerage.

7. On average, when your listings sell, how close is the selling price to the asking price?

This information is available from the Omaha Area Board of Real Estate (www.oabrmls.com).  Is this agent's performance higher or lower than the board average? Their performance on this measurement will help you predict how high a price you will get for the sale of your home.

8. How many Buyers are you currently working with? Can you provide a list?

Obviously, the more buyers your agent is working with, the better your chances are of selling your home quickly. Ask to see a list, and ask them to describe the system they have for working with these buyers. If they have a lot of buyers, they will certainly need a computerized system to keep track of them.

9. What makes you different? Why should I list my home with you?

It's a much rougher real estate market than it was a decade ago. What unique plans and programs does this agent have in place to make sure that your home stands out favorably versus other competing homes? What things does this agent offer you that others don't to help you sell your home with the least amount of hassle and for the most amount of money?

10. Do you have a reference list of clients I could contact?

Ask to see this list, and then proceed to spot-check some of the names.