The questions to ask listing agent candidates are not the ones most sellers ask. Sellers ask what the home is worth, they ask what the commission is, and then they sign a ten-page contract they have not read because the agent seemed nice and the neighbor recommended them.
Here is the reframe. A listing appointment is a job interview where the candidate sets their own pay, writes their own contract, and decides how long you are stuck with them. Almost nobody treats it that way. Sellers spend more time comparing HVAC quotes than they spend comparing the person who will handle the largest transaction of the year.
Nicole France sits on both sides of this. She has won listings and lost them, and she has taken over plenty of homes that were signed somewhere else first. These are the ten questions that actually separate agents, what a good answer sounds like, and what the answer tells you when it comes back vague.
1. How Many Homes Have You Sold in My Area in the Last 12 Months?
Not career totals. Not “our brokerage sold 400 homes.” Personally closed, in your county, in the last year.
Someone can be in real estate for twenty years and close four sides annually. An agent who closed eleven homes in Paulding County last year knows what appraisers are doing there, which buyers are active, and how long homes in your price band actually take. An agent who closed one knows what the internet knows.
Ask for the addresses. A real answer arrives with a list and no defensiveness.
2. What Is Your List-to-Sale Ratio and Average Days on Market?
This is the number that measures pricing accuracy, and it is the number agents volunteer least.
List-to-sale ratio is what their listings actually close for compared to what they listed for. An agent whose listings routinely close at 96% of list is either pricing high and reducing later, or negotiating poorly. An agent at 99% is pricing close to reality. Days on market tells you the same story from a different angle.
Compare their number to your local market rather than to a national average. Homes across Acworth, Dallas, and Woodstock have been taking meaningfully longer than they did two years ago, so an agent’s numbers need to be read against current conditions, not 2022 conditions.
3. What Price Do You Recommend, and What Comparable Sales Support It?
Every seller wants the highest number. That is exactly why the highest number is a bad reason to hire someone.
Ask to see the comparable sales, and ask which ones are closed sales versus active listings. Closed sales are facts. Active listings are other sellers’ opinions. If the recommended price relies mostly on what neighbors are asking rather than what buyers have actually paid, you are looking at a listing that will need three reductions.
The follow-up question matters more than the first one. Ask what happens if you get no showings in two weeks, and listen for a plan rather than reassurance.
4. What Does Your Marketing Include, and Who Pays for It?
Every agent says they market aggressively. Get specifics, in writing, before you sign.
Professional photography, and is it included or billed to you. Video or a walkthrough tour. Floor plans. Drone photos, which matter on acreage in Paulding and Bartow. Paid social promotion. Open house schedule. Syndication to the major portals. Whether they are on FMLS, Georgia MLS, or both, because that affects how many agents see your listing on day one.
Buyers start their search online more than any other way, and have for years. If the marketing answer is mostly about signs and a lockbox, the answer is incomplete.
5. What Is Your Total Fee, and Exactly What Does It Cover?
Commission has always been negotiable, and since the industry rule changes took effect in August 2024, the conversation is more explicit than it used to be.
Ask for the full number in writing: the listing side fee, plus anything you may separately agree to pay toward a buyer’s agent. Ask what happens to the fee if the agent also represents the buyer. Ask whether there are transaction fees, administrative fees, marketing fees, or cancellation fees on top.
Then watch how they react to the question. An agent who explains their pricing calmly is an agent who will negotiate calmly on your behalf. An agent who takes the question personally just showed you how they handle pressure.
6. Will We Offer Compensation to a Buyer’s Agent, and How Does That Work Now?
This changed, and a lot of sellers still have the old model in their heads.
Offers of buyer-agent compensation are no longer communicated through the MLS. That does not mean sellers never contribute. It means the decision is now yours, made deliberately, and it can be handled through negotiation with an individual buyer rather than advertised to the whole market up front.
Ask your agent to walk through both scenarios with real numbers: what your net looks like if you contribute nothing and negotiate deal by deal, and what it looks like if you signal a contribution to attract more buyers. There is no universally right answer. There is a right answer for your price point and your timeline, and your agent should be able to explain the tradeoff without hand-waving.
7. How Long Is the Listing Term?
This is the single most overlooked line in the agreement, and it is the one that traps people.
Terms vary widely. Some agents ask for six months. Some ask for twelve. A twelve-month exclusive with a weak marketing plan is a very long time to be wrong about your choice. Shorter terms are common and entirely negotiable, and a confident agent will not fight you over ninety or one hundred twenty days, because they expect to earn the renewal.
If someone insists on a long term and cannot explain why your specific property needs it, that is information.
8. How Do I Cancel If This Is Not Working?
Ask it directly, before you sign, while you still have leverage. The answer after you sign is whatever the contract says.
Some brokerages have a straightforward release policy. Others require broker approval, or charge back marketing costs, or simply decline. Note that a listing agreement is between you and the brokerage, not just the individual agent, so the release decision may not be your agent’s to make.
Get the cancellation terms explained in plain language and confirm where they appear in the document. “We would never hold you to it” is a sentence, not a contract term.
9. What Is the Protection Period, and When Does It Apply?
Nearly every Georgia listing agreement includes one, and most sellers have no idea it exists until it surprises them.
A protection period means that if your home sells after the listing expires, to a buyer who was introduced to the property during the listing term, the brokerage may still be owed its commission. The Georgia Association of REALTORS® exclusive seller brokerage engagement agreement addresses this, including how it interacts with signing a new agreement with a different broker, and it treats a seller’s unilateral termination differently than a mutual one.
Ask how long the period runs, how a protected buyer is defined, and whether the brokerage will provide a written list of those buyers when the listing ends. That list is the thing that prevents an argument later.
10. Does Your Brokerage Practice Dual Agency or Designated Agency?
Georgia permits both, with written consent, and your consent is usually built into the same agreement you are signing.
Dual agency means one broker represents you and the buyer at the same time, without either side having their own dedicated advocate. Designated agency means the brokerage assigns one licensee to you and a different licensee to the buyer. They are not the same arrangement, and the difference matters most in the moment you are negotiating.
Georgia law requires that consent be given voluntarily and in writing, which means you can ask questions and you can decline. Find out your brokerage’s policy, find the paragraph, and read it before you initial it.
What Sellers Need to Know: The Questions to Ask Listing Agent Candidates That Reveal the Most
Interview more than one. This sounds obvious and almost nobody does it. Two or three appointments will tell you more about pricing, marketing, and fees than any amount of research, because you will hear the same property described three different ways and you will notice which explanation holds up.
Before those appointments, spend two minutes on verification. The Georgia Real Estate Commission maintains a public lookup where you can confirm any licensee’s status, license type, and disciplinary history. It is free, it takes less time than reading a review, and it is the only source that is not marketing.
Then read the actual agreement. Not the summary, the document. The three lines that cost sellers the most are the term length, the cancellation terms, and the protection period, and all three are negotiable before you sign and none of them are after. If you want help understanding the paperwork across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock, that is a conversation worth having before the listing appointment, not during it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is commission really negotiable in Georgia?
Yes. Commission has always been negotiable and there is no standard or required rate in Georgia or anywhere else. What matters more than the percentage is what the fee covers, what you may separately agree to contribute toward a buyer’s agent, and what your net proceeds look like at your likely sale price. Ask for the whole picture rather than one number.
Can I fire my listing agent?
It depends on what you signed. Your agreement is with the brokerage, and the release terms are contractual. Some brokerages release sellers readily, others do not. Even after a release, the protection period may still apply to buyers introduced during the listing. Read the cancellation and protection language before signing, and if the situation is already complicated, a Georgia real estate attorney can review the document with you.
Should I hire the agent who suggests the highest price?
Be careful with that instinct. Suggesting a high number is the easiest way to win a listing appointment and it costs the agent nothing up front. It costs you weeks of market time, and stale days on market become a negotiating tool for buyers. Ask any agent to show you the closed comparable sales behind their number, and take the one whose data holds up rather than the one whose number is biggest.
Interviewing Agents in Northwest Atlanta?
Ask Nicole all ten of these. Every answer comes with the data behind it, in writing, before anything gets signed.
(404) 867-3869 | nicolefrance-realestate.com/contact/
Start with a home value estimate, read what past clients say about the process, or learn more about Nicole’s background.
Sources: the Georgia Real Estate Commission license lookup, the Georgia Association of REALTORS® contract forms, and Redfin market data for Acworth.
This post is general information, not legal advice. Nicole France is a REALTOR®, not an attorney. Listing agreements are binding contracts, terms vary by brokerage, and anything you do not understand should be reviewed by a Georgia real estate attorney before you sign.
Nicole France is a REALTOR® with RE/MAX Center serving buyers and sellers across Acworth, Kennesaw, Dallas, Cartersville, and Woodstock. Client Focused · Results Driven.