How to Choose a Real Estate Agent, Using Data They Can’t Fake
Every agent says they’re local, responsive, and gets top dollar. The recorded data suggests a better interview: five questions with checkable answers, and the failure statistics that show what actually goes wrong when the choice goes wrong.
Why this choice shows up in the data
In the recorded 12 months, 201,552 Florida listings failed to sell — and 71.6% of them had already cut price at least once, the signature of overpricing at listing. That first price is the agent’s single most important work product. On the buy side, the equivalent failure is quieter: overpaying against closed comps, or missing the cost stack (insurance, tax reset, CDD) that determines whether you can actually afford the house. Both failures are preventable by the same thing: an agent who works from records instead of scripts.
The five-question interview
1. “Show me the last 90 days of closed sales in my community.” Not actives — closings. If they can’t produce them in a day, they price from hope. (Every community’s record is public on our community pages, so there’s no excuse.) 2. “What did your last ten listings close at versus original asking?” The honest number includes the cuts. 3. “What’s the failure rate in my area, and what causes it?” An agent who doesn’t know failed-listing data exists hasn’t studied the downside. 4. “Put your fee and everything it covers on one page.” Post-settlement, this is the norm — hesitation is information. 5. “Walk me through how you’d build my price.” The answer should reference specific closed comps, condition adjustments, and current absorption — not “the market is hot.”
Momentum is a brokerage; we obviously hope you interview us. So hold us to the same test: any Momentum agent will produce your community’s closed-sale record, the local failure data, a written fee page, and a records-based price — because this site publishes most of it already. If another agent does all five better, hire them. The five questions are the point, not the logo at the bottom of the page.
Failure and pricing statistics from recorded MLS data across Momentum’s licensed feeds, 12 months ending August 15, 2026 (failed = canceled/expired/withdrawn, deduplicated). General information; no individual agent or brokerage is characterized here.