You’ve decided to sell. Congratulations, and also, buckle up. Because the next decision you make matters more than the paint color, the staging, and the smell of cookies at the open house combined: who lists your home. Katy homes are taking longer to sell than they did a couple of years ago, which means the agent you pick is either your secret weapon or your expensive mistake. I’ve been doing this for over three decades and I have seen some things. Let me save you some heartache. Here are 7 things nobody tells you.
1. The agent with the biggest number is not the best agent. They’re the best flatterer.
Here’s the oldest trick in the book. You interview three agents. Two show you comps. One shows you a number that makes your heart flutter. Guess who usually gets hired? It even has a name in this business: “buying the listing.” Then your home sits, the price cuts start, and buyers begin whispering “what’s wrong with it?” A real pricing conversation might sting a little. The market does not care about our feelings, and an agent who tells you the truth on day one is worth ten who tell you what you want to hear.
2. Make them show their homework.
There’s a world of difference between an agent who glances at a Zestimate and one who walks you through what closed, what’s pending, what’s been sitting for 90 days collecting cobwebs, and why. Ask them to show their work like a math teacher would. If they can’t defend the price to you at the kitchen table, they sure can’t defend it to a buyer’s agent who comes in swinging.
3. Ask what they know about builder competition. This one is very, very Katy.
If your home sits in a master-planned community where the builder is still building, your lovely resale is competing against a shiny model home down the street with incentive money attached. The builder has a sales office, a marketing budget, and free cookies. That changes your pricing strategy, your prep strategy, and sometimes your timing. An agent who prices your home like the builder doesn’t exist is pricing it for a market we don’t have.
4. Look at their last three listings. Actually look.
Everyone will promise you “professional photos and MLS exposure.” That’s the bare minimum, not a marketing plan. Pull up their last three listings and study them like you’re the buyer. If the photos are dark, crooked, or feature the toilet lid up, that is the exact treatment your home will get. Read the descriptions too. If they put a robot to sleep, keep interviewing.
5. Ask how the communication will work. There’s no wrong answer, but there is a wrong surprise.
Some agents personally answer every call, even the 9 PM Saturday ones. Some run it like a well-oiled team, where the agent guides the strategy and the negotiations while a sharp assistant keeps every date, document, and detail humming. Both models work beautifully. I’ve run both, and honestly, the team version is often where the details get the most attention, because keeping up with the details is somebody’s whole job. What doesn’t work is finding out which one you signed up for after the sign is in the yard. So ask: who do I call with questions, and who calls me when there’s news? An agent with a clear answer has a system. An agent with a vague answer has a problem, and it’s about to become your problem.
6. The list price is the opening move, not the game.
Offers, counters, inspection repairs, appraisal gaps. This is where deals are saved or lost, and where an experienced agent earns every penny, advising you on what’s worth fighting for and what’s worth letting go. Ask them about a recent deal that went sideways and how it ended. Everybody has one. The good ones can tell you exactly what they did about it, step by step, without breaking eye contact.
7. A famous logo never sold a house.
A national brand on the yard sign is nice. You know what’s nicer? An agent who shows up to your kitchen table already knowing your neighborhood’s story: which streets back to the freeway, what the builder down the road is offering, which sections had water in 2017 and which stayed dry. Now, a little secret from three decades in this business: nobody carries every street in Greater Houston around in their head, and anyone who claims to is selling something. The great ones do their homework before they ever ring your doorbell. So here’s your test. Ask them what they learned about your neighborhood before they came over. The prepared agent lights up. The logo agent changes the subject. Preparation beats logo. Every single time.
The bottom line
Interview more than one agent. Ask all seven of these. The right one won’t flinch, because agents who know their business love showing their work. And if one of them gets a little huffy about being questioned? Well. Now you know something important, don’t you?
I’ve been advising Katy sellers for over three decades, and I’m always happy to be one of your interviews. Bring your hardest questions. I keep the good answers in pink. Reach me at MickieC@CallMickieC.com.
Serving Katy and surrounding Houston areas.
Katy Listing Agent FAQ
Interview at least two or three agents. Compare how they price your home, how they market their listings, their local closed sales, and who handles your communication. Choose based on evidence, not the highest suggested price.
Not automatically. Overpricing is one of the most common reasons Katy homes sit on the market. Ask each agent to show the comparable sales behind their number and choose the one whose price is best supported.
Ask how they arrived at their suggested price, how they’ll market the home, who you’ll communicate with directly, how they handle offers and repair negotiations, and how many homes they’ve closed in your area.
It helps significantly. In Katy’s master-planned communities, resale homes often compete against new construction with builder incentives, and pricing strategy needs to account for that.
