How to Choose a REALTOR: The Questions to Ask Before You Sign
Almost everyone who tells me they do not want to work with a real estate agent has a reason, and the reason is almost always the same: they worked with one before and it was bad.
I am not going to talk you out of that. I came into this industry from the outside, and I can see the gaps in it clearly. So let me say the uncomfortable part first, and then tell you exactly what to do about it.
Why the bad experiences happen
The barrier to entry is low. In Florida you take a course, pass an exam, hang your licence with a broker, and you are a real estate agent. That is it. There is no apprenticeship, no supervised period, no requirement to prove you can actually do the work before someone trusts you with the largest transaction of their life.
And almost nobody trains after that. A small number of brokerages genuinely develop their people. Most hand a new agent a login, a lockbox and a pat on the back. Everything else is learned on live clients — and the client usually never knows they were the training.
The economics push the wrong way, too. Agents are paid only when something closes. That structure rewards speed and volume, and it quietly punishes the person who tells you the truth when the truth is do not buy this one or your price is wrong.
This is not me running down my own industry. It is me telling you where its weak point is, because you are the one who pays for it if you do not know.
The conclusion is not “avoid agents.” The data on going it alone is not encouraging — for-sale-by-owner is down to 5% of sales, an all-time low, and those sellers most often struggled with exactly the things an agent is for: pricing, preparing, and selling in the timeframe they wanted (National Association of REALTORS®, 2025 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers).
The conclusion is be far more selective than most people are. Most people choose an agent because they are a neighbour, a cousin, or the first name on a sign. That is the actual problem.
What to look for in a real estate agent
Local knowledge that goes down to the street, not the city. Ocala is not one market. Marion Oaks does not behave like Candler Hills, and neither behaves like the Lake Weir shoreline. Ask a specific question about the street you care about, and listen to whether the answer is specific back.
Someone who tells you what you do not want to hear, early. The single most valuable thing an agent can say is no. No, that price will not work. No, that parcel will cost you more than you think. No, I would not buy this one. An agent who agrees with everything you say is not being nice; they are managing you toward a closing.
Someone who takes the headache like it is theirs. There is a real difference between an agent who forwards you a problem and one who arrives having already solved it. You will find out which you have around week six.
Transparency from the very first conversation. Fee, agreement, what is included, what is not, who they represent, and what happens if you are unhappy. If any of that is vague at the start, it will be vague at the worst possible moment.
Presence. Do they answer? Do they show up? Do they still answer once you have signed? A surprising number of complaints are not about competence at all — they are about disappearing.
A point of view. This is the one people forget to ask for. Anyone can send you listings. You want the person who says not that one — this one, and here is why. Someone who takes you to a result you were not expecting is worth several times someone who processes the result you already had in mind.
Questions to ask a REALTOR before you sign anything
Ask these to two or three agents and the differences will be obvious.
What has sold on this street in the last year, and what did those homes have in common?
What would you tell me not to do with this property?
What is your plan if it has not gone under contract in thirty days? What happens at each point after that?
Who will I be dealing with — you, or an assistant?
What do you actually do before a listing goes live?
What is your fee, what does it cover, and what will I be billed for separately?
Tell me about a transaction that went badly and what you did.
Can I speak with someone you worked with who did not have a smooth deal?
That last one is the best question on the list. Anyone can produce a happy client from an easy transaction. You want to know what happened when it got hard.
Things that should make you walk away
Pressure to sign today
A price noticeably higher than everyone else's with no reasoning behind it — buying the listing is a real tactic, and it costs sellers weeks
Vagueness about the agreement or the fee
No plan beyond “list it and see”
Anyone dismissive of your questions
Anyone who has never once disagreed with you
Where I stand
I am not going to claim my industry does not have a problem, because it does. What I will say is that the problem is solvable on your end, in one conversation, if you know what to ask.
Do your research. Interview more than one. Choose the person who is honest with you before they have earned anything from you — and who is still honest once they have.
If you want the longer argument for using an agent at all — the numbers, the full scope of the work, and an honest breakdown of what agents actually earn — I wrote that up separately: Why Use a REALTOR When AI Can Answer Almost Anything?
Sherry Hussnain, REALTOR® — Legacy Realty & Associates, 2403 SE 17th Street, Suite 501, Ocala, FL 34471. Serving Ocala, Marion County and the surrounding corridors.
