Thanks sushipup. So you don't think it would be taking advantage of people to get mutiple perspectives on our To Do list a year in advance, knowing that only one of them will get the listing and the rest will be "donating" their opinions? I just usually try not to expect people to work for free, but I guess this is why fees are what they are-- they do a lot of work "on spec" and hoping to prove themselves and be selected. It's just a different world that what I'm used to, I guess!

I will certainly be straightforward about the timeline. I wouldn't want to hire someone who didn't think they'd still be doing this a year from now...

They all think they'll be doing this a year from now, but sometimes life gets in the way of business. Someone recently posted that their chosen realtor was in the hospital but they had no rapport with the person chosen to handle her business, so they found someone else.

I was a realtor 35 years ago until we moved away, and today a couple of my closest friends are realtors and I hang around their office. It's all about relationships. Yes, they don't get paid for their time right now, but they've networked, seen another house, met you. Maybe one that doesn't get the listing will bring in a buyer next year.

Good luck!

Contacting realtors this far in advance is a good idea. A good realtor is familiar with the houses in your area. The things that you think need to be done before a sale may not be a problem at all. Different realtors have different ideas as to how much improvement is needed, especially in an older home.

That's a good point, sushi, that they'd have a heads-up on the fact that it would be available next year even if they don't get the listing. Inventory is in short supply in older neighborhoods that are close to downtown. I guess I'd feel better if I felt like they'd potentially get something out of it.

And Kay, I agree that different people would have different ideas about how much improvement is needed, that's kind of what I'm concerned about! My husband thinks everything should look perfect, but knows it won't. I just don't want to spend all next summer working on things that won't affect the price, anyway (affecting the time to sell slightly won't matter much to us since we won't retire until we have a contract on the house.)

Any other realtors want to weigh in on how you'd feel about being approached in this situation?

Lori:
As long as you are up front that you're a year away from listing, you won't be taking advantage of anyone. It will be their choice whether to invest the time in helping you, in hopes that in a year they'll make a boatload of money off your house.

In sales terms, you are a "qualified lead." You are definitely going to sell your house, I suspect that any agent you contact and explain this to will jump at the opportunity to get in early. They've got a year to be helpful and to build their relationship with you so that you select them when you list.

And the side benefit is that several realtors will now know about your future listing, so they may have buyers for you down the road.

I agree that a realtor would be thrilled to have you as a potential client, even a year in advance. Just know that, once you alert them of your intent to sell, they'll probably want to keep in touch with you more frequently than you may prefer.

I would do homework first. Start on the obvious needs around the home while researching current and especially sold listings over the last year in your area. Whose listings looked best? Who had the shortest DOM with the least price reductions? Eliminate those with sloppy write-ups and poor presentations, and those with patterns of massive deductions (poorly priced to begin with). I would then go to open houses, not only to look at homes, but to meet realtors. (those you think you like you can research their current/past listings, too. Only then would I arrange to have the selected ones come to the house to "interview" the candidates. Part of how they see your home and their suggestions will be part of the process of narrowing down to make your decision to pick your listing agent.

Thanks, weedy, jewel, and grama. Those are some great points! I guess my next step is deciding on a "short list" of candidates, so gramarows is a step ahead of me. Thanks for the good advice. I will try to remember that I am really the asset they're looking for-- I'm pretty sure this house will be easy to sell. And yes, I bet it will get me on a "communications schedule" that irks me at times, but that will just be one of the headaches coming up in the next year, and probably not the worst!

And, if it isn't obvious from the others who gave advice, be totally open that you are going to be talking to several realtors before you decide. It's like a job interview. Those who don't want to put in the effort will disqualify themselves and you will be well rid of them. When we sold our last house, we interviewed five realtors and asked them each to do comps and come up with an asking price, and to describe their marketing approach. We got a lot of different ideas ranging from remodeling the kitchen, to not remodeling anything, and to paint everything white versus leaving it as it was. We also got a fairly wide suggested offering price spread (about $75K, on a fairly pricy home), and different opinions about when to put it on the market. We went with the realtor who was the most down-to-earth, and most experienced, and the one we felt most comfortable with because he had a clear and direct explanation for all the critical points. And we gave each of the ones we didn't pick a courtesy call so they weren't left hanging.

Definitely chose your Realtor in advance. A year out is not too early. Your Realtor can give you staging advice and can keep you posted on your market conditions. If inventory is low and prices go up, you may want to accelerate getting your home on the market. In the mean time, your broker can already keep his/her eyes and ears open for prospective buyers.

Thanks, all. The market here is quite hot, though I suppose it could cool in the next year. I doubt it, though-- it seems like more people want to live closer in and have shorter commutes and we are within a couple of miles of a new high-tech employment area, near the university, and not far from downtown. I talked to a neighbor recently with a very similar house. She has a realtor (lets call her Realtor #1) she's worked with for decades who only works in this area. Realtor #1 gave her very specific recommendations for what to do in advance (she plans to sell in August), and told her that her house would probably sell in 3 days.

So I'm thinking we won't list until we are truly ready to go, which depends mostly on precisely when we decide to retire. I think we will probably wait a month or two and get some "known" issues taken care of, then set up something will Realtor #1. Then I suppose to be responsible, we'll have to find Realtors #2 and #3 as well. Although to be honest, I wouldn't mind skipping that...

I guess I understand the criteria for selecting someone with a good track record of short times on market, etc. But when inventory is low and demand is high, what do you look for in an agent? Is it different?

The main thing I look for is a realtor that I think, based on his/her track record, will price the home reasonably: this means not too high so it stays on the market too long, and not so low that you lose money, but the realtor gets a quick sale without much effort.

Winter seems to be a good time to do information gathering of all kinds - building trades and real estate people have more time available. ... or at least your odds of getting a call returned are better. Of course we're getting into spring now so never mind!!