The Listing Agent

The Listing Agent - Preliminary Marketing of Your Home

The "Real" Role of a Listing Agent

When you bought your home, you probably used the services of a real estate agent. You found
that agent through a referral from a friend or family member, or through some sort of advertising
or marketing. The agent helped you in many ways and eventually you found the house of your
dreams, made an offer, closed the deal, and moved in.

For whatever reason, now it is time to sell your home and you need a real estate agent again.
Many home sellers, especially those selling their first home, tend to think all agents are similar
to the one that helped them buy their home.

Although real estate agents can (and do) work with both buyers and sellers, most tend to
concentrate more on one than the other. They specialize. When you bought your home, you
probably worked with a "selling agent" – an agent that works mostly with buyers. Because of
the nature of real estate advertising and marketing, the public’s main image of the real estate
profession is that of the selling agent (buyer's agent).

As a result, many homeowners expect their listing agent to do the same things that a selling
agent does – find someone to buy their home. After all, they do the things you would expect
if they were searching for buyers. A sign goes up in the front yard. Ads are placed in the local
newspaper and real estate magazines. Your agent holds an open house on the weekend.
Your house is proudly displayed on the Internet.

But this is only "surface" marketing. More important activity occurs behind the scenes. After
the "for sale" sign goes up and flyers are printed, your agent’s main job is to market your
home to other agents, not to homebuyers.