This may be an over simplification, but you really want the house to stand out to buyers as they are the ones that buy. Lower your price instead, or make the house more attractive for the buyer in some other way as previously suggested. A few reasons why it's not a good idea to offer bonuses or higher than customary commissions:

1. Pushy agent turning off a buyer that would have been a good fit.

2. Agents dragging buyers through your house even though it clearly doesn't meet their criteria.

3. A "hard sold" buyer waking up and backing out at the last minute.

4. Even worse, coming after you after closing having buyer's remorse using a non-disclosure lawsuit of some kind.

Instead of a bonus, we looked at our homes for sale that realistically, a 5k-10k price reduction truly isn't going to get everyone sooooo excited they are all of a sudden going to come look at your home. Instead, we decided to get the other agents in our marketplace on our side. We bumped the commission up and we and our sellers are offering the agents that brings an acceptable offer a 5% coop commission.

The reality is that real estate is a commission business and people in a commission business are definitely more excited about sales that have higher commissions. I am not suggesting that the higher commission is going to get an agent to convince someone to buy your home. I don't know if you can MAKE someone buy a home they don't really want. However, what it definitely does is get them to SHOW IT! There is absolutely no reason to take your home out of the "look at" stack if you are offering a commission way above anything else for sale in the area.

The reason this can be so effective is because National statistics still show that over 75% of all sales will come through an agent other than the person you have your home listed with. Therefore, you are increasing your odds of finding the buyer that will pay the most....must faster is every agent in your area has a huge incentive to sell your home.

Two other great questions to ask a realtor:

1) How many homes have you sold in 2008? and how many were your listings (not buyers)?

2) What is your average list to sale price ratio?

for example: The Korn Team in '08 averages between 98%-99% of the list price based on an average of 50+ listings sold every year. Our competition is averaging 93-95% of list price. That means that even though our sellers may be offering a little higher commission...they are still putting 1-2% more equity in their pocket by chosing our team. We can help you find those agents around the country. We are very well networked throught United States and Canada.

Hey, thanks Bill. Much appreciated.

Apply the bonus bucks to a price reduz...properly priced your shome should sell in 30-45 days.

If you are looking for a listing agent, great...
but you will likely be hard pressed to find an agent that will bring a buyer to your for sale by owner for a bonus.
In this market, even buyers are leery of dealing with FSBO due to all the problems with properties etc.

What type of property do you have?
What would you like to list it for?
What community/development is it in?

David Podgursky
Boca Executive Realty
Broker-Associate
561-504-6949 cell
davidp@bocaexecutive.com

Bill,
Save your bonus money and use it on a price reduction or something else that will make the home more attractive for a buyer. Your approach stands a good chance of attracting the wrong kind of agent and may result in more problems than if you would just concentrate on getting a quality agent. Below are some tips in doing that. Good luck

In choosing a Realtor possibly the first thing I would look for is some letters behind the name. These do lend some sort of creditability. Certainly having a referral to him or her is a plus, but is certainly not a sure thing. The agent that was referred to me by three friends was an absolute disaster. As far as choosing one on your own, drive around the neighborhood and look at signs to find out what brokerages are represented and look their site up on the web. Go to the agents roster and select a few. I would try to find the Realtor's listings on Realtor.com and see whose listings are the best described with and are featured listings with multiple photos and a virtual tour. From those use the criteria below. Some of the criteria are obvious, and couple not so much so.

1. Your call to the agent was answered, or returned in a prompt manner.

2. The agent showed up on time for the appointment, and was neat and professional in appearance.

3. Be sure to mention the names of other agents you have talked with, or will be interviewing. If the agent you are interviewing gives any indication that could be interpreted as a knock against the competition, he or she has failed on an important criterion. If, on the other hand, the agent is complimentary about his or her colleagues, that is a plus.

4. The agent should be prepared with facts and figures, marketing plan, and offer suggestions. When an agent says "This property is perfect. You don't need to do a thing to it," it could very well be a big red flag.

After finally finding four that have met all of the above criteria, of the four suggested listing price ranges choose between the agents that have the two in the middle. Of those two, choose the agent you felt the most comfortable with. There is a lot to be said about trusting your "gut." The reason I disqualified the one with the high suggested price is that it could be a good chance the agent is just giving the info that you want to hear to get your listing. Not a very honest practice. I threw out the low, based on the possibility that this agent is just looking for a easy and quick sale at your expense. However, easy and quick are not adjectives normally found used in this market. If all four or even three suggested prices would come in extremely close, just go with the Realtor that you have the best feeling about of the group.

ELV!S posted these great interview questions below on another thread. They should be of some help as well. As a supplemental question to ELV!S’ question about photos, I would ask if the agent uses a professional photographer. The attention to detail with the photos you saw on the agent’s listings might also be indicative of the overall quality of the agent’s work. Since the first impression many buyers will have of the house is from photos, you simply can’t choose an agent that allows bad photos to be a representation of their listings, whether done by a professional or not.

• How many homes, of my type, have you sold? (recently, 6 mos, 1 year, 5 years)
• What is your list / sale ratio?
• What is your average "days on market"
• What is your marketing plan for my home?
does it include internet (where?), do you offer multiple photos, virtual tours, color brochures.
• Do you do open houses (why / why not / how often?)
• What is your price recommendation (why / how did you arrive at that / do you have comps to back that up?... do you have a "quick sale" price, and a normal sale price")
• What is your plan if I'm not under contract in 30 days / 60 days / 90 days ...etc....
• Why should I hire you? What do you bring to the table that's different than the myriad of other agents out there who want my listing.
• Will you offer a reduced commission (why / why not?)
• Are you a full-time agent?
• Do you practice dual-agency? (why / why not?)
• What do you think of Agent A and Agent B (the two other agents you're interviewing)
• Are you planning any upcoming vacations or are you going to be unavailable, and who is your back-up when you're gone?
• What weekly communication can I expect from you?

and lastly
• Is there anything I haven't asked you, that you think I should have?

A great post from a TruliaVoices Member named Alan in New Jersey brought this question to mind:
Will buyers have to sign in to view my property on your site?
The preferred answer is a “no.”