What Home Sellers Want in an Agent in 2024

Zillow’s 2024 Consumer Trends Report reveals critical insights from sellers on what they prioritize when they’re looking for a real estate agent. 

While these folks are skimming the local options—at whatever stage they are in the home selling process—some details just matter more than others. Having hundreds of five-star Google reviews certainly helps, and getting those reviews is absolutely worth your time.

But it’s not priority #1 for most sellers. Glowing reviews do not always translate into high seller profits or lifetime relationships. 

Those first conversations you have with a potential seller, with the data you share with them, are critical to building credibility and trust. In today’s Hot Sheet, Byron Lazine shared some key talking points to incorporate into these conversations, using the latest data on consumer sentiment, seller expectations, and mortgage applications.

Watch it here:

Read on to learn what sellers are really looking for, so you can attract more of them. 

What Sellers Expect from Real Estate Agents in 2024

If you’re having conversations with homeowners in your area, knowing what they expect to see in an agent—and not only meeting but exceeding those expectations—is how you get to the front of the line. 

After all, nearly all sellers (93%) use a real estate agent for at least part of the process. The largest percentage (69%) said they hired one to help promote their home and find buyers. And 21% said they hired an agent to finalize the sale—but they promoted their home and found buyers themselves. 

Selling a home in 2024 is not a quick or simple process, after all. With all the details that go into a successful home sale, sellers have their own must-haves to guide them in choosing an agent. And, ideally, they want to see those qualities in the first agent they talk to. In fact, among sellers who hired an agent, 59% of them contacted only one. 

So, how do you improve your chances of being the first agent they talk to?

Start by highlighting what you do for your clients—focusing on what you know sellers want to see and what makes you stand out from the average agent. 

That’s what this breakdown of the report is all about: becoming the kind of agent you would want to talk to first. And you and I both know that agent would go well beyond the bare minimum. 

Another point worth considering: among seller-buyers that hired a real estate agent, nearly three-quarters of them (73%) say they hired the same agent to help them sell their previous home and purchase their new one. 

Read on for details on the report’s key data points. 

Top Seller Priorities for Real Estate Agents

Of all the expectations sellers want their agents to meet, number one is entirely predictable. We don’t know any sellers who are ambivalent about their home’s final sale price and profit margin. 

The priority next in line is not surprising, either, given how much time the typical homeowner ends up spending on the home selling process. 

Here are the top priorities home sellers have:

• Maximizing Profit — 56% of sellers ranked profit as their top priority, and 85% said it was one of their top two concerns when choosing an agent.
• Speed and Efficiency — 35% of sellers ranked selling within their target timeframe as a top priority.
• Tech Savviness  — Today’s seller wants a strong digital presence. 89% of sellers used a real estate agent in 2024, but a large share also online resources to assist with their home sale, signaling the importance of agents who integrate online platforms and digital marketing tools into their services.
• Standout Marketing — 71% of sellers are more likely to hire an agent who offers virtual tours or interactive floor plans, and 78% are more likely to hire one who uses high-resolution photography.

Regarding tech savviness and marketing, sellers’ own familiarity with digital tools is a key factor in their choice of a real estate agent. While many of today’s homeowners are well aware of online resources they can use to market and sell their home—including a desktop website (75%), a mobile website (69%) or an app (64%)—they’re still more likely to use a real estate agent (89%) than to rely on those tools alone. 

That said, no seller wants to work with an agent who is less familiar than they are with the digital resources available to assist with home sales. They want someone who knows their way around all the new technology available—and how to leverage that to maximize profit. 

Among the digital tools sellers reported using—or said they would like to use: 

• Sign paperwork online/digitally (56% used it; 59% would “ideally” use it)
• Use remote or mobile notary options to complete closing (35%; 45%)
• Store home sale documents digitally in one central service (39%; 46%)
• At least one of the above (88%; 92%)

Digital options like remote home viewings, 3D tours, and instant offers are more likely to complement agent services than to replace them. For most sellers, including a virtual home tour in their home’s listing is “very” or “extremely important” (64%), compared to only 9% who say it’s “not very” or “not at all important.” 

 An even larger percentage of sellers (81%) say including a floor plan is a highly important listing characteristic—compared to just 4% who say it’s not very or at all important. 

Most sellers in Zillow’s survey say they’re more likely to hire an agent who includes virtual home tours and/or interactive floor plans in their listing services (71%). Most also say they’re more likely to hire an agent that includes high-resolution photography (78%) among their services.

Agent Trustworthiness is Key

As in previous years, sellers want their first impression of an agent to be trustworthy (80%) and responsive (80%). Those are characteristics sellers are most likely to rate as highly important. 

Also high on the list of selling points were a positive reputation in the community (75%), local and neighborhood-specific knowledge (75%), and a strong sales history (74%). 

From Zillow’s report, here’s the full list of agent characteristics rated by sellers as very or extremely important in 2024:

• Positive general reputation in the community (75%)
• Affiliation with a recognizable brokerage (e.g. RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, etc.) (58%)
• Strong sales history / high number of recent sales (74%)
• Online reviews and ratings of the agent or broker (67%)
• Agent or broker was part of a team (59%)
• Past personal experience with the agent or broker (58%)
• Referral from friend, relative, neighbor or colleague (57%)
• Initial impression of agent or broker: responsive (80%)
• Initial impression of agent or broker: trustworthy (80%)
• Had local market and/or neighborhood-specific knowledge (75%)
• Charged a lower commission or offered a rebate (55%)

On that last point, about half of the sellers surveyed (51%) say they negotiated with their agent for a lower commission. 

Most Sellers Contact Only One Agent

Nearly six in 10 sellers (59%) hired the first agent they talked to, while 39% contacted between two and four agents, and only 2% contacted five or more. 

So, we cannot stress enough how important it is for you to make a strong and lasting positive first impression (as well as every subsequent impression) if your aim is to secure more listings. 

Sellers in 2024 want to be blown away by the agent they choose. They want bragging rights. So, give them a reason to brag about how their savvy agent selection process paid off in ways they hadn’t even expected—and to recommend you to everyone they know. 

Today’s sellers expect their agents to offer a combination of market expertise (local as well as national), digital tools, and personal reliability to help them promote and sell their homes efficiently and profitably. 

By understanding what sellers want, agents can fine-tune both their services and their marketing strategies to secure more listings and stand out in a crowded marketplace.