Most locations have a lot of real estate offices. This means there are plenty of agents to choose from and it shouldn’t be too hard to choose someone to sell your home. But many report that it’s very confusing making that ‘who’ decision, especially when they don’t see the results of the service they are securing for days, weeks or even months. How to decide, especially if this is your first foray into selling real estate?

Experienced home sellers report that trust is the most important element of the sales process or any relationship where communication is at the heart of the transaction. Put simply, if you don’t trust the person that is selling your single greatest asset, communication is likely to break down and the sale process is unlikely to produce the best outcome.

Many prospective vendors say they choose an agent based on their gut feelings and that having an eye for character helps as it does in any situation where trust is involved.

But there is another way to ascertain whether the agent standing in your living room with his listing kit will give you the kind of quality relationship and advice based on an ethical approach to every aspect of their work.

The solution most often cited by experienced sellers is to ask your prospective agent whether they have any testimonials from past satisfied clients. When you read them, take notice of whether their former clients refer to their agent using words such as ‘truth’, ‘honesty’, ‘integrity’ and ‘trust’. Look for comments such as “When they tell me something, I know they are telling the truth” or “I always knew they were completely honest with me."

You can even go one stage further: most professional agents will also be happy to give you the names and phone numbers of past clients you can actually talk to flesh out the comments they have made in their testimonials.