By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
TL;DR:
Years in business, homes sold, and how confident someone seemed are weak predictors. Four questions do most of the work. What does the agent recommend on buyer-agent compensation, and why — since August 2024 that's the seller's decision and it's worth five figures. Which building department governs this address, because Long Island's answer varies by town and an agent who can't say doesn't know the market. Will they tell you when your price is wrong. And what's the plan at sixty days. An agent who handles those four well is worth hiring regardless of their marketing.
The Question Most Sellers Don't Know to Ask
Start here, because it's the largest financial decision in the engagement and most agent-selection advice hasn't caught up to it.
Until August 17, 2024, buyer-agent compensation was posted on the MLS and offered essentially automatically as a condition of listing. That ended with the Sitzer/Burnett settlement. Compensation is now negotiated within each individual offer, and buyers sign written agreements with their agents before touring homes.
The buyer-side decision is now the seller's, not an industry default. On a $900,000 Long Island sale, two and a half percent is roughly $22,500.
So the question isn't "what's your commission." It's:
What do you recommend I offer on the buyer side, and why? A good answer engages with the specific price band and buyer pool. In entry and mid-market bands, where buyers are stretched on cash to close, a buyer who has committed to paying their own agent may be unable to reach a home offering nothing — which shows up as fewer showings without the seller ever learning why. At higher price points with more cash buyers, the calculation differs. An agent who says "offer two and a half, everyone does" hasn't thought about it. One who says "your call" without analysis hasn't either.
And separately: what's your listing-side fee, and what does it buy? Negotiable, and always was, with fee-negotiated listings at one and a half to two percent increasingly common on Long Island. The useful evaluation is what the percentage buys — pricing judgment, photography, negotiation — not the percentage alone.
An agent who can't discuss both sides clearly is telling you something.
The Local Knowledge Test That Actually Works
Every agent claims local expertise. Here's how to test it in about a minute, and it's specific to this region.
Ask which building department governs the property.
Long Island's answer varies more than sellers realize. Levittown is unincorporated and falls entirely within the Town of Hempstead — one office, one call. Port Washington spans several incorporated villages including Baxter Estates, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Sands Point, and Port Washington North, plus unincorporated Town of North Hempstead area, each with its own records. Manhasset similarly includes Munsey Park, Plandome, Plandome Heights, and Plandome Manor. Bayside falls under the New York City Department of Buildings, where records are publicly searchable.
An agent who can't say which office holds the record for a specific address doesn't know the market they claim to specialize in.
That matters practically, not just as a trivia test. Unclosed permits are the most common expensive surprise in a Long Island sale — the buyer's attorney orders municipal searches after contracts are signed, and whatever is on file comes back weeks into the transaction with a mortgage commitment clock running. An agent whose answer is "the attorney handles that later" has never watched a closing slip six weeks over a decade-old dormer. The full picture of how permit issues resolve covers what it costs.
The follow-up worth asking: what do you do about it before listing? The right answer is a phone call, made early, at no cost.
Three More Questions Worth Asking
Uncomfortable by design, which is the point.
"If you think my price is too high, will you tell me?" The honest answer is yes, plainly, with the comp set to support it. An agent who agrees with whatever number a seller proposes is easier to hire and more expensive to keep — a home priced above its band is filtered out of buyer searches entirely rather than rejected, and the cost lands in the first three weeks when interest is highest. The pricing framework covers how that filtering works.
"What's the plan if it hasn't sold in sixty days?" A good answer distinguishes traffic problems from price problems and says what data would tell them which. "We'll adjust" is not a plan.
"Who takes the photographs, and can I see their work?" Buyers decide whether to schedule from a phone screen. This is one of the few areas where the difference between agents is directly visible before hiring anyone.
What to Weigh Less Heavily
Four common criteria that carry less signal than they appear to.
Years in the business. Useful as a floor, weak above it. A ten-year agent who hasn't updated for the 2024 changes is worse than a four-year agent who has.
Homes sold. Measures activity, not fit. An agent selling widely across Long Island may know less about a specific town's permit structure than someone who works it consistently.
List-to-sale price ratio. Frequently cited and close to meaningless without knowing how the homes were priced initially. An agent who lists high, reduces twice, and sells at ninety-six percent of the final ask looks similar in that statistic to one who priced correctly and sold at ninety-eight percent of the original. The ratio measures the last number, not the first.
Testimonials. Genuine ones are meaningful and unverifiable ones aren't, and a reader usually can't tell them apart. If a testimonial matters to your decision, ask whether you can speak to the client. An agent with real references will make that happen.
The same caution applies to rankings and "top producer" designations. Those come from a wide range of sources with a wide range of rigor. If a claim matters, ask what it's based on — a verifiable credential survives the question comfortably.
Interview More Than One
The most common mistake is hiring the first agent who comes to the house, usually because they were recommended and the conversation was pleasant.
Two or three conversations produce comparison, which one meeting can't. Three price opinions on the same house, with three explanations, tell a seller more about the comp set than any single presentation does.
The agent quoting the highest number is usually not the right choice. An unrealistic price is easy to promise and expensive to carry, and it costs the window when accumulated buyer interest converges.
Ask each the same questions. Compare the answers rather than the personalities.
And read the listing agreement before signing — particularly the term length and the protection period, under which commission may still be owed after the agreement ends if the home sells to a buyer introduced during it. The fuller treatment of what happens if a listing doesn't sell covers that clause.
A Worked Example
Consider a composite case — a Nassau County seller who interviewed three agents on a home the comps supported near $1,150,000.
The first quoted $1,229,000 and was persuasive. The second quoted $1,145,000 and walked through six closed sales with adjustments. The third quoted $1,120,000 without much explanation.
She asked all three which building department governed her address. Her home sat in an incorporated village. The first said the Town of North Hempstead. The second named the village correctly and asked whether she knew of any open permits. The third wasn't sure.
She asked all three about buyer-side compensation. The first said "the standard is two and a half." The second worked through her price band and what buyers at that level typically face on cash to close, and recommended a figure with reasoning attached.
She hired the second. A call to the village turned up a 2013 permit for a rear addition never closed out — seven weeks to resolve, entirely before listing rather than seven weeks into a contract.
The building department question took thirty seconds and told her more than the rest of the meeting.
Where to Start
Interview two or three agents and ask each the same questions. Lead with the compensation recommendation and the reasoning. Ask which building department governs your address and what they do about permits before listing. Ask whether they'll tell you when your price is wrong. Ask what happens at sixty days. Look at the photography. Then compare answers rather than presentations.
Sellers wanting a starting read on value before those conversations can begin with a quiet look at current figures. More Long Island market and process coverage lives in Local Insights.
The Honest Bottom Line
The criteria most sellers use are weak predictors, and the ones that matter are specific and mostly uncomfortable to ask.
Whether the agent has a considered position on buyer-side compensation, because that's now the seller's decision and it's worth five figures. Whether they know which of Long Island's many building departments holds the record for a given address. Whether they'll say something the seller doesn't want to hear about price. And whether there's a plan for the scenario where the first thirty days don't deliver.
An agent who handles those four well is worth hiring regardless of what their marketing says. One who deflects them is worth passing on for the same reason.
This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Listing agreement terms, commission structures, and protection periods vary. Read your agreement and consult a licensed New York real estate attorney about anything unclear.
FAQs
What should I ask an agent about commission?
Two separate questions, because there are now two decisions. First, what they recommend you offer on the buyer side and why — since August 17, 2024 that's a seller decision negotiated within each offer rather than a posted percentage, and on a $900,000 sale two and a half percent is roughly $22,500. A good answer engages with your price band and buyer pool. Second, what their listing-side fee is and what it buys. That's negotiable and always was, with fee-negotiated listings at one and a half to two percent increasingly common on Long Island.
How can I tell if an agent really knows my area?
Ask which building department governs your address. Long Island's answer varies substantially: Levittown falls entirely within the Town of Hempstead, Port Washington spans several incorporated villages plus unincorporated town area, Manhasset includes Munsey Park and the Plandome villages, and Bayside falls under the New York City Department of Buildings. An agent who can't say which office holds the record doesn't know the market they claim. The follow-up matters too — what do they do about permits before listing, and the right answer is a phone call made early.
Should I hire the agent who quotes the highest price?
Usually not, and it's the most common expensive mistake. An unrealistic price is easy to promise and costly to carry — a home priced above its band is filtered out of buyer searches entirely, so it isn't rejected, it's never seen. The cost concentrates in the first two to three weeks when accumulated interest is highest, and by the time the price comes down the listing carries days-on-market history. Ask each agent to explain the comp set behind their number, and weigh the explanation more than the figure.
Is list-to-sale price ratio a useful measure?
Less than it appears. It's frequently cited and close to meaningless without knowing how the homes were priced initially. An agent who lists high, reduces twice, and sells at ninety-six percent of the final asking price looks similar in that statistic to one who priced correctly and sold at ninety-eight percent of the original. The ratio measures the last number rather than the first. Homes sold is similarly weak — it measures activity rather than fit for a specific property in a specific town.
How many agents should I interview?
Two or three. A single meeting gives you a presentation; multiple meetings give you comparison — three price opinions on the same house, with three explanations, tell you more about the comp set than any one presentation can. Ask each the same questions so the answers are comparable, and compare the answers rather than the personalities. Read the listing agreement before signing, particularly the term length and the protection period under which commission may still be owed after the agreement ends.
By Eric Berman, REALTOR® | The Eric Berman Team at Compass
Eric Berman | Long Island & Queens Associate Broker | Compass
1468 Northern Blvd, Manhasset, NY 11030
(917) 225-8596 | eric@ericbermanre.com | theericbermanteam.com
