1. How familiar are you with my neighborhood? What area(s) or neighborhoods do you usually work in? Someone who personally knows the reputation of the schools, the neighborhood amenities, the crime rate, and so forth may be able to sell your home more convincingly than a realtor who looked up these statistics at the library.

2. Can you give me a list of all the homes you’ve sold in the last year? If there’s any hesitation in complying with your request, look for someone else. Check the neighborhoods, price ranges, and number of sales on the list. Do they suggest experience with your type of home?

3. May I contact any of these people as references? Don’t consider a realtor who balks at having you talk with past clients.

4. What is the range and average price of the homes you’ve sold over the past three years? You’ll do better with a realtor whose bread-and-butter sales are in the same price range as your home and who has experience selling to the kind of buyers you are likely to find for your home.

5. Will you draw up a detailed marketing plan for my house and put it in writing? You’re not looking to critique the plans as much as you are trying to determine what kind of commitment the realty company is prepared to make toward selling your house.

6. How much money will you and your office spend marketing my home and can you put that figure in writing? A real estate office that puts its marketing budget for your home in writing will very likely stick to it. This information also allows you to compare one realty company with another.

7. Will you have a flyer box in front of my house and will you keep it full? Having flyers with the features your home offers is one of the best ways to get people interested enough to come see it.

8. Do you plan to hold open houses? How many, how often? Open houses are an effective way to expose your home to a large number of prospective buyers. See the list below for getting the most out of them.

9. What other advertising will you do to market my house? The answer to this question is, of course, closely linked to the marketing budget. There are a number of ways to get your home out there where prospective buyers are likely to see it, and they cost money. On-site flyers with a sketch, photo, or floor plan of your home, and advertising layouts in newspapers and real estate magazines, are just a few possibilities to ask about.

10. Are you experienced working with buyers who might be good prospects but don’t necessarily have a 20 percent down payment or perfect credit? When buyers have trouble coming up with money, the realtor who can point them toward creative financial solutions has an enormous edge over one who can’t. It’s an even bigger plus if your realtor has connections with agencies or financial institutions that are ready to assist potential buyers.