How to Choose a Listing Agent in the GTA: The Price Trap, the Referral, and Who Really Does the Work

To choose a listing agent in the GTA, ignore the highest promised price and ask each agent for the recent sold homes behind their number, the written marketing plan, and the name of whoever will actually host showings and negotiate offers. Then read the listing agreement and the RECO Information Guide before you sign. Hire the one who passes.

Test 1: The Price Trap, or How to Audit a Listing Agent's Pricing

The oldest trick in this business is to win the listing with the highest number. The agent tells you what you hope to hear, you sign, the home sits, and a month later the same agent asks for a price reduction. By then the listing is stale and the buyers who saw it first have moved on. In Richmond Hill, Thornhill or North York, a stale listing costs you more than any commission ever will.

So audit the number. Ask every agent for three recent sold homes like yours, three that are for sale right now, and how long each one took. Then ask why they chose those. Comparables must be the same type, the same area and recent: a North York condo and a Richmond Hill detached house do not move together, and a sale from two years ago is history, not a comp. Finally, ask what they would list at, why, and what the plan is if there are no offers in the first two weeks. My own rule is that if a home has had showings but no second showings or offers in those two weeks, the price and the presentation get reviewed, not the market. You are listening for a pricing strategy. A number on its own is a sales pitch.

Test 2: Who Actually Does the Work? The Marketing Plan and the Accountability Question

Ask for the marketing plan in writing before you sign, not after. It should cover staging advice, photography, video and floor plans, where the listing goes beyond the MLS listing, and how showings are managed so the home gets seen without your life being taken over. If you are selling in a community like Willowdale or Thornhill, ask one more thing: show me how you reach both the Iranian-Canadian buyers who follow you and the wider GTA market that does not. An agent who reaches only one of those is selling your home to half the buyers.

Then the question most sellers never ask: who hosts the showings and who negotiates on offer night, the person across the table or a junior on their team? Ask them to walk you through their offer-night process, step by step. If the answer is vague, that is the answer. There is nothing wrong with a team, as long as you know before you sign who does what. If you are curious why agents work the way they do, How a Toronto Real Estate Agent Actually Earns a Living explains the economics.

Test 3: The Referral Is a Start, Not a Decision

If you are part of the Iranian-Canadian community, you probably start with a name from family or a friend, and that is a fine place to start. Trust matters. But a referral tells you the agent was good for someone else, in some other home, at some other time. It does not tell you they are right for a detached house in Aurora or a condo in Newmarket this season. So run the same tests on the referred agent as on anyone else, and expect a good one to welcome it.

The local test is simple. Ask for the homes like yours they have sold in your area in the last year, and ask to see the listings themselves, not a brochure. A strong downtown condo agent is not automatically the right person for a family home in Vaughan or Markham. For the broader picture of choosing an agent on either side of a deal, read How to Choose a Real Estate Agent in Toronto. This post is only about the listing side.

Test 4: Read the Listing Agreement, the Commission and the TRESA Lines Before You Sign

Under TRESA, Ontario's current real estate law, the brokerage must give you and explain the RECO Information Guide before you sign a listing agreement, as RECO's page on the guide reads in 2026. Read it. Then read the agreement itself, line by line: the term, the holdover clause that can keep commission payable for a while after the listing ends, the total commission and the share offered to the buyer's brokerage, and what happens if your brokerage also represents the buyer. That last one is called multiple representation, and the RECO Information Guide explains that it arises when the brokerage represents both sides under a brokerage representation agreement, or when the same designated agent represents both under a designated representation agreement. Decide how you feel about it before you sign, not on offer night.

On commission, ask for three things in writing: the total, the share offered to the buyer's brokerage, and the number with HST included. Then judge it by what you are likely to net and what the fee buys you, never by the rate alone. A low fee tells you nothing about your net. If you are selling a condo, How to Sell Your Toronto Condo in a Buyer's Market is the playbook once you have chosen your agent.

The Questions to Ask Any Listing Agent, and the One Answer to Ignore

Take this list into every interview, including one with me. Which homes like mine have you sold nearby in the last year, and can I see them? What are the three sold and three active comparables behind your price? What would you list at, why, and what happens if there are no offers in two weeks? What is the marketing plan, in writing? Who hosts the showings and who negotiates my offers? How do you reach both community buyers and the wider GTA market? What are the term, the holdover clause and the commission with HST? And the baseline that takes one minute: are you registered with RECO, and can you show me?

The one answer to ignore is the highest promised price. I am Moe Asgarian. I have spent more than 15 years in the GTA market, I am ranked in the Top 1% of real estate agents in Canada and #16 in RE/MAX Canada (Residential), and my clients rate me 4.98 on RankMyAgent. None of that should win me a listing on its own. Make me pass the same four tests, and hire whoever passes them best. You will find the rest of the process in our buying-and-selling guides.

If you are selling in Toronto, North York, Willowdale, Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Markham, Vaughan, Aurora or Newmarket, put these questions to me too: fill out the form at the bottom of this page or book a free consultation. Stay well and take care.