How to Choose a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your LA Home

By Natalie Novarro, REALTOR®
Sotheby’s International Realty – Beverly Hills
Serving the Hollywood Hills • Sunset Strip • Surrounding Los Angeles Neighborhoods

If you’re thinking about selling your Los Angeles home, choosing the right real estate agent is one of the most important decisions you’ll make.

And it can be surprisingly difficult.

You may interview several agents who all arrive with impressive presentations, comparable sales, marketing plans, and opinions about what your home is worth.

So how do you actually decide?

Short answer: Look beyond the presentation and ask whether the agent truly understands your property, your specific market, how buyers are behaving right now, and how they plan to position your home against the competition.

The agent who gives you the highest suggested list price isn’t necessarily the agent who will get you the highest sale price.

Here’s what I would look for.

1. Do They Really Understand Your Local Market?

Los Angeles isn’t one real estate market.

Even neighboring areas can behave very differently.

This becomes especially important in micro-markets like the Hollywood Hills, where two homes a few streets apart can have very different values because of things like:

Views
Privacy
Architecture
Street
Access
Parking
Lot usability
Outdoor space
Condition
Natural light

A home in the Bird Streets is different from a property in Laurel Canyon. Sunset Plaza doesn’t behave exactly like Beachwood Canyon. And the buyer for a contemporary view home may be very different from the buyer looking for a historic or architectural property.

That’s why I’d want an agent who can explain why buyers will value your particular home, not simply show you an average price per square foot for the ZIP code.

2. Ask How They Arrived at the Suggested List Price

It’s tempting to hire the agent who tells you your home is worth the most.

But a listing presentation shouldn’t be an auction for who can give the seller the highest number.

Ask each agent:

Why this price?

A thoughtful answer should include more than a handful of comparable sales.

I’d want to hear about recent closed sales, current competing listings, pending sales, properties that failed to sell, buyer activity, condition, location, and the unique characteristics of your home.

And if one agent gives you a number dramatically higher than everyone else, ask them to show you exactly what supports it.

Overpricing a home to win the listing can be expensive for the seller later.

3. Ask What They Would Do Before Your Home Goes on the Market

Marketing doesn’t begin when the listing goes live.

It begins before photography.

A good listing agent should be able to walk through your property and help determine what is actually worth doing before you sell.

That could include painting, editing furniture, staging, landscaping, lighting, minor repairs, deep cleaning, or decluttering.

But the answer shouldn’t automatically be:

“Renovate everything.”

The goal is to spend money where it will improve the way buyers perceive the property—and avoid spending money where you’re unlikely to get it back.

4. Look Closely at How They Market Homes

Almost every agent will tell you they have a marketing plan.

Ask to see it.

Look at their photography, video, listing descriptions, social media, website presence, digital marketing, and overall property presentation.

Then ask yourself:

Would I be impressed if this were my house?

For a distinctive Los Angeles property, particularly a luxury or architectural home, the marketing should communicate more than bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage.

It should explain what makes the home worth seeing.

Maybe that’s the architecture.

Maybe it’s the view.

Maybe it’s privacy, history, indoor-outdoor living, or the fact that the property feels completely removed from the city even though it’s minutes from everything.

Good marketing identifies the story and tells it well.

5. Ask How They Plan to Reach Buyers

Putting a home in the MLS is important, but it isn’t the entire marketing strategy.

Ask the agent how they plan to get your property in front of potential buyers.

Depending on the home, that may involve a combination of professional photography, video, social media, digital exposure, agent-to-agent outreach, brokerage networks, open houses, targeted marketing, and other strategies.

Not every property needs exactly the same marketing plan.

The important question is whether the agent has thought specifically about your home and the buyer most likely to purchase it.

6. Ask What Happens If the Home Doesn’t Sell Right Away

This is one of my favorite questions because it can tell you a lot about an agent.

Ask:

“What will you do if we’re three or four weeks into the listing and we don’t have an offer?”

You want more than:

“We’ll reduce the price.”

I’d want to know how the agent evaluates showing activity, buyer feedback, online activity, new competition, pending sales, changes in the market, and marketing performance.

A listing strategy should evolve based on what the market is telling you.

Sometimes price needs to change.

Sometimes presentation needs to change.

Sometimes marketing or access needs to change.

And sometimes the best decision is to stay the course.

The important thing is that there should be a strategy behind the recommendation.

7. Find Out How They’ll Communicate With You

Selling a home can take weeks or months, and you shouldn’t have to wonder what’s happening.

Ask potential agents:

How often will I hear from you?

Will you personally communicate with me?

How will you share showing feedback?

Will we regularly review new listings, pending sales, and closed sales?

You want an agent who will communicate honestly—even when the information isn’t necessarily what you hoped to hear.

That becomes particularly important if the market starts telling us something different from what we expected when the home was first listed.

8. Don’t Choose an Agent Based Only on Commission

Commission matters. So does what you ultimately walk away with.

The cheapest option isn’t automatically the least expensive option if the property is poorly positioned, inadequately marketed, or negotiated badly.

Instead of looking only at what an agent charges, I’d look at the entire strategy:

How will you price my home?

How will you prepare it?

How will you market it?

How will you negotiate for me?

And what will you do if the original plan isn’t working?

The goal isn’t simply to pay the lowest fee.

The goal is to achieve the strongest possible net result.

9. Pay Attention to the Questions the Agent Asks You

A listing appointment shouldn’t only be an agent talking about themselves.

The agent should also be asking you questions.

Why are you selling?

What is your timing?

Where are you going next?

What concerns do you have about the sale?

Have you made improvements to the property?

Are there issues with the home that buyers may need to understand?

What matters most to you besides price?

Your answers can affect the entire selling strategy.

An agent can’t properly advise you without understanding what you’re actually trying to accomplish.

10. Choose Someone Who Will Tell You What You Need to Hear

This may be one of the most important things on the list.

You don’t necessarily want an agent who agrees with everything you say.

You want someone willing to give you good advice.

If the price is too high, you need to know.

If spending $100,000 on renovations before selling doesn’t make sense, you need to know.

If buyer feedback reveals a problem, you need to know.

And if you receive an offer that deserves serious consideration, you need an honest assessment of the risks and opportunities involved.

A good agent should advocate for you while still giving you an accurate picture of what’s happening in the market.

The Right Agent Should Have a Strategy for Your Home

Ultimately, I wouldn’t choose a listing agent based on one impressive statistic, one glossy presentation, or the highest suggested list price.

I’d choose the person who can clearly explain:

Where your home fits in the market.

How they would position it.

How they would reach the right buyers.

How they would respond if the market doesn’t react as expected.

And how they would protect your interests throughout the transaction.

Every home is different.

Your listing strategy should be too.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many real estate agents should I interview before selling my home?

There’s no required number. Some sellers already have an agent they trust, while others benefit from interviewing two or three agents and comparing their pricing, marketing, communication, and overall strategy.

Should I hire the agent who gives me the highest home value?

Not automatically. Ask the agent to show you the data supporting the recommended price. An unrealistically high list price can sometimes make a listing harder to sell and lead to price reductions later.

Should I choose the real estate agent with the lowest commission?

Commission is one factor, but it shouldn’t be the only factor. Consider the agent’s pricing strategy, marketing, negotiation, communication, local knowledge, and the overall net result they’re trying to achieve for you.

Does my agent need to specialize in my exact neighborhood?

An agent doesn’t need to live on your street, but they should understand your market and be able to explain the factors that influence value and buyer behavior there. In highly property-specific areas such as the Hollywood Hills, that local understanding can be especially important.

What should I ask a real estate agent before hiring them?

Ask how they determined your home’s value, what they recommend doing before listing, how they’ll market the property, how they’ll communicate with you, and what they’ll do if the home doesn’t sell as expected.

What if I choose the wrong listing agent?

Review your listing agreement and discuss your concerns directly with the agent. If the listing ultimately expires or is canceled, take the time to understand what happened before choosing your next strategy. A new agent alone won’t solve the problem unless something meaningful changes.

Thinking About Selling Your Los Angeles Home?

If you’re considering selling and want to understand what your home may be worth, how I would position it, and what I would recommend doing before it goes on the market, I’m happy to take a look.

I specialize in luxury and architectural homes throughout Los Angeles, with a focus on the Hollywood Hills and Sunset Strip.

There’s no one-size-fits-all listing strategy. The first step is understanding the property, your goals, and the market you’re entering.

For more information or to get in touch, visit the Contact page or call/text 323-719-3360.

I’m always here to help.

About the Author

Natalie Novarro is a real estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty in Los Angeles, specializing in the Hollywood Hills and Sunset Strip.

With over 20 years of experience and more than $100M in career sales, she works with buyers, sellers, and investors throughout Los Angeles.