10 questions to ask a real estate agent before hiring them

Interviewing a real estate agent feels awkward for a lot of people. Agents are salespeople by nature — confident, charming, and practiced at making a first impression. It is easy to leave an initial meeting feeling good about someone without ever having asked the questions that would tell you whether they are actually right for your situation.

These ten questions cut through the surface-level presentation and get to what actually matters. Ask them of every agent you are considering — and pay attention not just to what they say, but to how they say it.

1. How many transactions did you close in the last twelve months?

This is the single most important question on the list. Production volume is not everything, but it is a reliable proxy for active market engagement. An agent who closed twenty or more transactions in the last year is deeply embedded in their market — they know what is happening right now, not what was happening two years ago.

Be wary of vague answers like "quite a few" or redirects to total career volume. You want a specific number for the last twelve months. A great agent will give it to you without hesitation.

2. Is real estate your full-time profession?

This question may feel unnecessary — of course they are full-time, right? Not always. A significant number of licensed agents have other jobs or treat real estate as a secondary income source. That is fine for them — but it is not fine for you as their client. Full-time agents are more available, more knowledgeable about current market conditions, and more invested in their clients' outcomes.

3. How long have you been working in this specific market?

Years in real estate and years in your specific market are different things. An agent who has been licensed for fifteen years but just moved to your city eight months ago has fifteen years of experience and eight months of local knowledge. Both facts matter. You want an agent who has been actively working your target market long enough to have genuine neighborhood-level expertise.

4. Can you walk me through a transaction that went sideways — and what you did?

Every experienced agent has had a deal that hit serious problems. How they handled it tells you far more about their competence and character than a story about a smooth transaction. You want to hear specific, concrete answers: the inspection revealed significant foundation issues and they renegotiated the price; financing fell through at the last minute and they helped the buyer find an alternative lender; the appraisal came in low and they built the case for the seller to hold on price.

Vague or overly positive answers to this question — or an inability to identify a challenging transaction — suggest either limited experience or a polished sales presentation that is not giving you real information.

5. What is your list-to-sale price ratio? (For sellers)

For sellers, this number tells you whether an agent consistently achieves close to or above the asking price, or whether they consistently fall short. A strong list-to-sale ratio reflects both accurate pricing and strong negotiating on behalf of sellers. Ask for this number and ask how it compares to the market average in your area over the same period.

6. How do you communicate with clients during a transaction?

Ask specifically: how often, through which channels, and who initiates contact. The answer will tell you whether their communication style is compatible with yours. If you want daily text updates and they prefer weekly phone calls, that is a mismatch you want to identify before you are under contract — not during.

7. How many active clients are you currently working with?

This question helps you understand whether they have capacity to give you the attention your transaction deserves. An agent juggling twenty active clients simultaneously may be technically capable but practically limited in how responsive they can be. There is no universally right answer — it depends on how they operate — but you should understand where you fit in their current workload.

8. Will I be working directly with you, or with members of your team?

Many successful agents operate as part of a team, which is not inherently a problem. But if you hire a well-known agent and then discover that your day-to-day contact is a junior team member you have never met, that is not what you signed up for. Ask directly who will be attending showings, communicating with you regularly, and present at key moments in the transaction.

9. Can you provide two or three recent references?

Ask for recent references — clients from the last twelve months — and actually call them. A prepared agent will offer references without being asked. When you call, ask: how did the agent handle a problem that came up, did they communicate proactively, and would they use them again? The answers will tell you more than any Zillow review.

10. Do you have any current or past disciplinary actions on your license?

This question will feel uncomfortable to ask, and that is exactly why it is valuable. A great agent will answer it without hesitation, probably even appreciating that you are being thorough. You can also verify independently through your state's real estate commission website — it is public information. Most agents will have a clean record. When they do not, you want to know before you hire them.

What good answers look like

The right answers to these questions are specific, honest, and confident. Great agents do not need to oversell themselves — their track record does it for them. If an agent seems reluctant to share concrete numbers, deflects to vague positive statements, or appears defensive when you ask direct questions, pay attention to that. The interview is your best opportunity to evaluate whether the person you are about to entrust with your largest financial transaction is actually up to the job.