This is the single most telling performance metric for a seller's agent, and most people never think to ask it. Days on market is not just a vanity stat. It directly affects your outcome. A home that sells in 20 days receives offers from the pool of motivated, current buyers. A home that sits for 90 days starts accumulating a stigma that is very hard to shake. Buyers who see a long market time start wondering what is wrong with it, and their offers reflect that skepticism.

Ask every agent for their average days on market over the past 12 months. Then ask what the current Williamson County average is. The gap between those two numbers tells you a great deal about whether this agent's listings are priced correctly, prepared well, and marketed to the right people from day one.

The list-to-sale ratio tells you what percentage of the asking price an agent's sellers actually receive at closing. A 92% ratio means that on average, sellers are walking away from 8% of their list price in negotiations and price reductions. On a $500,000 home, that is $40,000. On a $750,000 home, it is $60,000. The difference between an agent with a strong ratio and one with a weak one is not abstract. It is a check you either write or you do not.

Ask for this number specifically. Do not accept a vague answer about being "a skilled negotiator." Ask for the actual percentage based on closed transactions in the past 12 months. And then ask what drives that number: is it pricing strategy, preparation, negotiation skill, or a combination of all three?

There is general market knowledge and then there is neighborhood-specific expertise, and they are genuinely different things. An agent who has closed two transactions in Liberty Hill in the past year has a very different understanding of this market than one who has closed thirty. Neighborhood-level knowledge affects pricing accuracy, buyer targeting, contract strategy, and a dozen other things that add up to meaningfully different outcomes.

This question matters especially if you are buying or selling in a specific community like Santa Rita Ranch, Rancho Sienna, Stonewall Ranch, or any of the smaller acreage communities in the Liberty Hill and Georgetown area. Ask how many transactions the agent has closed at that specific location. If they cannot give you a clear, confident answer, that tells you something important.

This is the question where vague answers reveal the most. Almost every agent will tell you they do professional photography, list on the MLS, and market on social media. Push past that. Ask what professional photography specifically means to them. Is it a general real estate photographer or someone with specific experience in this price range? Do they do twilight photography for homes with outdoor spaces? Drone footage for properties with acreage or views? Cinematic video for higher-priced homes being marketed to out-of-state buyers?

Ask specifically who writes the listing description and what their philosophy is around it. Ask how they target buyer's agents who have active clients in your price range. Ask what their social media marketing looks like beyond just posting the listing to their feed. The agents who have genuine, specific answers to all of these questions are the ones who have actually thought through what it takes to sell a home well in this market. The ones who give you generalities are the ones whose listings sit.

This question is uncomfortable to ask and even more uncomfortable to answer honestly, which is exactly why it is worth asking. There is a phenomenon in real estate called buying the listing, where an agent tells a seller what they want to hear about their home's value in order to win the listing, knowing they will need to ask for price reductions later. It is one of the most damaging things that happens to sellers in any market, and it is far more common than most people realize.

The agent who will tell you your home is overpriced when it needs to be said is worth far more to you than the agent who tells you what you want to hear. Ask every agent you interview this question directly, and then listen carefully to the answer. An agent who hedges, pivots, or gives you a non-answer is one who has probably bought a listing before. An agent who says yes, clearly and without hesitation, and can explain how they handle that conversation, is one you can trust.

Some agents work primarily with buyers. Others primarily with sellers. Many do both. None of these is inherently better, but the answer matters for your specific situation. An agent who is juggling twelve active buyer clients while also managing six listings may not have the bandwidth to give your transaction the attention it deserves. And an agent who only works with sellers may not have the current buyer-side market knowledge that helps inform pricing and negotiation strategy on your listing.

Ask specifically how many active clients the agent currently has and what their typical capacity is. Ask who covers for them when they are unavailable and how communication is handled when they are with another client. A transaction is not a nine-to-five situation, and the agent you choose should be honest with you about how they manage their time and their clients.

This is the question that separates local experts from generalists, and the answers are revealing. A local expert should be able to tell you things like which streets in a given neighborhood command premiums and why, which school boundary lines affect specific addresses, how the 183A corridor and the Ronald Reagan Blvd corridor differ in terms of traffic and commute impact at different times of day, which builder reputations affect resale value, and what the community's growth trajectory looks like for the next two to three years.

If the agent's answer to this question is vague or sounds like something they could have Googled, that is important information. You are not just hiring a transaction coordinator. You are hiring someone whose specific knowledge of this market should be actively working in your favor throughout the entire process.