Choosing the agent is the single biggest decision you make before the market ever sees your home — or before you write your first offer. Yet most people spend more time researching a dishwasher. Here's the process I'd genuinely recommend — including how I'd want you to test me.
Step 1: Interview two or three agents
Not one. The interview isn't rude — good agents expect it. What you're comparing:
- Local track record. Not "years in the business" but recent deals in your part of Winnipeg. Ask directly: "What have you sold within fifteen minutes of my house in the last two years?" Winnipeg is a city of micro-markets, and a River Heights specialist can misprice a Transcona split-level badly.
- The pricing conversation. A serious agent arrives with comparable sales and explains their number. Ask each candidate: "What would you list my home at — and show me why."
- The marketing plan (sellers). Professional photos, where the listing goes beyond the MLS®, how showings are handled, what happens in week two if traffic is slow. Vague answers here become vague results later.
- Communication. Ask how fast they typically respond and how you'll get updates. Then notice how fast they respond during the interview stage, when they're on best behaviour.
- Reviews and references. Read the Google reviews, but also ask for a past client you can actually call.
Step 2: Know the red flags
Some patterns should end the conversation:
- The flattering price. The agent who names the highest listing price is often "buying the listing" — winning your signature with a number the market won't pay, then engineering price cuts. The costliest agent is rarely the one with the higher commission; it's the one who overprices your home into staleness.
- Pressure to sign today. A listing agreement or buyer representation agreement is a contract. Anyone rushing you past reading it is telling you how the rest of the relationship will go.
- No questions about your home or your goals. An agent who talks for forty minutes without asking why you're moving, what you owe, or what your timeline is, is selling a service — not representing you.
- Fuzzy answers about money. Commission structure, what it includes, and what happens if the agreement ends early should all be answered plainly and put in writing. (I wrote a separate plain-language guide to how realtor fees work in Manitoba.)
Step 3: Understand what you're signing
Whether buying or selling, the relationship gets documented — a listing agreement or a buyer representation agreement. Before signing, be clear on: the term (how long it runs), the commission and when it's payable, any holdover clause (commission owed if a buyer the agent introduced purchases after the agreement ends), and how you can end it if it isn't working. None of this is exotic; a good agent walks you through every line unprompted.
(And one given that takes ten seconds if you ever want it: every agent and brokerage in Manitoba is registered under the Real Estate Services Act, and the MFSA keeps a public registry at themfsa.ca — you'll find me there with Real Broker Manitoba Ltd.)
What I'd add from the construction side
One more filter most people never think of: does your agent understand the building itself? A huge share of a deal's real risk lives in the roof, the foundation, the wiring, and the moisture stains everyone politely ignores at a showing. My background is construction and renovations, and it changes both sides of the transaction — buyers hear "that's a $12,000 problem, offer accordingly," and sellers hear "fix this $300 thing, skip that $3,000 one."
Interview me alongside anyone else — that's not a courtesy, it's the process working. Start with a conversation or a free home evaluation, and bring your hardest questions. I'd worry about any agent who minds.