Eleven things, and you should be able to name every one of them by the end of week two. Pricing off real comps. Prepping the house. Professional photography. MLS syndication. Managing showings and feedback. Negotiating the offer. Running the inspection response. Holding the appraisal together. Coordinating the closing. Getting you to the table. And answering the phone the whole time.
That last one is not filler. It is the one people complain about most.
For the record, the National Association of Realtors publishes its own version of this, called “179 Ways Agents Who Are REALTORS Are Worth Every Penny of Their Compensation,” with a companion list of 105 more for the buy side. That is the source behind every “132 things realtors do” list floating around online, and the real number depends on which version you are counting.
179 line items is not a useful thing to hand a seller. So here is the same job compressed to the eleven that actually decide how your sale goes, what “good” looks like on each, and the questions that separate an agent who will do the work from an agent who will list it and wait.
The 11 things a listing agent should be doing
1. Pricing it off closed comps, not off a feeling
You should see the three to five closed sales your price is built on. Within a mile, last 90 days, similar size and condition. If the price arrives as a number with no evidence attached, ask for the evidence. Our full breakdown of the pricing decision is in how to price your home to sell.
2. Telling you what to fix and what to leave alone
A good agent will walk the house and give you a short, specific list. Two or three things, with a reason. A great one will also tell you which projects are a waste of your money, which is the more valuable half of the conversation.
3. Getting real photography on it
Professional photos, shot in good light, on a day the house is staged and clean. Twenty-five to forty images, covering every room, the exterior from both directions, and the yard. Buyers decide from the photos whether to book a showing. There is no recovering from bad ones.
4. Writing a listing that reads like a person wrote it
Accurate square footage, school district, roof and mechanical ages, and the actual reasons someone would want to live there. Not “charming gem awaits.” Buyers skim listings by the hundred. Specifics stop the scroll.
5. Putting it everywhere, correctly
MLS first, which syndicates to the portals. Then confirm it actually landed and that the details came across right. Wrong bed count or missing photos on a major portal happens more than it should, and nobody catches it if nobody looks.
6. Managing showings and actually collecting feedback
Easy scheduling, prompt confirmations, and a real report back to you. After five showings with no offers, you should know why. “No feedback yet” after two weeks is not a market condition. It is a process gap.
7. Negotiating the offer, terms included
Price is one of five or six things that matter. Financing type, inspection scope, appraisal contingency, closing date, occupancy after closing, and who pays what. A strong agent explains the trade-offs on each before you counter, not after.
8. Handling the inspection response
Almost every deal has an inspection request. The agent’s job is to separate the safety and structural items from the wish list, get you real repair quotes rather than the buyer’s estimate, and keep the deal together without you giving away more than you need to.
9. Holding the appraisal together
If the appraisal comes in under contract price, the deal is at risk. Your agent should send the appraiser the comps and the list of updates before they walk the house, and know how to challenge a low one. We cover that whole process in what happens when the appraisal comes in low.
10. Coordinating the closing
Title, lender, payoff, municipal inspections where the city requires them, and the final walkthrough. Four or five parties who do not talk to each other, on a date you have already scheduled movers around. Your agent is the one keeping them in sync.
11. Answering the phone
Same day. Every day. Through closing. This is the least technical item on the list and the one that generates the most regret when it is missing.
How do you choose a listing agent?
Interview at least two. Ask these six questions, and pay attention to whether the answers contain numbers.
- How many homes have you sold in my area in the last 12 months? Area means your city and price band, not “Metro Detroit.”
- What is your average sale-to-list ratio, and your average days on market? Both are public data. An agent who does not know theirs is telling you something.
- What would you list mine at, and what are the three comps behind it? The comps matter more than the number.
- What is your marketing plan for the first 14 days specifically? That is the window that matters most. Vague answers here are the biggest red flag on the list.
- Who will I actually be talking to? On teams the person pitching is often not the person managing your listing in week six. Fine either way. Just know before you sign.
- What is your commission, and what does it include? Get photography, staging consultation, syndication, and open houses named. Since August 2024 the buyer’s agent side is negotiated separately, so ask what you would be offering there and why. More on how that works in broker versus Realtor commission.
What are the warning signs?
- The highest suggested price in the room, with the thinnest comps. Buying the listing is an old tactic. The cut comes in week four.
- No written marketing plan. If it cannot be put on one page, it does not exist.
- A long listing term with no exit. Six months is common. Six months with no 90-day out is a lot of trust to hand over on day one.
- Slow responses during the interview. That is the fastest they will ever be. It gets slower after you sign.
- They agree with everything you say. You are hiring judgment, not agreement. An agent who never pushes back on your price is not doing item 1 on the list.
How do you sell a house fast?
Three levers, and only three.
Price. It is the biggest one by a wide margin. A correctly priced home in Oakland County went under contract in a median of 23 days as of June 2026. Nothing else on this list moves the needle like the list price does.
Condition. Clean, decluttered, neutral, with the obvious deferred maintenance handled. You are not renovating. You are removing reasons to hesitate.
Access. Every showing you decline is a buyer who sees something else instead. The houses that sell fastest are the ones that are easy to get into on short notice.
Everything else is optimization around those three. If somebody offers you a fourth lever that is not one of these, ask what it costs.
What we do
We have sold thousands of houses across Royal Oak, Ferndale, Birmingham, and everywhere in between, about 850 a year since 1999. That volume is not the pitch. What it buys you is pattern recognition: we have seen what happens on week four of an overpriced listing, and we would rather you not.
- You get the comps, the marketing plan, and the commission in writing before you sign anything.
- We will tell you if your number is high. Even when it costs us the listing.
- We text back. Ask around.
Talk to an agent and we will walk your house, pull your comps, and give you the plan. No cost, no obligation. More on how we market and sell on our selling page.
Frequently asked questions
What are the things a real estate agent should be doing for you?
A listing agent should price the home off closed comparable sales, advise on what to fix and what to skip, arrange professional photography, write an accurate listing, syndicate it to the MLS and portals, manage showings and report feedback, negotiate price and terms, handle the inspection response, support the appraisal, coordinate the closing, and stay reachable throughout.
Is there an official list of what realtors do?
Yes. The National Association of Realtors publishes “179 Ways Agents Who Are REALTORS Are Worth Every Penny of Their Compensation,” along with a companion list of 105 more items covering the buyer side. The various “132 things realtors do for buyers” lists circulating online are condensed versions of that material. The eleven above are the items that most affect what a seller actually nets.
How do you choose a real estate agent to sell your home?
Interview at least two. Ask how many homes they have sold in your specific city and price band in the last year, their average sale-to-list ratio and days on market, what they would list yours at with the three comps behind it, their marketing plan for the first 14 days, who you will actually be working with day to day, and what their commission includes.
What should I look for when choosing a listing agent?
Look for local closed sales in your price band, specific numbers rather than adjectives, a written marketing plan, and a willingness to disagree with you about price. Watch out for the highest suggested price paired with the weakest comps, since that pattern usually ends in a price reduction within a month.
How can I sell my house fast?
Price it accurately from day one, present it clean and decluttered with obvious repairs handled, and make it easy to show on short notice. Price is by far the largest factor. Correctly priced Oakland County homes went under contract in a median of about 23 days as of June 2026.
How long should I list my house with an agent?
Six months is a common listing term. Ask whether the agreement includes a way out at 90 days if the plan is not working, and ask about the protection period, which is the window after expiration during which the agent still earns a commission if a buyer they introduced closes.
Do I have to pay the buyer’s agent when I sell?
Not automatically. Since the NAR settlement took effect in August 2024, the buyer’s agent fee is negotiated separately and is no longer advertised on the MLS. As a seller you can choose to offer a concession toward it, and your listing agent should explain how that choice affects the number of buyers who see your home.