Part of the confusion in today's market stems from the fact that most buyers and sellers do not really know what an agent does.  Sure, most people know that an agent puts a house on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and handles offers as they come, but there is a lot more that goes on when you hire a full service agent.

For many agents, ‘full service' means that the agent does the following.

1. Places the house on the Multiple Listing service
2. Gives you suggestions on how to make the home more saleable
3. Finds ‘comps' in the area and suggests the appropriate price for the house
4. Creates flyers and hangs a sign on your front yard
5. Receives offers as they come in and negotiates on your behalf
6. Helps make the inspection and closing processes as painless as possible

For many agents, this is what they call ‘full service'.  For a number of individuals that are Internet savvy, agents' fees seem rather high given these services.  After all, if someone spends enough time searching on the Internet, he/she can get a good idea of the prices themselves.

In my opinion, if an agent only does the above he/she is not a ‘full service' agent and is doing very little work for the commission - regardless of the percentage that agent charges.

The following is what any agent that uses the term ‘full service' should include.

1. The agent must use a professional photographer to take pictures of your home.  After all, you are selling something worth hundreds of thousands of dollars - why have pictures worse than those you find for a $10 item on EBay?
2. Besides simple suggestions, the agent will spend a significant amount of time helping you stage your home. This generally means that the agent will bring a pro stager to do the job for the purpose of making your home look nice. I am an accridited Home Stager and very often I do the job myself. The agent will visit your home several times and spend many hours ensuring your home looks perfect before the first prospective buyers arrive. As my mentor says you can't host a party on Saturday and have caterers come on Monday.
3. To help you better understand the market, a full service agent will be happy to spend a day with you showing you the comps in person.  Most agents just show you a piece of paper with a description, but when properly pricing a property it is key to see the properties that will compete with yours in person.
4. A full service agent will provide you with a home warranty while the property is for sale.  This means if anything breaks in your home while you are trying to sell it, it is covered.
5. Besides placing the property on the Multiple Listing Service, the agent will advertise your property in a number of other ways.  The advertising techniques will depend on the property but typically include magazines, hanging flyers, radio advertisements, and Internet presences.

In the end, a typical ‘full service' agent will often spend 100 hours or more working to make sure your property sells as quickly as possible and for the best price.