12 Questions to Ask a Realtor Before Selling Your Home

12 Questions to Ask a Realtor Before Selling Your Home in Rochester, MI

Hiring a listing agent is the highest-leverage decision in a home sale. Most Rochester sellers make it after one conversation and a printed market analysis.

These are twelve questions to ask a realtor before selling your home, what a strong answer sounds like, and the answer that should send you back to your shortlist. Several have answers specific to Michigan, which is where most national advice stops being useful.

The twelve questions, in short:

1. Recent track record in Rochester

2. How the listing price was set

3. The numbers behind the pitch

4. What the marketing plan includes

5. How the listing reaches buyers

6. What to fix and what to skip

7. The fee and what it buys

8. Who pays the buyer's agent

9. Every cost, not just commission

10. What Michigan makes you disclose

11. The term and the way out

12. Whether they will represent the buyer too

1. How many homes like mine have you sold in Rochester in the last twelve months?

Career sales and last-year sales in a seller's own price band are different numbers. Only the second one predicts anything. Rochester and Rochester Hills buyers compare specific streets and school boundaries. An agent whose recent work sits elsewhere in Oakland County is starting from a weaker read of what a home is worth here.

A strong answer gives a count for the last twelve months, in this price range and this area, and offers the addresses so a seller can look them up. Rochester realtors who work this market weekly will have them ready. In Rochester and Rochester Hills, where The Delia Group works, the count is easy to check against public records.

A number with no timeframe attached, or a pivot to how long the brokerage has been around, is an answer dodging the question. So is a count that quietly folds in buyer-side deals.

2. How did you arrive at that listing price, and which comps did you use?

A listing price should come from recent closed sales of comparable homes, not from what an agent thinks a seller wants to hear. Some agents win a listing by quoting a high number, then ask for a price cut three weeks later. By then the listing has gone stale and the early buyer traffic has moved on.

A strong answer names three to five closed sales nearby and recent, explains why this home sits above or below them, and arrives with the printout. Adjustments for condition, lot size and finished square footage should be spelled out.

A shrug and a promise that the price can always come down later is the answer to worry about. Coming down later means the days on market climb and buyers start asking what is wrong with the house.

3. What are your sale-to-list ratio and your average days on market?

These two figures say more than any marketing claim, because they are outcomes rather than intentions. They also need a local benchmark to mean anything. Redfin put the median Rochester home at 16 days on market with a 101.1 percent sale-to-list ratio in June 2026, and 43.4 percent of homes selling above asking.

A strong answer gives both numbers for the last twelve months and compares them to the local median rather than a national one. Any top real estate agent in Rochester can produce both figures in a minute. An agent whose listings sit longer than the area median should have a reason ready.

An agent who has never calculated either number is telling you they do not measure their own work. Vague talk about how every home is different, with no figures behind it, is the same answer in a better suit.

4. What is in your marketing plan, and who pays for each piece?

Marketing is the one part of the service a seller can verify before signing anything. A real plan names the photography, the launch timing, where the listing syndicates and any paid promotion. Each line carries a cost, and a name next to it for whoever is covering that cost.

A strong answer arrives in writing and names a photographer, a launch day, the syndication targets and a promotion budget in dollars. It should also say what changes in week three if the showings do not come.

Full service marketing, with nothing itemized behind the phrase, is a slogan. So is a plan whose entire first week is putting the home on the MLS and waiting for the phone to ring.

5. How does my listing get into Realcomp, and where does it go from there?

Nearly every buyer in southeastern Michigan finds homes through data that starts in Realcomp, the largest REALTOR-owned MLS in the state. What gets entered there is the source file for everything downstream. The photo count, the room dimensions, the school district and the remarks all feed the national portals and every brokerage site.

A strong answer treats the MLS entry as the listing itself rather than as paperwork, says how many photos go in and when, and names who proofreads the details before it goes live.

An agent who shrugs at this question is the one who produces a listing with eight photos and a blank school field. Those fields are the first filter buyers use.

6. What should I fix before we list, and what should I leave alone?

Pre-listing work is where sellers most often spend money that does not come back. The repairs worth doing are the ones a buyer notices in the first two minutes or that an inspector will flag anyway. A full kitchen renovation three weeks before listing rarely returns what it costs.

A strong answer walks the house and comes back with a short list in priority order, with rough costs and a reason attached to each one. It should also name the things to skip, which is the harder half.

An agent who recommends everything has prioritized nothing. Be equally careful with one who says the home is perfect as it stands, since that is often the answer that avoids an awkward conversation.

7. What is your commission, and what does it actually cover?

Commission is negotiable and always has been. It is agreed between a seller and a broker rather than set by law or by any association, and the rate is only half the question. The other half is what comes out of the service when the rate comes down.

A strong answer states the rate, lists what the brokerage covers out of it, photography, promotion, staging consultation, and says plainly what is not included. Compare the net sheets from two agents rather than comparing the percentages.

An agent who calls the rate standard, or says it is set by the board, is describing something that is not true. An agent who drops the rate on the spot without changing the service has told you the first number was invented.

8. Who pays the buyer's agent now, and how does that work?

Since August 2024, offers of buyer-agent compensation cannot be published on the MLS, and buyers sign a written agreement with their own agent before touring a home. A seller can still offer to cover some or all of that fee, but it is now a negotiated term rather than an assumption baked into every listing.

A strong answer explains both paths, what happens if a seller offers a concession toward the buyer's agent and what happens if the buyer pays it themselves, and brings a net sheet showing the proceeds under each.

An agent who answers that the seller always pays it is working from a rulebook that has changed. So is one who says the question never comes up, because it comes up on most offers.

9. What are all of my closing costs, not just the commission?

Michigan sellers pay a state transfer tax of $3.75 per $500 of sale price plus an Oakland County transfer tax of $0.55 per $500. Combined, that is 0.86 percent. On a $560,000 sale it comes to roughly $4,800, and it lands before title work, prorated property taxes, the loan payoff and any buyer concession.

A strong answer is a written net sheet, line by line, at a realistic sale price rather than an optimistic one. Ask for a second version priced five percent lower, because that is the one that shows how much room there really is.

An agent who answers with a commission percentage alone has answered a different question. So has one who cannot produce a net sheet before the listing agreement is signed.

10. What am I required to disclose, and what happens if I get it wrong?

Michigan's Seller Disclosure Act requires the seller of most residential property to give the buyer a signed statement covering the condition of the home as the seller knows it. The statutory form says plainly that failing to provide one will let a purchaser terminate an otherwise binding purchase agreement.

A strong answer walks a seller through the form question by question and pushes toward disclosing more rather than less, including the repair nobody would notice. It should also explain that the form reports what the seller knows and is not a warranty on the house.

An agent who suggests leaving a known problem off the form, or who calls the disclosure a formality, is exposing a seller to the exact claim the form exists to prevent.

11. How long is the listing agreement, and how do I get out of it?

Every listing agreement carries a term and a cancellation provision. Both are negotiable before signing and neither is negotiable afterward. Sellers who never raise the question learn the terms at the moment they are already unhappy with the sale. That is the worst possible time to be reading a contract.

A strong answer states the term in months, describes the cancellation process without getting defensive, and explains the protection period that can still leave a fee owed if a buyer the agent introduced comes back later.

An agent who treats the question as an insult has shown you how the rest of the relationship will go. A twelve-month term presented as standard and not negotiable is worth pushing back on before anyone signs.

12. Will you also represent the buyer, and what changes if you do?

A Michigan licensee can represent both sides of a sale, but only with the knowledge and written informed consent of both the seller and the buyer. The trade-off is written into the statute itself: in that situation the licensee will not be able to disclose all known information to either side.

A strong answer raises dual agency before it comes up rather than at the moment an offer arrives, and describes exactly what the agent will stop being able to advise on. Plenty of sellers accept it, and the point is deciding in advance rather than under pressure.

An agent who mentions dual agency for the first time with an offer already in hand has taken the decision away from the seller. So has one who describes it as having no downside.

What a Rochester Seller Pays at Closing

Transfer tax rates are set by Michigan statute. Everything else varies by transaction, which is why the net sheet in question nine matters.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage do most realtors charge in Michigan?

There is no standard rate in Michigan or anywhere else. Commission is agreed between a seller and a broker, and any figure presented as the going rate is a negotiating position rather than a rule. Compare what two agents include in the service, then compare the net sheets.

How long does it take to sell a house in Rochester, Michigan?

Redfin put the median Rochester home at 16 days on market in June 2026. Time on market is only the first half of the answer, since financing, inspections and title work add several more weeks between an accepted offer and a closing.

Who is exempt from filling out a seller disclosure in Michigan?

The Seller Disclosure Act names specific transfers it does not cover, such as certain court-ordered and foreclosure-related transactions. An ordinary sale of a home someone has lived in is not among them. A seller who thinks an exemption might apply should confirm it with a real estate attorney rather than assume.

Should I interview more than one realtor?

Yes. Two or three conversations is usually enough, and the value is in the contrast rather than the count. Asking every agent the same questions turns a vague impression into a comparison.

What should I not tell a realtor when selling?

Hold back the lowest price you would accept until you have seen a net sheet, because that number tends to become the anchor for every conversation afterward. Share the deadline you are working toward, which an agent genuinely needs, and keep the walk-away number to yourself.

Talk to The Delia Group before you sign a listing agreement

The Delia Group is a Rochester, Michigan real estate team working with sellers across Rochester, Rochester Hills and Oakland Township. They answer all twelve of these questions with the comps and the net sheet on the table, before anything gets signed. Sellers comparing the best real estate agents in Rochester can start there.