How to Compare the Top Realtors in Calvert County Before Selling
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Three agents, three folders, and by Sunday night they have merged into one composite person in a nice jacket. Here is how to actually decide.
The interviews are done. Three agents sat in your kitchen, all three were lovely, and now it is Sunday night and you cannot remember which one said the thing about the photography.
This is the part nobody prepares you for. Choosing is harder than interviewing, because by the time you are choosing, the actual information has already blurred into a general feeling about who you liked.
A general feeling is a terrible way to pick the person handling the largest asset you own. So let us fix that.
If you have not done the interviews yet, go read the questions to ask while you are in the room first. This page is about what you do afterward.
My cards, face up, before I tell you how to grade people.
- 1,338+ homes sold, $532,653,786+ in career volume, sold-to-list over 101%
- Top 1% of Realtors nationwide, calculated against median member transaction volume published by the National Association of Realtors
- MCNE, one of five negotiation designations, and PSA, plus negotiations coursework at Yale, Northwestern, UVA, Columbia and UC Davis
- Rookie of the Year, 2001, from both the Southern Maryland Association of Realtors and Long & Foster
- Maryland Associate Broker, license 531668, licensed since 2000
Production figures come from Bright MLS career production records, including data migrated from predecessor MLS systems. Past performance does not guarantee a specific result for any individual property.
Grade me on the same scorecard
I answered all ten interview questions in writing so you can score me without booking an appointment. Read them, mark me up, then compare.
Write the scorecard before the first appointment, not after the last one
If you build the categories after the interviews, you will build them around whoever impressed you. That is human and it is also useless.
Decide in advance what matters and write it down. Mine would be: relevant experience with a property like yours, pricing analysis, marketing specifics, negotiation credentials, contract knowledge, communication plan, who actually does the work, and total cost measured as net rather than percentage.
Then score each agent, one to five, in each category, the same evening as the appointment. Not Sunday night when they have merged into one composite agent in a nice jacket.
Score the pricing analysis, not the price
This is the single most important line on the scorecard and the one people get backwards.
Do not score who gave you the highest number. Score who showed you the most convincing work. Did they use closed, pending and active listings. Did they explain adjustments out loud. Did they name the comparable that hurts you and the objection a buyer will raise. Did they tell you what evidence would make them change their recommendation.
An agent who cannot tell you what would change their mind has not got an analysis. They have got a number.
If one number is dramatically higher than the other two and has no closed sales behind it, do not average it in. That number is a listing-appointment strategy, and treating it as data will drag your whole decision toward it.
Make the performance numbers comparable before you compare them
Three agents will give you three sold-to-list percentages calculated three different ways, and if you line them up as though they mean the same thing you will pick the most creative accountant.
For each one, ask: what period, does it exclude expired and withdrawn listings, is it personal or office production, does it mix in buyer-side sales. A number that excludes the listings that never sold is not a performance statistic, it is a highlight reel.
Mine has stayed over 101% career-long, personal production, per Bright MLS records including data migrated from predecessor MLS systems. Make me show my work too.
Compare marketing by what is specific to your house
Every packet looks the same because every packet is the same. Score only the parts that could not have been written before they saw your property.
Which photos, shot when, and does this house need drone or a floor plan or video. What the copy will lead with. Where paid promotion runs and to whom. What day it goes live and why that day. What the seller report contains and how often it arrives.
"We syndicate to hundreds of sites." That is the MLS feed. It is automatic, it happens for every listing in the county, and claiming it as marketing tells you what the rest of the plan is worth.
Give negotiation credentials their own line
All three agents will tell you they are strong negotiators, which means the claim carries no information. What carries information is what is behind it.
Score what training they have, who issued it and when, and what they have taken since. This is checkable in about a minute and most sellers never check it, which is exactly why it is worth points.
For the record: MCNE from the Real Estate Negotiation Institute, one of five negotiation designations I hold, PSA from the National Association of Realtors, negotiations coursework at Yale, Northwestern, UVA, Columbia and UC Davis, and an Associate Broker license rather than a salesperson license.
Run the scenarios and score the reasoning
Ask every agent the same four scenarios and write down how they think, not what they conclude.
A cash offer well under list with a fast close. An appraisal that comes in low. An inspection report with a $14,000 repair request. Two offers, one higher with a home sale contingency and one lower and clean.
You are not grading whether they land on the answer you would pick. You are grading whether they walk through the trade-offs or reach straight for a conclusion. The second one is what improvisation sounds like.
Compare cost as net dollars, not as a percentage
Compensation is negotiable and you should absolutely talk about it. Just do the comparison correctly.
A lower fee on a lower sale price is not a win. Ask each agent for a written net sheet at their recommended price, then look at what actually reaches your account. Then ask what happens to that number if the house sits an extra sixty days, because carrying costs are real and they come out of the same pocket.
The cheapest agent and the most expensive agent are frequently both the wrong answer, and the fee is rarely the reason.
Read the listing agreement before you are emotionally committed
Term length. Cancellation rights and what they cost. What happens if you withdraw. Whether photography and media are yours or theirs. Any exclusions, any protection period after expiration, and exactly which brokerage relationship you are agreeing to.
Read it at the kitchen table on a weeknight, not at a signing appointment with someone waiting politely across from you. Anything you do not understand, ask. Anything you are told not to worry about, worry about.
Weight candor heavily. Seriously.
Somewhere in your notes there is an agent who told you something you did not enjoy hearing. Your kitchen is dated. Your number is not there yet. That deck is going to come up in every inspection.
Give that a lot of points. The agent willing to be uncomfortable in an interview, where they are trying to win you, is the agent who will tell you the truth in week six when it costs something to say. The one who agreed with everything was managing you, and they will still be managing you when the news gets bad.
Three things I would put on my own scorecard
1. Real negotiation education, not just the claim
Anyone can say it. Ask who issued the training and when. Mine is above and every bit of it is verifiable.
2. The deed gets pulled before listing
Most agents look at title after you are under contract, when a lien or an unprobated estate becomes a countdown. I look before, when it is just paperwork.
3. Tax deadlines raised at the first meeting
Nonresident withholding and 1031 exchanges both have deadlines that arrive before closing and cannot be fixed afterward. I bring them up on day one and send you to your CPA.
Make the call
Add up the scorecard. Then, before you sign, do one sanity check: look at the agent with the highest total and ask yourself whether you would trust them to call you with bad news at 7pm on a Friday.
If the answer is yes, sign. If the scorecard says one thing and your gut says another, figure out which category you scored wrong, because usually the gut noticed something real that you did not give a line to.
Put me on the scorecard
Interview me third if you like. I will walk your property, pull your deed, show you the closed sales and the active competition, and give you a supported range with the reasoning attached and a written net sheet. Then score me against the other two.
Schedule a listing consultation
Call or text 410-414-2438 or email dawn@dawnriley.net. Calvert, St. Mary's, Charles and Anne Arundel counties.
Necessary disclaimer. Nothing here is tax or legal advice, and I am not a CPA or an attorney. Maryland nonresident withholding and 1031 exchange rules change, and what applies to your sale depends on facts specific to you. Verify current requirements with the Comptroller of Maryland and consult your own tax professional. Real estate brokerage compensation is negotiable and is not set by law or by any Realtor association.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two or three. More than that and the appointments blur together, which defeats the purpose. What matters more than the count is asking all of them the same questions and scoring each one the same evening, while you can still remember who said what.
Before the first appointment. If you write the categories afterward you will unconsciously build them around whoever impressed you, which turns the scorecard into a justification instead of a decision tool. Decide what matters in advance and score each agent the same night you meet them.
Score the analysis, not the number. What you want is closed, pending and active listings, adjustments explained out loud, the comparable that hurts you named honestly, and a clear statement of what evidence would change the recommendation. An agent who cannot say what would change their mind does not have an analysis, they have a number.
Make them comparable first. Ask what period each one covers, whether expired and withdrawn listings are excluded, whether it is personal or office production, and whether buyer-side sales are mixed in. A figure that leaves out the listings that never sold is a highlight reel. Dawn's has stayed over 101% career-long on personal production per Bright MLS career production records, including data migrated from predecessor MLS systems.
Yes. Real estate brokerage compensation is negotiable and is not set by law or by any Realtor association. Compare it properly though: ask each agent for a written net sheet at their recommended price and look at what actually reaches your account, then ask what that becomes if the house sits an extra sixty days.
A cash offer well under list with a fast close, a low appraisal, an inspection report with a large repair request, and two offers where the higher one carries a home sale contingency. You are not grading whether they reach the conclusion you would. You are grading whether they walk through the trade-offs or jump straight to an answer.
Score only the parts that could not have been written before the agent saw your house. Which photos and when, whether it needs drone, floor plan or video, what the copy leads with, where paid promotion runs and to whom, what day it goes live and why, and what the seller report contains. Anything about syndicating to hundreds of websites describes the automatic MLS feed and deserves no points.
Either works. What matters is knowing who sets strategy, who runs showings, who reads offers and calls you, and who answers on a Sunday night. Find that out before signing rather than in week two, when the person who won your listing has moved on to the next appointment.
No, and be wary of one who does. A responsible agent gives you a supported range, a strategy and an honest account of the risks. What qualified buyers will actually pay is decided by the market, and any guarantee is either a marketing device or has conditions attached that you have not read yet.
A price well above the other two with no closed sales behind it. It is the most effective way to win a listing and one of the most expensive things that can happen to a seller, because the plan behind that number is almost always a price reduction three weeks later.
She answered all ten listing interview questions in writing on a companion page, with what a dodge sounds like under each one. Read it, score it against the same categories you are using for everyone else, and then decide whether the appointment is worth your Saturday.
About Dawn Riley
Dawn Riley is an Associate Broker, Realtor, Master Certified Negotiation Expert (MCNE) and Pricing Strategy Advisor (PSA) with The Riley Team at Deep Roots Real Estate in Huntingtown, Maryland. She holds Maryland license 531668, has been licensed since 2000, and has more than 25 years of real estate experience. She was named Rookie of the Year in 2001 by both the Southern Maryland Association of Realtors and Long & Foster, and has additional negotiations coursework from Yale, Northwestern, UVA, Columbia and UC Davis. Dawn combines strategic pricing, advanced property marketing and detailed Maryland contract knowledge to represent buyers and sellers throughout Calvert County and Southern Maryland.
Career results as of 2026: 1,338+ homes sold, $532,653,786+ in sales volume and average sold-to-list price statistics over 101%, per Bright MLS career production records, including data migrated from predecessor MLS systems. Production places her in the top 1% of Realtors nationwide, calculated against median member transaction volume published by the National Association of Realtors. Past performance does not guarantee a specific result for any individual property.
Dawn Riley
Associate Broker, Realtor, MCNE, PSA | MD License 531668
The Riley Team at Deep Roots Real Estate
2425 Solomons Island Rd., Suite C, Huntingtown, MD 20639
410-414-2438
dawn@dawnriley.net
Schedule a consultation