Listing Appointment Checklist

Most listing checklists stop at "bring a CMA." This one also covers what changed when the NAR settlement rules took effect on August 17, 2024: how you explain commissions and buyer-agent compensation, and what has to be in writing. It also covers the record checks that keep a deal from falling apart later.

48 hours before

• ☐ Pull the deed and tax record. Confirm every owner's name, the legal description and the parcel number. Everyone on title has to sign.
• ☐ Check the listing history: past MLS entries, days on market, price changes, and why it didn't sell if it was listed before.
• ☐ Look up permits on file for additions, finished basements, decks and system replacements. Unpermitted work tends to surface in disclosures and appraisals.
• ☐ Note the year built. For homes built before 1978, federal law requires the lead-based paint disclosure and the EPA pamphlet before the buyer is bound by a contract.
• ☐ Check the FEMA flood map, and read your state's seller disclosure form so you know what the seller will be asked.
• ☐ If there's an HOA, find the manager, the dues, any transfer or resale certificate fees, and the rental and sign rules.
• ☐ Build the CMA: closed comps, the active competition and recent expireds. The CMA template walks through it.
• ☐ Run a net sheet at three prices: your recommended list price, 3% under and 5% under.
• ☐ Send a short email before you go: when you'll arrive, how long it takes, and what to have ready (next section).

Ask the seller to have ready

• ☐ Lender names and approximate payoffs for each loan, plus any HELOC or lien.
• ☐ Survey, any past inspection or appraisal, and warranties for the roof, systems or appliances.
• ☐ Average utility bills, HOA documents, and the dates of major updates (roof, HVAC, water heater, windows).
• ☐ What stays and what goes: fixtures, appliances, window treatments, mounted TVs, sheds.
• ☐ Their timeline: where they're going, whether they need to buy first, and any dates that can't move.

What to bring

• ☐ Your brokerage's listing agreement and every disclosure and agency form your state requires.
• ☐ The lead-based paint disclosure and EPA pamphlet if the home was built before 1978.
• ☐ The CMA, three net sheets, and a marketing plan with dates (photos, coming soon if your MLS allows it, live date, first open house).
• ☐ Sample listing photos and one of your past listings' MLS sheets.
• ☐ A one-page explanation of how buyer-agent compensation works now, and your brokerage's form for recording the seller's decision.

At the appointment

• ☐ Walk the house first and listen. Ask what they love about it and what they'd fix if they were staying.
• ☐ Ask the disclosure questions out loud: leaks, insurance claims, foundation, pests, known defects, open permits. Write the answers down.
• ☐ Ask about cameras and doorbells that record audio. Some states restrict recording conversations without consent, so sellers should check the rules before showings start.
• ☐ Go through the CMA, then the net sheets. Agree on a price, and on what happens if there are no offers in 14 to 21 days.
• ☐ Say that commissions aren't set by law and are fully negotiable, then cover your fee and what it includes.
• ☐ Cover buyer-agent compensation. Offers of compensation can't go on the MLS. If the seller decides to offer compensation to buyer brokers off the MLS, disclose it in writing and get the seller's written approval first.
• ☐ Explain concessions. A seller can advertise buyer closing-cost help on the MLS, and buyers can ask for credits in offers, within their loan's limits.
• ☐ Agree on showing instructions: notice needed, pets, lockbox, and times that don't work.
• ☐ Plan marketing that describes the home, not who should live there. That keeps the listing fair-housing safe.

Within 24 hours after

• ☐ Send the signed agreement, the disclosures and the net sheet you agreed on, in one email.
• ☐ Book photos, the floor plan and the sign install. Send the seller the prep list for photo day.
• ☐ Check your MLS's rule on how soon a listing must be entered once public marketing starts, and put that date on your calendar.
• ☐ Write the MLS remarks from facts, and check every fact against the public record and the seller's answers.
• ☐ Pick a weekly update day and tell the seller which day it is.

The commission conversation since the settlement

Three facts to state plainly, because sellers hear conflicting things:

1. Commissions are negotiable and not set by law. That's true for your listing fee and for the buyer's agent's fee.
2. No compensation offers on the MLS. Since August 17, 2024, offers of compensation to buyer brokers can't be made on an MLS. Sellers can still make them off the MLS, and they can still advertise buyer concessions, like closing-cost help, on the MLS.
3. The seller decides, in writing. If you'll pay or offer anything to a buyer's broker, you have to disclose it to the seller in writing, including the amount or rate, and get the seller's approval before you do.

A way to say it:

"Here's how buyer-agent pay works now. Buyers sign an agreement with their agent that sets the agent's fee. You can offer something toward it, offer closing-cost help instead, or offer nothing and handle it when offers come in. Each choice can change how many buyers can afford to make an offer, so let's look at what the recent sales near you did. Whatever you decide, we'll put it in writing."

Check your state's law and your brokerage's forms too. Some states add their own agreement and disclosure rules on top of the settlement.

Questions to ask that aren't about the house

• "If this sells in 10 days, are you ready to move?"
• "What's the least you'd need to walk away with?" Then show the net sheet.
• "Who else is part of this decision?"
• "What did you like and not like about the last agent you worked with?"

Leave out comments about the neighbors, who lives in the area, or schools as a stand-in for who lives there. Stick to the home, the price, the timeline and the process.

General information, not legal advice. Forms, disclosures and timelines vary by state and brokerage. Follow your broker's process and your state's required forms.

Sources

• NAR, What the NAR Settlement Means for Home Buyers and Sellers
• NAR, Home Sellers: Here's What the NAR Settlement Means for You
• NAR, Consumer Guide: Offers of Compensation
• EPA, Real Estate Disclosures About Potential Lead Hazards
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center
• HUD, Fair Housing Act overview

Checked Oct 26, 2026.

Related free tools and guides

• CMA Template: free printable comparative market analysis with a worked example.
• Seller Net Sheet Calculator: estimate what a seller walks away with, line by line.
• Price Reduction Calculator: compare a price cut with what another month on the market costs the seller.
• Seller Concessions Calculator: limits on buyer credits by loan type, for when the offers come in.

FAQ

By Doorlark Editorial Team. For planning only, not legal, tax or financial advice.