A listing agent or seller’s agent helps you sell your home as fast as possible, and for the best price. 

Real Estate Witch says to achieve a successful home sale, a good realtor usually completes the following tasks: 

• Sets a fair, competitive listing or asking price
• Prepares your home for sale 
• Posts your listing on the MLS and popular home search sites
• Markets your home for sale 
• Reviews offers 
• Negotiates price and terms in your favor
• Coordinates inspections, appraisals, and closing

We break down each listing agent responsibility in more detail below. 

A listing agent’s legal obligations to a home seller

The listing agent has a fiduciary duty to the seller. This means they’re legally obligated to act in their client’s best interest at all times.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), being a fiduciary means agents must fulfill six specific responsibilities:

Loyalty – The agent must act in their client’s best interest, even above the agent’s own self interest.

Confidentiality – Except for legally-mandated disclosure requirements, the agent must safeguard any confidential information that would weaken the seller’s bargaining position.

Disclosure – The agent can’t conceal important information related to the sale from their client.

Obedience – The agent must obey their client’s lawful instructions promptly.

Reasonable care and diligence – The agent must act with the care and skill expected of a competent real estate professional.

Accounting – The agent must safeguard any money or other property their client entrusts to them in connection with a transaction.

This fiduciary relationship typically begins when the seller signs a listing agreement with their agent’s brokerage — also known as the “listing brokerage” — although laws vary between states. So don’t divulge any information you wouldn’t want a buyer to know until you’ve signed this contract.

Price the home

To guide your pricing strategy, a good listing agent creates a comparative market analysis (CMA) report. A CMA is a home valuation based on the recent sales of comparable or similar homes in your area. 

A good agent also prices your home to reflect current market conditions. For example, they might recommend you list your home slightly above its fair value in a market favoring sellers.

Prepare your home for sale

Part of a listing agent’s job is to help you get your home ready for photos, showings, and inspections.

At your initial listing interview, an experienced agent evaluates your home and recommends pre-listing work with the highest return on your investment. 

For example, an agent can recommend you make certain repairs or improvements to increase your home’s value, or invest in home staging to improve your home’s showing appeal.

List on the MLS

Listing agents post your home on the multiple listing service (MLS): a platform most realtors use to market and sell properties. 

Listing on the MLS also publishes your home on popular home search websites like Zillow, Realtor, and Trulia, getting it in front of more agents and potential buyers. Your home will be listed on nearly 360 websites worldwide.

Market the home to buyers

A good realtor markets your home with professional photos, videos, and 3D tours, hosts open houses, and shares your listing on social media.

In a hot real estate market, extra efforts like staging and 3D tours of the home might not be necessary, but sometimes they help to get more eyeballs on your listing.

Review offers

It’s often hard to decide if an offer you’ve received is a good one. After all, offer price is just one factor to consider. A listing agent can help you carefully analyze each offer and decide whether or not to accept, counter, or decline. 

If the you desires to submit a counteroffer, your agent negotiates on your behalf until a deal is reached with a buyer.

The listing agent remains the your chief advocate throughout the rest of the sale, assisting you with paperwork and the other nitty-gritty details that accompany a real estate transaction.

Negotiate contract terms

Good realtors are fierce negotiators and can help you get the best possible price and terms for your house, such as a faster closing date and fewer contingencies.

Coordinate inspections and closing

A listing agent is your main point of contact and communicates with all of the parties involved in the transaction to ensure a timely closing, including the buyer’s agent, title company, lenders, appraisers, and home inspectors.

» MORE: How to sell your home in 12 steps

How listing agents get paid

Listing agents earn a percentage of your home’s final sale price – but only get paid if your home sells. They generally charge between a 6% to 7% commission rate, split with the buyer’s agent. 

For example, on the sale of a $300,000 home, a listing agent might charge you 6% in commission ($18,000). But the agent’s take home pay would be about 3% ($9,000), before splitting it with their broker.  

Agent commission covers all of the costs of selling your house, including photography and videos, posting on the MLS, setting up a for-sale sign and lockbox, and marketing to buyers. The agent then recoups those costs when the house sells. 

Contact us

For more information on just what a listing agent does, please contact Tucker Benner Realty. We are happy to clarify and answer any questions you may have regarding our role in selling your home.

Marilyn Tucker