My client has decided to stay closer to downtown, so for now it is not a candidate for her.

Patrick and James, what did you think about the house for your potential clients? You can email me here for specific feedback or let Wendy know.

The next Broker's Open is currently scheduled for 9/17.

Best, Peter

Ok, I remember this one. Thanks for getting back to me. You're in good hands with Wendy.

Thanks Patrick.

Sorry for not responding faster.

It is on the market, well staged and ready to sell. We had two Broker's Open with very positive feedback. The plan is to have another Broker's Open next week.

The listing agent is Wendy Lister. I see it on MLS in 98034 and with the description:"Waterfront Bank-Low, Bulkhead, Lake" .

Thanks so much,
Peter

Did you ever sell your house Peter? If not, please have your agent contact me--I might have your buyer. Tax records don't show you in Kirkland so I was unable to look up this property. Thanks!

Hi Peter--I'd like to see your property because I have a potential buyer, but I was unable to find anything in kirkland with your name. Can you please email me the listing number or street address?
Thanks!

Peter,

Try checking out http://www.linkedin.com. It's a website for the expressed purpose of net working for professional people. There are often letters of recommendation available that provide the kind of information important to finding quality individuals for consideration.

Good luck,
The "Eckler Team"

Thanks James. I did negotiate an exit clause. Still, my intent is to make it work for both parties and so far I have been mostly impressed.

When your client is ready you will be able to find the property on MLS.

Glad to hear your progress Peter! If you have lingering concerns with whomever you choose, one idea is to set a short listing period....kind of as a trial period. Although technically, you can cancel your listing at anytime, but occasionally you may get someone you refuses to release you from the contract. That way to protect yourself, you set an short initial contract. Keep in mind however, some agents won't be too keen on that. Good luck and keep us updated! ...when it's listed, please contact me ...I have a client who will be starting to look in a few weeks for waterfront stuff.

Thanks for all the feedback.

The status is I interviewed four agents/teams two high producing and two that was highly recommended by colleagues and friends. In the end I decided to go with one of the high end producing agents. I also got feedback from a buyers agent on her recommendation including how it is to work on a transaction with two of the four agents.

If we review the original criteria:
#1 & 2 are OK.

#3 I'm unsure of the actual rating. However in terms of my interactions and specificity around mutual expectations, I found this agent to be above the rest.

#4 - what made this agent stand apart was an ability to recognize unique qualities in the home and apply those in the marketing.

#5 & 6: I have no specific data. Which does worry me.

#1 High sales of comparable houses in terms of price.

Maybe, maybe not. Some of the homes I list do not HAVE comparables, sure there are other homes in or near the same price, but comparing apples and oranges does not give a usable formula.

#2 Mainly works within a radius of 10 miles of the house

I think having recently sold a home in the area is a good thing, but not necessarily something that makes one a better agent.

#3 High client satisfaction (for example Five Star in Seattle Magazine).

I'm a Seattle Magazine Five Star Realtor. As James Hsu said, it's mainly a marketing thing, and I chose not to buy the plaque. Some of my past clients have agreed to speak about their experience working with me and I've put them on my website. I think this says more than merely touting an "award."

#4 Marketing approach - how do you know, beyond their personal and web presence?

You ask. Each home is unique and should be marketed as such. Ask how they'll sell your home.

#5 The gap between list and sales price is less than 4%.

Any agent who says they consistently do this is either lying or does a very LOW volume of business (or specializes in short sales). Like most agents, I sometimes sell my listings for OVER asking price. And sometimes, I sell them for much less than the seller had planned. I'm an excellent negotiator but if your home is worth $500k, you probably won't net $10M.

#6 Shorter average sales time - would this just be a comparison between agents?

Possibly, but every one of these questions is. Concentrate on yourself--What do you want? You want your house sold asap at the best price AND terms possible. Talk to several agents, have them out to the house and find out what they think with regard to pricing, what kind of market time they anticipate, what they'll do to market the house, what kind of client they expect will buy the house, etc. Don't hire an agent just because they tell you the highest list price. Look for a TRACK RECORD--Actual sales that show an ability to do what they claim. For example, I have a list of recent transactions and those sellers are willing to talk about their experience with me. I think this is important--More so than being a 5-Star Realtor. Make sure you're getting feedback from each buyer who goes through the property.

And last but not least (and this is a personal thing that some will not agree with)--Do you LIKE the agent? Will you get along?

I truely believe that waterfront is its own animal and should be represented by someone with experience and dedication to waterfront listings. Your list is interesting, however, your first priority is to find someone with experience selling waterfront listings.

Peter

I think all your criteria is valid but there's a couple other factors that are especially important in this challenging market. You need an agent who works in an office that is full of cooperating, high producing people who network extensively. You should also seek out an agent who has years of experience in waterfront properties and has built their own extensive network of clients. Unfortunately, you won't be able to determine either of these characteristics on your own. I believe I can help you though. In past years I had the good fortune of working with two of the top waterfront professionals in the Kirkland/Bellevue area - Wendy Lister and Tere Foster. At the time both worked for Coldwell Banker Bain Associates but Tere did move to Windermere. These ladies operate in the stratosphere of real estate brokerage. Their success also allows them both to always speak the absolute truth about market conditions and price-they don't "need" high end listings. They will deliver results. You can research them at http://www.FosterRealty.com and http://www.wendylister.com. In my opinion, you'll only need these two interviews.

Thanks for all the answers and especially to James Hsu. I am impressed with the response and it is helping me through the process. I agree with the feedback in general. Liking and being able to work with the agent will be a criteria.

Customer satisfaction: I did check with friends and colleagues, and many like their agents a lot, which is very positive, and none of these agents are experienced in listing comparable homes. And, I am interviewing one of these. I agree a survey is just another recommendation. Angie's List another, and again there are no high end/water front agents recommended.

In terms of distance the 10 miles is arbitrary, and it is probably more about listing comparable homes in an area, and if you have something really unique the area may even be larger.

The marketing plan and execution is of course the essence of the listing agent's work and hardest to evaluate for a seller in terms of what really works well.

Thanks again to this community!

I don't think you will get a better nor more complete answer than James Hsu's answer.

When you mention waterfront is it sound or lake?

While it is always great to use a local agent that is very successful in marketing waterfront keep in mind that the selling agent may be from out-of-the-area as I have been many times selling waterfront to one of my repeat clients moving south. We also will do a market evaluation for our buyers, find the properties through the MLS and neither know or are concerned that the listing agent is a local expert. A professional agent with excellent experience will be able to give you the results you are looking for.
Mary

That's a comprehensive list, but can be misguiding.
#1 - We all yearn to be the go-to listing agent for a high end community, but that does not necessarily translate to great work. Rather than automatically focus on the agents that seemingly do a lot of high end homes in the area, I'd recommend interviewing them and a few others that may not be as experienced in the waterfront/high end homes.

#2 - not sure how this is relevant enough to be #2 on the list. As a buyer's agent, I'd perhaps agree with this more, but the primary role of the listing agent is to market the house to as broad of an audience as possible. I'm not convinced the listing agent has to be from the area (though 10mile radius is pretty wide). For example, ..a proper marketing plan/system should work in Federal Way as it would in Everett ...or anywhere in between.

#3 - Definitely wouldn't hurt, but I don't think Seattle Magazine is the final authority in who's the best in the industry. I read somewhere they survey 31,000 home buyers each year. As of June 2008, there are over 28,000 members of the local MLS (NWMLS). Of the 31,000 buyers surveyed, how many responses did they get? How many of them bought more than one house in the same year?...probably very, very few ..if any. So if I turned in a survey for my agent and I gave him/her a glowing review ....does that mean he/she gets a Best in Client satisfaction award? If someone knows how Seattle Magazine does it, I'd love to know...cause I'm on the opinion it's a marketing gimmick. Much like the "awards" that JD Powers gives out. Did you know the company that "wins" has to actually pay for the plaque that is "awarded?" What if I got lucky with this particular agent and he/she is normally just average?

#4 - very important to know. Everyone has a different marketing plan / philosophy and it has to make sense to you and make also make sense in how much money you're paying for it.

#5 - the gap between list and sales can be easily misleading. If I pressured all my clients to list their house at a low, low price....my stats for the list price to sale price delta would be amazing. I could even claim that my listings sell for more than they are listed for sometimes! ... but that's wouldn't be telling the whole story...actually, it would be a very inaccurate story.

#6 - this is a fun metric to play around with, but if you really think about all the variables that play into how fast a house sells, ....you should realize that this metric really doesn't say anything of value. Some of those variables are ... price, condition of house, location, market conditions and luck. In the hey-day of the market of 2005/2006 ... houses would sell hours after they hit the market. Was that because of the listing agent's sheer genius... unlikely. It was a condition of the market. Likewise in this slow/flat market, ...if you priced a house $100K under true market value ... it would likely still sell very fast .....which has nothing to do with how "good" the listing agent is.

Keep in mind that waterfront homes is a unique property. Depending on you exact location, it could even be seen as rare properties. Scarcity usually has value, but the challenging part of waterfront homes is the subjective value of it. If I've had a few waterfront properties before, I may not perceive as much value of the waterfront as someone who has been trying to buy their first one for a long time. Numbers wise, there is of course a huge premium for waterfront. Whether that's $50K, $75K, $100K, ...$250K ... is somewhat subjective. ....This is where a bit of luck comes into play. If a buyer is out there right now looking for something just like your property, ...then it could sell very fast ...if they perceived the value to be close to what you have it listed at.

Okay....so ...what kind of criteria should you use then?! ... I liked your #4. I agree with Stacey that you have to get along and be able to build trust with your agent. It could be a long journey and the last thing you want is to have to work with someone you clash with every time you talk. The best way is to take the time to sit down and interview several agents. Lots of people claim 3 ...but if you can afford the time, more than 3 would be good. At some point, you will be able to see who stands out and why (sometimes good, sometimes bad). Think of the agent as your personal real estate consultant. What are they going to bring to the table that is unique and effective. ...and of course...how much is all of this going to cost you?

I hope I didn't come across as slamming your metrics. They do seem legitimate and reasonable metrics to hold an agent to, but many of them can lead you in the wrong direction if you relied on it heavily.

If you want some more clarification, or if any agents out there want to chime in with agreements or disagreements, ...by all means.

Your criteria are all logical with #4 - marketing approach - being perhaps the most important. To get answers to your "how do you know" question, interview a few agents and ask them to give you three examples of how they went about listing and selling a property. (Yes, ask for references, too.)

No home is like another and price is only one of the differences. The marketing approach has as much to do with the home as it has with the motivations and objectives of the seller. Real estate is not all logical or rational. You've got to like your agent because you'll spend some time together. Also, make sure that the agent you select is the person you will be working with beyond the "listing presentation."

Getting an agent is more like finding the right team member to work with. See it as an adventure on a race in a boat called life....for this ride get someone who steers while you row, and vice versa