Do you know how to conduct a good interview with a real estate agent? If you feel at a loss about how to interview a real estate agent then here are a few tips for you.

The first thing you want to ask them is how long they have been in business. Chances are you do not want an agent who is still pedalling on training wheels. Next make sure that the real estate agent is properly licensed with the State Board of Real Estate Agents.

Ask the candidate about their listing price to actual sale price sales ratio. This is nothing more than number to judge the efficiency of the real estate agent. If that ratio for buyers is 94%, then the figure means that means the agent was able to secure houses for clients at 94% of the listing price, an average savings for the buyer of 6%. If that ratio for sellers is 92% then that means that the agent was able to sell houses at 92% of the listing price. That means the agent had to back off the asking price an average of 8%.

So lets put it all together here. Let's say you are a buyer and you interview three real estate agents. They have listing to sale price ratios of 80%, 93% and 91%. All other things being equal you want the first agent because the 80% figure means the agent was able to reduce the asking price by an average of 20% (100%-80%). The other agents won reductions of 7% and 9%, not nearly as good as the 20%.