The Questions Every Listing Agent Should Be Able to Answer, and My Answers

"What do you need to know about me before you show me anything?"

Where you are going, and when you need to be there. Whether this is a happy move or a hard one, because an estate sale and a job relocation and a divorce are three completely different jobs wearing the same hat. Who else has a say. What you owe. Whether you have already found the next house or have not started looking. What you think this place is worth and how you arrived at that, because that tells me what conversation we need to have.

I do not bring a price to a first appointment. I cannot. I have not seen your house yet and I do not know what you are solving for.

"What list price do you recommend, and how did you get there?"

I will show you three sets of numbers. Closed sales, which are what an appraiser will use. Pending sales, which are what buyers are agreeing to right now. And active listings, which are what your buyer is choosing between this weekend.

Then I walk you through the adjustments out loud. This one had a finished basement. This one backed to Route 4. This one sold in February against nine other listings instead of three. And I will tell you which comparable hurts you, because every house has one and you deserve to hear it from me before you hear it from a buyer's agent.

What you get is a supported range, not a single magic number, plus what I think we can do to move the top of that range before we list.

"What is your sold-to-list ratio, and what is it measuring?"

Over 101%, per Bright MLS career production records including data migrated from predecessor MLS systems. It means my listings have closed at or above what we listed them for.

Now the part you should demand from everybody, me included. That figure is career-long. It is my production, not my office's. And the reason it stays above 100 is not that I am magic, it is that homes priced correctly get competition, and competition bids them up. A number under 100 is not automatically bad either, it just means something needs explaining. Make every agent explain theirs.

"Have you pulled my deed?"

Yes, before we list. It takes me a few minutes and it is the cheapest insurance in this business.

What I am looking for is anything that will slow down settlement. An old lien nobody released. A name still on the deed that should have come off after a divorce. An estate that was never properly probated, which happens constantly when a house passes through a family. A boundary or easement issue that will surprise a survey.

Every one of those is fixable. All of them take weeks. You have weeks right now. You will not have them once a buyer is sitting there with a lender and a moving truck.

"What happens if we get no showings in the first two weeks?"

We sit down at the end of week one and again at the end of week two, and we look at four things: showings, online saves, agent feedback and how the competition moved.

No showings at all is almost always price or photography, and I will tell you which one I think it is. Showings without offers is something inside the house, and the feedback usually names it within four or five showings. Those are different problems and they get different fixes, so I am not going to reflexively reach for a price cut when the real issue is that the listing photos were shot on a gray Tuesday.

What I will not do is let it drift. Drifting is how a listing gets old, and old is expensive.

"Do you actually have negotiation credentials?"

Yes, and this is the one I get genuinely worked up about, so bear with me.

Every agent in America says they are a great negotiator. It costs nothing to say and you have no way to check it. So I went and got the training instead: Master Certified Negotiation Expert from the Real Estate Negotiation Institute, which is one of five negotiation designations I hold. Pricing Strategy Advisor from the National Association of Realtors, which is specifically about building a price you can defend. Negotiations coursework at Yale, Northwestern, UVA, Columbia and UC Davis. And an Associate Broker license, which is a level above the salesperson license and takes additional education and experience to earn.

I did not do that for the letters after my name. The contract and the negotiation are where sellers actually lose money, and I did not want to improvise through the part that counts.

"What about septic, well or Critical Area on my property?"

I want the septic records and the permitted bedroom count before we write a word of listing copy, because advertising a four bedroom house on a three bedroom septic permit is a problem you do not want.

Well records and water testing, same idea. And I check whether any part of the parcel sits in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, because that governs what a buyer can do later with a deck, an addition, a pool or a shed, and buyers ask. If you are on the water, add the pier and the shoreline to that list.

Handled before listing, these are paperwork. Discovered after the inspection, they are leverage for the buyer, and you will pay for them twice.

"Am I going to owe Maryland money at closing that I do not know about?"

Possibly, and this is the one that costs out-of-state sellers real money because nobody tells them in time.

If you are not a Maryland resident, Maryland withholds tax from your proceeds at settlement. As of 2026 that is 8.75% of the total payment for individuals, estates and trusts, and 8.25% for business entities such as LLCs, corporations and partnerships. You can apply for a reduced withholding on Form MW506AE, but it has to be filed at least 21 days before closing. Miss that window and the money is simply held. I broke the whole thing down on Maryland nonresident seller withholding. If the property is an investment and you want a 1031 exchange, that has to be set up before you close. Not after. After is permanent.

I am not your CPA and I will never pretend to be one. What I do is raise both of these at the kitchen table on day one and tell you to call your accountant while there is still runway. Awkward tax conversation in month one beats losing money in month three.

"Show me the marketing plan for my house, not a sample"

Photography booked after the prep work is done, not before, and shot in decent light. Drone if you have acreage or water. A floor plan, because buyers use them more than agents think. Video if the house tells a story that stills cannot.

Listing copy that leads with what is actually verified and does not claim things about school assignment, development potential or systems that I have not confirmed. A launch day chosen so your first full weekend is your first weekend. Paid promotion aimed at the buyer this house actually has, with reporting you can read.

And the unglamorous one that matters most: I say yes to showings. A declined showing does not get rescheduled. That buyer sees something else that afternoon and writes on it that night.

"Who is actually doing the work, and who answers at 8pm?"

I do the strategy, I price it, I read every offer and I call you about it. When you call me on a Sunday night because something spooked you, you get me.

I run a team, and the team handles the parts that benefit from more hands. But the person sitting at your table is the person accountable for your sale, and if that ever changes you will hear it from me first rather than noticing it.

1. I went and got the actual education

Anyone can call themselves a negotiator. The question is whether anything backs it up. 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. Associate Broker rather than a salesperson license.

Your contract and your negotiation are where the money is won or lost. I wanted to be trained for that part. Ask any agent you interview what training they have and who issued it, and notice how quickly the answer turns into a story about how long they have been doing this.

2. I pull your deed before we list

Before, not after. I want to know what is on your title while we still have time to fix it calmly and cheaply, instead of discovering it in week three of a thirty day settlement when you are already half packed.

This has saved my sellers weeks. It costs me a few minutes. I have never understood why it is not standard.

3. I raise 1031 and nonresident withholding at the kitchen table

Both have deadlines that arrive before your closing does. Both are unfixable once missed. Neither is something I can advise you on, and both are things I can make sure you know about while there is still time to act.

So I bring them up in the first meeting and I send you to your CPA. That is the whole differentiator: knowing what I do not know, and saying it early enough to matter.