How to Choose a Real Estate Agent: Questions to Ask

The agent you hire has more influence over your outcome - the sale price, the purchase price, the contingency protections, the timeline - than almost any other single decision in a real estate transaction. Most people spend more time researching a laptop purchase than they spend vetting the person who will negotiate one of the largest financial contracts of their life. The interview process does not need to be long, but it does need to happen.

Why the agent you hire matters more than the platform you find them on

Search platforms - Zillow, Realtor.com, Google - surface agents by advertising spend and paid placement, not by transaction quality or client outcomes. A high-visibility profile means an agent has a marketing budget. It does not mean they know your neighborhood's comps, price homes accurately, or communicate promptly during negotiations.

Agent performance varies significantly even within a single market. NAR member surveys show that the median Realtor closes 10 to 12 transactions per year, but a substantial portion of licensed agents close fewer than five. An agent doing three deals a year in a market that moves in 48 hours is operating on stale information. Transaction volume is not everything - a boutique agent who focuses on one neighborhood may close fewer deals but know that market better than anyone - but it is a starting point.

Since August 2024, as part of the NAR settlement, buyers who want representation must sign a written buyer agent agreement before a licensed agent can tour homes with them. That agreement specifies the agent's compensation, duration, and exclusivity terms. Before you sign it, you should know whether you actually want this specific agent representing you. The interview is not optional - it is the process by which you decide whether to sign.

Questions to ask about local experience and recent transactions

The single most revealing question is not how long the agent has been licensed - it is how many transactions they have closed in the last 12 months in the specific zip codes you care about. An agent who moved to your city three years ago and closes 25 transactions per year has more relevant current knowledge than a 20-year veteran who closed four deals last year.

Ask for a list of their last five to ten closed transactions and note whether those homes were in comparable neighborhoods and price ranges to yours. An agent who exclusively works in the $800,000-and-above market may not know the $350,000 first-time buyer market well, and vice versa. Match the agent's typical transaction profile to your actual needs.

Specific questions to ask:

• How many transactions did you close in the last 12 months? How many were in [specific neighborhood or zip code]?
• What was the average days-on-market for homes you listed in the last six months versus the market average?
• What percentage of your listings sold at or above asking price?
• For buyer clients: what was the average list-to-sale price ratio on homes you helped buyers purchase?

These are data questions with factual answers. An agent who cannot or will not answer them specifically does not have the data - which is itself informative.

How to evaluate an agent's pricing and marketing strategy

For sellers, the listing price a prospective agent recommends is one of the most important data points you can gather in an interview. Ask each agent to provide a comparative market analysis (CMA) before you decide. A well-prepared agent will do this during the interview. An agent who quotes a price without showing their work is estimating, not analyzing.

The CMA should show you which recently sold homes the agent used as comparables, how they adjusted for differences (square footage, condition, features), and what range that supports. Be cautious of agents who consistently recommend the highest list price - this is a common tactic to win a listing contract, not an honest assessment. Overpricing leads to longer days on market and, typically, a lower final sale price than an accurately priced listing would have achieved.

For buyers, ask how the agent approaches offer strategy in the current market. Do they pull active listing data before every showing? How do they advise on offer price relative to list price? Do they have a system for tracking contingency deadlines, or do they rely on the buyer to track?

What the buyer agent written agreement requires you to negotiate

Since August 2024, buyer agents must have a written agreement signed before they can represent you in touring or making offers on property. The agreement must specify the agent's compensation - a percentage of the purchase price, a flat fee, or a combination - and the duration of the exclusive relationship.

The NAR settlement does not cap what a buyer agent can charge, but it does require transparency: the agreement must state exactly what the agent expects to be paid. This is negotiable. Rates that were previously assumed at around 2.5 to 3 percent are now openly discussed and some buyers are successfully negotiating lower rates, flat fees for specific services, or non-exclusive arrangements that allow them to work with multiple agents or certain property types outside the agreement.

Ask each agent you interview what compensation they require, what that covers, and what happens if the seller does not offer to pay the buyer agent fee. Some sellers still offer to cover buyer agent costs; many do not. You need to know in advance whether you will be expected to make up any gap.

See Buyer Agent Agreements Explained: What You Sign Before You Tour for a full breakdown of what the agreement must include, what is negotiable, and the red flags to watch for in the contract language.

Red flags in an agent interview

Most agents are competent and honest. Some are not. Red flags to watch for:

Vague answers to specific questions. If you ask how many transactions they closed last year and get "quite a few" instead of a number, that is an answer. If they cannot produce a CMA before you sign a listing agreement, they either do not do that work or do not think you are worth the effort yet.

Pressure to sign immediately. A buyer agent who insists you sign the agency agreement before they will answer substantive questions about their compensation or process is not negotiating - they are avoiding negotiation. Good agents are comfortable discussing their fee and explaining what you get for it.

Overpriced listing recommendations without supporting data. As mentioned above, an agent who recommends a price meaningfully above what comparable sales support is trying to win the listing. Ask them to show you the comps behind any price recommendation.

Unclear communication practices. Ask: how do you prefer to communicate - phone, text, or email? How quickly do you typically respond? Who covers when you are unavailable? An agent without clear answers to these questions has probably not thought carefully about client communication.

How to compare commission rates and what is negotiable

After the August 2024 NAR settlement, agent compensation is explicitly negotiable and must be disclosed in the written agreement before any representation begins. There is no standard rate. According to data published by the Real Estate Standards Organization after the settlement, average buyer agent compensation has been shifting downward from the pre-settlement de facto 2.5 to 3 percent range.

For sellers, listing agent commissions typically run 2 to 3.5 percent of the sale price, though rates vary significantly by market and agent. On a $400,000 home, a 3 percent listing commission is $12,000. That is a material number and one you can negotiate.

Discount brokers and flat-fee MLS services can reduce seller costs significantly - sometimes to $500 to $1,500 for MLS access, with additional fees for showings and negotiation. For sellers willing to handle those tasks, the savings are real. For sellers who want full-service representation, the relevant comparison is not the commission rate but the net proceeds after sale - an agent who prices accurately and negotiates well may produce higher net proceeds despite a higher commission.

See Realtor Commission Explained: Who Pays What in 2026 for specific data on how rates have shifted after the settlement, how different buyer and seller fee structures work, and what flat-fee MLS alternatives actually cost.

Checking references: what to ask previous clients

An agent's references are not a formality. Call two or three former clients and ask targeted questions:

• Were there problems during the transaction you were not told about in advance?
• How did the agent respond when something went wrong?
• Did the final sale price or purchase price match what the agent projected at the outset? If not, why?
• Would you use this agent again on a transaction that was more complicated - or more stressful?

Pattern recognition matters here. A single glowing reference tells you little. Three references that all independently mention the same strength (or the same gap) is real information. An agent who cannot or will not provide references from clients in the last 12 months is telling you something.

For first-time buyers, the most important reference question is simple: did this agent explain things clearly enough that you always knew what was happening and what came next? If the answer is no, move on.

For sellers, the most important reference question is: did the agent's final price estimate match what you actually received, and if not, how did they handle the adjustment?

See How to Buy Your First Home: A Step-by-Step Guide for the full buying process context that makes these agent interview questions relevant at each stage of the transaction.