Interviewing realtors before signing with one?

[eponymous]

DH's parents live in one of the least expensive houses in a very nice suburb of Chicago. A recent trend there is buying perfectly nice houses and tearing them down to build larger mansions. They are starting :rolleyes: to think about moving due to FIL's inability to walk stairs.

They were wondering if realtors would be willing to give them opinions about whether their house would be a tear-down, or what kind of price they might list the house for. Would realtors be willing to be "interviewed" before the ILs signed with one? We've never dealt with trying to pick a realtor; ours came very highly recommended by a friend.

[hmbay]

most realtors will come do a "listing presentation" if you call and ask. It's more or less their hard-sell to convince you to pick them as their realtor. Most will do this willingly and for free. Just don't sign anything until you are sure you want to work with them. Looking at houses is a slightly different equation--most realtors will not show you a house without you signing with them but all should do a free listing presentation on their marketing ideas, what they think your house is worth, market times etc for free.

[boilermaker]

I would never sign with a realtor without going through an interview process. We've sold 2 homes and in both cases, we interviewed 3 realtors prior to picking one of them. Not only does it give you a sense of what your house is worth, but you (or your IL's) a chance to see if they would work well together.

As a tip, on the buying side, a realtor will not typically take you out looking at houses without agreeing to something (though I personally will not sign a buyer's contract), but they will pull a list for you and put together a basic package that lets you know how they work, if they were listening to you, etc. It's pretty smart to meet with a couple of realtors on the buying side as well.

[mamax2]

Always good to interview - you have to have a good working relationship w/your Realtor, so you want him/her to be someone you mesh with. The listing presentation will give you a good idea of their plans and it's really your only chance to be able to compare marketing plans.

As for signing a listing agreement, obviously don't do this until you've decided on a broker. It's nice if you let the other brokers interviewed know that you've elected to go w/someone else. Listing agreements do have to be in writing to be valid. As for buyer's agency agreements mentioned by the PPs, those can be implied, so it doesn't really matter so much if you sign that or not so long as it's been presented and explained to you.