Choosing a Realtor to sell your home shouldn't come down to who suggests the highest listing price, has the slickest presentation, or offers the lowest commission.

Most Realtors have access to the same MLS system.

The bigger differences are how your property is analyzed, how the pricing strategy is developed, how much effort goes into presenting and marketing it, what happens after the listing goes live, and how your Realtor negotiates when real money is on the table.

So if you're interviewing Realtors to sell a home in Edmonton, St. Albert or the surrounding area, here are the questions I'd ask.

And don't just ask for promises.

Ask to see the work!

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1. Can I See the Actual CMA You Give Your Sellers?

Almost every Realtor will tell you they provide a Comparative Market Analysis, or CMA.

My advice?

Ask to see one.

Our CMAs are typically 50+ pages because I don't believe determining the value and strategy for someone's home should consist of pulling three nearby sales and calculating an average price per square foot.

Depending on the property, our analysis can include:

• Property title information
• Previous MLS listing history
• City assessment
• GeoJet valuation information
• Current competing listings
• Recent comparable sales
• Expired and unsuccessful listings
• Price changes
• Days on market
• Property features and differences
• Current neighbourhood and market conditions
• Pricing recommendations and different pricing strategies
• Staging recommendations
• Marketing plan
• The team supporting the listing

The comparables themselves aren't limited to what sold.

We want to understand what is competing with us today, what buyers recently chose, and what buyers rejected.

That last category is important.

Sometimes the homes that didn't sell teach us the most.

A sold listing tells us approximately what a buyer was willing to pay.

An expired listing can help us understand what buyers weren't willing to pay.

Your CMA shouldn't simply answer:

“What is my house worth?”

It should help answer:

“Where does my property sit against everything a buyer can choose from right now, and what strategy gives us the best opportunity?”

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2. What Pricing Strategies Do We Have?

There's a difference between market value and listing strategy.

Let's say our analysis suggests a probable market value around $600,000.

That doesn't automatically mean $600,000 is the best listing price.

Depending on the property, competition and current market, I may discuss several approaches with a seller.

Price-low strategy

Position the property aggressively to create attention quickly and potentially generate competing offers.

There's more risk involved, so the seller needs to understand exactly what we're trying to accomplish.

Competitive pricing

Position the home directly against the strongest comparable properties buyers are considering right now.

This is often about asking:

If I were a buyer looking at these five homes tonight, where does ours fit?

Testing the upper end

Sometimes a seller has the time and circumstances to test a higher price.

That's an option too.

But I want them to understand the potential consequences before choosing it.

There isn't one strategy that's right for every property or every seller.

Your timeline matters.

Your tolerance for showings matters.

Current inventory matters.

Your competition matters.

Your financial objectives matter.

My job isn't to pick the strategy for you without explanation.

My job is to give you enough information to make an informed decision with me.

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3. What's the Risk of Starting Too High?

I understand the temptation:

“Let's start high. We can always reduce it later.”

Technically, that's true.

But sometimes there's a cost.

A home starts too high.

Buyers compare it with better-positioned properties and don't respond.

It sits.

The seller reduces the price.

Then perhaps reduces it again.

Eventually buyers start asking:

“Why hasn't this sold?”

Now we've potentially changed the psychology around the listing.

Instead of creating urgency, we've created uncertainty.

And when buyers see substantial market time and multiple reductions, some start assuming the seller is becoming motivated.

Then the low offers can begin.

The unfortunate part is that a seller can eventually accept less than they might have achieved with a stronger strategy from the beginning.

And there's another cost nobody puts on the spreadsheet:

living through it.

More cleaning.

More showing preparation.

More leaving the house.

More weekends wondering whether somebody is coming through.

More uncertainty about your move.

More stress.

That's why I include unsuccessful and expired listings in my analysis.

I don't show them to scare sellers.

I want to understand what those sellers tried, how buyers responded, and what we can learn from it.

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4. Exactly What Marketing Is Included?

Don't settle for:

“We'll market your home everywhere.”

Ask what that actually means.

Depending on the property and strategy, our listing marketing can include:

• Professional real estate photography
• iGuide 3D virtual tour
• Professionally measured floor plans
• Drone photography
• MLS and REALTOR.ca exposure
• Additional real estate websites
• Social media
• Local newspaper marketing
• Open houses
• Custom property marketing
• Light staging when needed
• Professionally prepared printed property information

Our existing listing program specifically includes professional photography, floor plans, iGuide tours and custom property sheets.

I don't believe in skimping on the presentation of someone's largest asset.

But I also don't believe every property should be marketed identically.

An acreage isn't a downtown condo.

A renovated character property isn't a redevelopment lot.

A family bungalow with separate living space may have a completely different target buyer than a newer suburban home.

The marketing should be built around what we're actually selling.

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5. Will Your Realtor Actually Work to Get People's Attention?

This is something that's become increasingly important to me.

Professional photography matters.

Floor plans matter.

iGuide matters.

Drone photography can matter.

But there's another part of marketing that's harder to put on a checklist:

Getting someone to stop scrolling.

We're marketing properties in a world where people can swipe past 20 homes in a minute.

They're looking at Instagram while watching television while answering a text while somebody is probably trying to sell them something else.

Attention is limited.

So sometimes good marketing means being willing to do something different.

I'm not afraid to put myself out there.

If a listing or open house gives us an opportunity for a creative Reel, an unexpected hook, some humour, or occasionally a flip, hop or jump that gets somebody to stop scrolling for another three seconds...

I'm game. 😂

Not because I'm trying to become an influencer.

I'm trying to get attention for your property.

There still needs to be substance behind it.

Detailed market analysis matters.

Professional presentation matters.

Pricing strategy matters.

Negotiation matters.

But great information that nobody stops long enough to see isn't particularly useful marketing.

If somebody laughs, watches the Reel, sends it to their spouse and then clicks on the listing?

The silly part did its job.

Good marketing needs both.

Creativity gets attention.

Substance gives people a reason to act on it.

Behind the scenes, I may be analyzing market statistics and buyer behaviour.

In front of the camera?

I might be jumping over something.

I'm surprisingly okay with that.

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6. Can Buyers Actually Understand My House Before They Visit?

Photos show rooms.

Floor plans show how the house works.

That's an important difference.

I use iGuide virtual tours and professionally measured floor plans so buyers can understand how rooms connect, explore the property virtually and see measurements before arranging a showing.

Our floor-plan packages can show individual room dimensions, floor-by-floor layouts and measured interior and exterior areas.

This can be particularly valuable for:

• Larger homes
• Unusual layouts
• Developed basements
• Secondary living areas
• Acreages
• Buyers relocating to Edmonton
• Buyers who can't immediately visit in person

And iGuide gives us another advantage.

We can measure engagement.

It isn't simply something pretty to put on the listing.

We can see whether people are actually exploring the property.

BLOG MEDIA: Insert an actual floor plan beside an iGuide screenshot here.

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7. What Happens Before My Listing Goes Live?

Marketing shouldn't begin the morning somebody presses the MLS button.

Before launch, we're already thinking about:

Preparation.

Light staging if required.

Photography.

iGuide.

Floor plans.

Drone.

Pricing.

Property features.

Listing copy.

Showing arrangements.

Launch strategy.

And how we're going to get attention.

If we have sufficient lead time, we can also shoot professional hook-style Reels for the listing or upcoming open house so the content is ready to go and can be promoted around the launch.

The objective is to have the pieces in place before the buyers arrive.

When your listing goes live, we should already know what we're trying to accomplish.

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8. What Do Buyers Take Home After the Showing?

Digital marketing gets people through the door.

But the physical experience still matters.

We prepare a personalized, full-colour, double-sided property information sheet, presented professionally in a folder and including important information about the home and its floor plans.

Why bother when everything is online?

Because buyers might tour five houses that afternoon.

Later that evening, they're sitting at the kitchen table trying to remember:

Which one had the larger basement?

Which bedroom was where?

What were those upgrades again?

I want your property to be easy to remember.

Is the folder going to sell a $600,000 house by itself?

Of course not.

But selling a home is often the result of a lot of little things being done properly.

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9. How Will Showings Work Around My Life?

Selling your house doesn't mean you stop living in it.

Some sellers love technology.

Others would rather speak with a human.

We can accommodate either.

Showing requests can be handled through ShowingTime, allowing sellers to approve requests directly, or through manual communication depending on what works best for them.

We'll establish that together.

The objective is to give serious buyers reasonable access without making you feel like you've lost control of your own house.

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10. How Will I Know Whether My Listing Is Actually Working?

This is one of the biggest differences in how I approach a listing.

My sellers receive a personalized weekly seller update.

You shouldn't have to call me asking:

“So... what's going on with my house?”

Depending on the property, we're analyzing things such as:

• REALTOR.ca activity
• Listing views
• iGuide visits
• Unique iGuide visitors
• Time spent exploring the property
• Traffic/referral sources
• Realtor-side listing activity
• Buyer/client activity
• Saved searches
• Email activity
• Favourites
• Showings
• Feedback
• New competing listings
• Price reductions
• Recent sales

The analytics can get surprisingly detailed.

For example, an actual iGuide report can show total visits, unique visitors, average visit duration and where visitors originated, including sources such as REALTOR.ca, Facebook and Realtor systems.

Realtor-side statistics can give us another view into what's happening. One example tracks total hits, unique agent activity, client activity, saved-search matches, email views and favourites.

But here's the important part:

Analytics without interpretation are just numbers.

Five hundred views sounds great.

But if nobody books a showing?

That's information.

Plenty of showings but no offers?

Different information.

Lots of favourites and repeat engagement without anybody acting?

Different again.

My weekly update isn't supposed to be a pile of screenshots.

I want to tell you what I think the market is telling us.

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11. Do You Wait Until the Weekly Update to Make Changes?

Absolutely not.

The weekly report is there so you always know what's happening.

Behind the scenes, I'm watching the listing like a hawk.

Views.

Favourites.

Showings.

iGuide activity.

Realtor activity.

Buyer activity.

Feedback.

New listings.

Price reductions.

Sales.

If something isn't responding the way I expected, I want to recognize it quickly.

Maybe we need different marketing.

Maybe we need to highlight a feature differently.

Maybe there's an opportunity for another Reel or open house.

Maybe a new competing listing changed our position.

Maybe three competitors just reduced their prices.

And sometimes the answer really is price.

But I don't want to wait three weeks and discover that the market has been trying to tell us something the entire time.

We analyze. We watch. We react.

The weekly report tells you what happened.

The work doesn't wait for Friday.

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12. What Happens If My Realtor Is Busy?

Real estate has a remarkable ability to become urgent at precisely the least convenient time. 😂

That's one reason I work within a team.

My CMA introduces the people supporting the listing because I think sellers should know there is infrastructure behind the person they're hiring.

I remain accountable for the strategy, representation and communication.

But if I'm sitting in another appointment when something needs immediate attention, there are experienced people behind the scenes.

The ball shouldn't get dropped because your Realtor happened to be unavailable for an hour.

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Now Let's Talk About Offers

Getting an offer isn't the end of the job.

In many ways, it's when one of the most important parts begins.

The Highest Offer Isn't Necessarily the Strongest Offer

Obviously, I'm analyzing:

• Price
• Deposit
• Financing
• Inspection conditions
• Possession
• Inclusions
• Seller concessions
• Deadlines
• Other written terms

But there's something else I've learned to pay very close attention to:

How did the offer arrive?

What did the buyer's agent say in the email?

How was it presented?

What information did they volunteer?

What didn't they say?

I almost always want to speak with the agent.

I'll ask appropriate questions about financing, the buyer's circumstances and what we know about the mortgage side of the transaction.

And I'm listening.

Is the agent confident?

Hesitant?

Experienced?

Easy to communicate with?

Collaborative?

Immediately adversarial?

Does what they're saying verbally line up with what they wrote?

Sometimes an offer looks fantastic on paper and something about the communication makes me less confident in it.

I've been right about that more than once.

Other times, an offer that initially appears slightly weaker may give me much greater confidence that the transaction will actually make it to closing.

There isn't a box on the offer that says:

“Probability these people actually close: 94%.”

Unfortunately. That would make my life easier.

So we analyze everything we reasonably can.

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How Do You Actually Negotiate?

I'm a RENE, Real Estate Negotiation Expert, and one of the most powerful parts of negotiation is understanding the person on the other side.

People constantly give us information through the way they communicate.

Sometimes I'll structure a counter partly to learn something.

The response might be:

“There's no way they'll do that.”

Interesting.

Or:

“My buyer is absolutely firm on price.”

Also interesting.

Or:

“They could probably increase the deposit.”

Very interesting.

It might simply be hesitation.

Tone.

Speed of response.

A change in language.

Something written in an email.

Something the agent says during a phone call.

Each piece adds information.

My RENE training gives me a framework for negotiation, but experience and intuition matter too.

After enough conversations and transactions, you start recognizing patterns.

And negotiation isn't about beating somebody.

I don't need the buyer's agent leaving the transaction thinking I destroyed them.

That doesn't accomplish anything.

Most successful transactions require a buyer and seller to both get enough of what matters to them that they're willing to complete the deal.

My job is to understand what matters to the other side without unnecessarily giving away what matters to mine.

Sometimes that means pushing.

Sometimes it means waiting.

Sometimes it means changing the structure rather than the price.

And sometimes it means knowing when you've already won enough.

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What About Realtor Commission?

Of course commission matters.

But I think sellers sometimes focus on the wrong number.

Net result matters more.

If Realtor A charges slightly less but Realtor B ultimately helps you achieve a substantially better result, was Realtor A really cheaper?

There's another reason I'm comfortable discussing my commission.

I see it as one of the first negotiations we have.

If I immediately give away my own value simply because somebody asks, I think a seller has every right to wonder:

“What happens when this person is negotiating my money?”

I should be able to explain the value I'm providing and defend it.

But here's the other side of that.

Good negotiation isn't stubbornness.

Transactions involve people.

And people have emotional moments.

Buyers get frustrated.

Sellers get frustrated.

Sometimes agents get frustrated.

A relatively small disagreement can suddenly threaten an otherwise perfectly good transaction.

Our job is to stay level-headed when everybody else is getting emotional.

I've had transactions where I've voluntarily given up part of my own commission without hesitation because it solved the problem and kept a good transaction together.

If everybody walks away happy and my client gets the outcome they wanted, I'm okay with that.

I would rather give up a little myself than let ego ruin a transaction when my contribution can genuinely solve the problem.

As a Realtor representing a seller, my obligations are to my client.

And there's a bigger picture.

One commission cheque is one transaction.

If I don't earn your trust, I've lost something far more valuable.

I want you to feel comfortable calling me again.

I want you to send your family to me.

I want you to tell a friend:

“Call Jason. He'll look after you.”

That's worth far more than squeezing every possible dollar out of one deal.

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So How Should You Choose a Realtor to Sell Your Home?

Interview a few Realtors if that's what makes you comfortable.

But ask better questions.

Don't just ask:

“What do you think my house is worth?”

Ask:

Can I see the CMA you actually give sellers?

Show me why you recommended that price.

What pricing strategies could we use?

Show me a listing that started overpriced and what happened.

What exactly is included in my marketing?

Do I receive professional photography?

Do I get an iGuide and measured floor plans?

When would you use drone photography?

How will you make my particular property stand out?

Are you willing to put yourself out there creatively to get attention?

Show me an actual seller update.

What analytics can you see once I'm listed?

How quickly will you react if those numbers aren't good enough?

Who handles something if you're unavailable?

How do you evaluate the strength of an offer beyond price?

How do you negotiate?

And can you show me examples?

That's probably my favourite question:

Can you show me?

Because almost anyone can tell you what they're going to do.

A Realtor who's already doing it should be able to show you.

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Experience. Strategy. Marketing. And Some Heart.

Selling a home is analytical.

There's data.

Pricing.

Marketing.

Statistics.

Negotiation.

Contracts.

But after doing this for years, I don't think that's the whole job.

You're dealing with someone's home, money and often a major transition in their life.

So yes, I bring experience.

I bring detailed analysis.

I invest in marketing.

I monitor the numbers.

I negotiate hard.

But I also care about whether the solution actually works for the people involved.

And sometimes getting that result means thinking differently.

Sometimes it means making another phone call.

Sometimes it means changing the strategy.

Sometimes it means giving something up myself to save a transaction.

And apparently sometimes it means jumping around in front of a camera to get people to stop scrolling.

I'm good with that too.

Because if I'm going to ask you to trust me with your property, I should be willing to work for the attention it deserves.

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Thinking About Selling in Edmonton or St. Albert?

If you're considering selling, I'm happy to prepare a detailed market analysis and walk through the options with you.

We'll look at your property.

We'll look at what sold.

We'll look at what's competing with you.

We'll look at what didn't sell.

We'll talk about different pricing strategies, how I would market the property, and what I think gives us the strongest position.

Then you decide what makes sense.

Jason Kamal
REALTOR®
eXp Realty
Edmonton & St. Albert
jasonkamal.com

780-200-3350