What would you want to know about someone before you hand them the sale of your home for the length of a listing agreement?
Most sellers in Las Vegas and Summerlin pick a listing agent based on a referral, a sign they saw, or whoever quoted the highest price. None of those are bad starting points. They just aren’t an interview. The questions below are the ones I’d ask if I were on the other side of the table, along with the answers that should make you keep looking.
Pricing and strategy
1. What price would you list at, and can you show me the sold comps behind it?
A real answer comes with recent closed sales, not just active listings. Actives tell you what sellers hope for. Solds tell you what buyers actually paid.
2. How did you choose those comps?
Listen for the reasoning: same village or zip, similar size, age, lot, and condition, and sales from the last few months. If the comps are a mile away in a different price band, ask why.
3. What’s the plan for the first 14 days?
The first two weeks are when a listing gets its most attention. A good agent can tell you what happens if showings are light, when they’d revisit price, and how they’d decide. I wrote more about why the starting price matters in pricing your listing to the right price band.
4. What should I fix, and what should I leave alone?
You want specifics tied to your house and your buyer pool, not a generic list. Some updates return more than they cost and some don’t. For the staging side of that question, see whether staging is worth it before you list.
Marketing and communication
5. How will the home be marketed, step by step?
Ask what’s included: professional photos, video or drone where it fits, floor plan, MLS listing, where the listing syndicates, open houses, and outreach to other agents. Then ask to see a recent listing so you can judge the photos and description yourself.
6. Who will I actually be working with?
Some agents handle everything personally. Others run a team where a showing agent or transaction coordinator does much of the day-to-day work. Either model can work. You just want to know before you sign.
7. How and how often will you update me?
Weekly call, text after each showing, written feedback summary? Pick an agent whose rhythm matches what you need, and get it agreed up front.
Offers, fees, and the agreement
8. How do you handle offers, including multiple offers?
The highest price isn’t always the strongest offer. Ask how they compare financing, contingencies, timelines, and credits, and whether they’ll show you an estimated net for each offer side by side.
9. What is your commission, what does it cover, and how will buyer-agent compensation be handled?
Commissions are negotiable. Since the national practice changes that took effect in August 2024, offers of buyer-agent compensation are no longer published in the MLS, so it’s worth asking how your agent plans to handle buyer-side fees and concession requests.
10. How long is the listing agreement, and what are the terms if I want out?
Know the term, the cancellation terms, and any protection period after it ends. Read the agreement before you sign it, not after.
11. What happens if it hasn’t sold by a certain date?
A prepared agent already has a plan: a review point, the data they’ll look at, and the options on the table. No plan usually means the plan is to wait.
12. Are you actively licensed in Nevada?
You can confirm any agent’s or broker’s license status yourself through the Nevada Real Estate Division license lookup. It takes about a minute.
Answers that should make you keep looking
- A guaranteed price or timeline. Nobody controls the market or the buyers in it.
- A list price with no sold comps behind it. A high number can win the listing and still cost you weeks on market.
- Vague answers about who does the work. You should know who answers your calls.
- Pressure to sign today. A good agent will still be there tomorrow.
- No plan for the first two weeks. That window matters too much to improvise.
A simple way to compare agents in Summerlin and Las Vegas
Interview at least two. Ask every agent the same questions, write down the answers, and compare them side by side the same night. The agent with the highest number isn’t automatically the right one. The one who can explain their number, their plan, and their fallback usually is.
As a Summerlin broker, I’d rather lose a listing by being straight about price than win it with a number I can’t defend. That’s the standard I’d hold any agent to, including us.
Listing agreements are legal contracts. Confirm specific terms with a real estate attorney if anything in yours is unclear.
Geoff Zahler | Broker/Owner, Zahler Properties