Roslyn is a mailing address before it is a place. Nassau County lists Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, East Hills, Flower Hill and North Hills among the incorporated villages of the Town of North Hempstead, each with its own village government. The Village of Roslyn Harbor lies partly in the Town of Oyster Bay as well. Roslyn Heights is not on the County’s list of 64 incorporated villages; it is an unincorporated area. An agent who sells here has to know which side of those lines your house sits on.

The checklist below works with any agent. The last section shows how The Scout Residential Team at Compass answers it. For the sale itself, from accepted offer to closing, read our guide to selling a home in Roslyn.

What Should You Check Before You Hire a Listing Agent?

Check six things before you sign: the license, closed sales in your own village, how the agent prices, who on a team will handle your sale, the written marketing plan, and how offers and updates will reach you. Each can be put in writing and checked against a record.

Check	What to ask for	Where to confirm it
License and brokerage	Full licensed name, license type and brokerage	The Department of State’s public license search
Closed sales in your village, last 24 months	Addresses, closing dates, and which side the agent represented	Nassau County’s Land Records Viewer and County Clerk land records
Pricing method	The closed sales behind the suggested price, by address	The same County records
Who handles your sale	Names for pricing, showings, negotiation and updates	The disclosure form and the listing agreement
Marketing plan	Where and when the home is shown, the listing option, the launch date	A written plan attached to the listing agreement
Offers and updates	How offers reach you, and how often you hear from whom	The listing agreement

Sources: New York Department of State; Nassau County Department of Assessment and County Clerk. Checked October 2026.

How Do You Check a New York Real Estate License?

Anyone can check a New York real estate license for free in the Department of State’s eAccessNY Public License Search, by name, by license number, or by license type within a city or county. The results show the license type, number, status and expiration date, and the detail page shows the practice location and the business name the licensee works under.

The license type tells you the role. Under Real Property Law section 440, a real estate salesperson works associated with a licensed broker, and an associate real estate broker is a licensed broker who chooses to work under the name and supervision of another broker. New York’s advertising rule, 19 NYCRR 175.25, requires ads to state the license type accurately and, when an ad names an agent or a team, to print the brokerage’s name too.

How Will the Agent Price Your Home?

Ask to see the closed sales behind the suggested price: the addresses, the dates, and why each one is comparable to your home. A price you can trace to specific sales is one you can test. A price you cannot trace is a promise. Our seller guide, what is my home worth on the North Shore, explains how a comparative market analysis is built.

Who Will Actually Handle Your Sale on a Team?

New York’s advertising rule defines a team as two or more persons associated with the same brokerage who hold themselves out or operate as a team. A team can divide the work, so ask for names: who prices the home, who attends showings, who negotiates, and who calls you.

What Will You Sign With a Listing Agent in New York?

Two documents define the relationship. The first is the New York State Disclosure Form for Buyer and Seller, which says whom the agent represents and is not a contract. The second is the listing agreement, which is the contract: it sets the listing type, the term, any cancellation terms and the commission. Separately, under 19 NYCRR 175.28 the agent must give you the State’s Housing and Anti-Discrimination Disclosure Form at first substantive contact.

What Is the New York Agency Disclosure Form?

Real Property Law section 443 requires a listing agent to give a seller the State’s disclosure form before entering into a listing agreement, and to obtain the seller’s signed acknowledgment. The Department of State publishes it as form DOS-1736-f, revised September 2021, in English and twelve other languages. It applies to a house with one to four dwelling units and to condominium and cooperative apartments.

The form explains that a seller’s agent owes the seller fiduciary duties of reasonable care, undivided loyalty, confidentiality, full disclosure, obedience and duty to account, and does not represent the buyer. It also explains dual agency, where one broker represents both buyer and seller: that requires the informed written consent of both, and neither party receives the full range of fiduciary duties. A seller can give advance consent to dual agency on the form itself, so read that part before you sign.

Exclusive Right to Sell vs Exclusive Agency vs Open Listing

The listing type decides who is paid if someone other than your agent finds the buyer. New York requires the first two definitions below on every exclusive listing of residential property.

Listing type	If you find the buyer yourself	If another broker finds the buyer
Exclusive right to sell	You owe your listing broker the agreed commission	You owe your listing broker the agreed commission
Exclusive agency	You owe the listing broker no commission	You owe a commission to both the selling broker and your listing broker
Open listing	No commission is owed to a broker who did not produce the buyer	Only the broker who first secures a buyer ready, willing and able to meet your terms is paid

Sources: 19 NYCRR 175.24 and the glossary in the Department of State’s Real Estate License Law, February 2025 edition. Checked October 2026.

Under 19 NYCRR 175.24, that explanation must be printed on or attached to the listing and signed or initialed by the homeowner. When the listing broker belongs to a multiple listing service, the agreement must also let you choose whether negotiated offers are submitted through the listing broker or through the selling broker. Separately, 19 NYCRR 175.19 bars net listings, where a broker would keep whatever a sale brings above a set amount.

How Long Should a Listing Agreement Run, and Can You Cancel It?

New York sets no standard term. The term and any early cancellation right are negotiated parts of the contract. One rule is fixed: under 19 NYCRR 175.15, a broker may not be a party to an exclusive listing contract that automatically continues past the fixed termination date written in it.

Are Real Estate Commissions Negotiable in New York?

Yes. The Department of State states that a broker’s commission is not regulated by statute or regulation, so the amount and terms are negotiable, and that broker and client should agree on the rate before the property is listed or marketed. Since August 17, 2024, REALTORS and MLS participants working with sellers must also disclose, in conspicuous language in the listing agreement (or separately, if the agreement is a government-specified form), that broker commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable.

What Changed for Sellers in August 2024?

On August 17, 2024, practice changes from the National Association of REALTORS settlement took effect. They are rules for REALTORS and MLS participants, not New York law.

• Offers of compensation to a buyer’s agent can no longer be communicated on an MLS. A seller may still choose to make one, off the MLS.
• The listing agent must disclose any payment or offer of payment to a buyer’s agent in writing and in advance, state the amount or rate, and get the seller’s approval.
• A seller can still offer buyer concessions, such as help with closing costs, on an MLS.
• Buyers put a written agreement with their agent in place before touring a home, including how that agent is paid.

For a seller, that adds one decision to the listing conversation: whether to offer anything toward the buyer’s agent, and how much.

What Listing Options Does a Roslyn Seller Have?

A seller can list on the MLS for full public marketing, choose a delayed-marketing listing where the local MLS allows one, or keep the home off public marketing as an office exclusive. At Compass, the off-market route is a Compass Private Exclusive. Each option trades exposure for control, and the choice is the seller’s.

Option	How it works	Defined by
MLS listing	Filed with the MLS, shared with other participants and shown publicly. MLSs run by REALTOR associations require filing within one business day of public marketing.	NAR Clear Cooperation Policy and the local MLS
Delayed marketing exempt listing	Filed with the MLS and available to other participants, but public display through IDX and syndication waits for a period the local MLS sets. The seller signs a disclosure.	NAR Multiple Listing Options for Sellers, effective March 25, 2025
Office exclusive exempt listing	Filed with the MLS but not shared with other participants or publicly marketed, at the seller’s direction. The seller signs a disclosure.	NAR Multiple Listing Options for Sellers
Compass Private Exclusive	An off-market listing a Compass agent shares directly with colleagues and their buyers. Details stay off public home search websites, and the seller decides when to share more, including the price.	Compass

Sources: National Association of REALTORS, Multiple Listing Options for Sellers; Compass, Compass Private Exclusives. Checked October 2026.

NAR’s Multiple Listing Options for Sellers policy took effect on March 25, 2025. It kept the Clear Cooperation Policy and gave each MLS until September 30, 2025 to implement it and set its own delay period. For either exempt listing, the seller signs a certification acknowledging the MLS benefits being waived or delayed, such as broad and immediate exposure.

Compass describes three phases: a Compass Private Exclusive, then a Compass Coming Soon shown publicly on Compass.com, then the MLS and third-party websites. Compass states that the Private Exclusive program is not available in all markets, that local policy can restrict how these listings are shared, and that it does not recommend one particular strategy or promise results. The team’s Compass Private Exclusives page explains how it works for a seller. Compass Concierge, a separate program, fronts the cost of pre-sale work such as staging, painting and flooring, subject to program terms and credit approval, repaid at closing or another point set in the program’s loan terms; Compass states it is not the lender and that fees or interest may apply.

What Questions Should You Ask at a Listing Interview?

Ask questions whose answers you can check. These twelve work with any agent.

1. What is your license type, and which brokerage do you work under?
2. Which homes have you sold in my village in the last 24 months, and did you represent the seller or the buyer on each?
3. Which closed sales support the price you are suggesting, and why is each one comparable?
4. Who will price, show, negotiate and update me, by name?
5. Which listing option do you recommend for my home, what does it give up, and does our MLS allow it?
6. What is in the marketing plan, and will you attach it to the listing agreement?
7. What listing type, term and cancellation terms are you proposing?
8. What commission are you proposing, and what does it cover?
9. Would you recommend offering compensation to a buyer’s agent, and how would that be communicated?
10. How will showings and open houses be scheduled, and how will offers be presented to me?
11. Could your brokerage also represent the buyer, and how would dual agency work if it did?
12. Which government holds the building file for my address, and should we look for open permits before we list?

What Are the Red Flags When Choosing a Listing Agent?

Be cautious with any agent whose price, timing or plan cannot be traced to evidence or put in writing.

• A suggested price with no closed sales behind it, or a high number offered to win the listing with a reduction planned for later.
• Pressure to sign a long term today, or reluctance to discuss cancellation.
• No written marketing plan, or a plan kept out of the agreement.
• No agency disclosure form before the listing agreement, which section 443 requires first.
• An exclusive listing that renews automatically past its termination date, or a net listing. New York bars both.
• Sales figures with no period, no source and no way to check them.
• A promised sale price or sale date. No agent controls what a buyer will pay or when.

How Do You Verify an Agent’s Claims?

Check each claim against the body that keeps the record: the license against the Department of State, sales against Nassau County, and awards against the organization that gave them.

• Sales: Nassau County’s Land Records Viewer, run by the Department of Assessment, gives access to assessment data, tax maps and comparable sales by parcel, and the County Clerk’s land records search holds recorded deeds. These records describe the property, so ask the agent for a sold list that shows which side the agent represented, and match its dates and prices to the County’s.
• Awards: open the issuing organization’s own page, and check the year, the category and what was measured.
• Sales totals: ask for the period, whether the figure counts one agent or a whole team, and whether it counts closed sales only.

How The Scout Residential Team Answers These Questions

The Scout Residential Team at Compass is led by co-founders Liza Bendett and Melanie Cogan and works from 69 Roslyn Road in Roslyn.

Question	The Scout Residential Team
Who leads the team?	Co-founders and team principals Liza Bendett and Melanie Cogan
License type at Compass	Both are Licensed Associate Real Estate Brokers affiliated with Compass, a licensed real estate broker
Recognition	Liza Bendett is a 2024 recipient of the LIBOR YPN 20 Rising Stars in Real Estate Award, published by the Long Island Board of REALTORS
Background	Before real estate, Melanie Cogan was Director of Client Services and Sales at Google in New York
Office	Compass, 69 Roslyn Road, Roslyn, NY 11577; team line (516) 200-1098
Where the team works	Roslyn, Roslyn Estates, Roslyn Harbor, East Hills, Flower Hill, North Hills and Roslyn Heights, plus Old Westbury, the Brookvilles, Sands Point, Port Washington, Greenvale, Glen Head, Jericho, Syosset, Woodbury and Oyster Bay
Listing options	A standard MLS listing or a Compass Private Exclusive, with Compass Concierge for pre-sale work

Sources: New York Department of State license search; Long Island Board of REALTORS, 2024 YPN Award Winners; Compass program pages. Checked October 2026.

The Team’s Seller Process

1. A first meeting at the home about your goals and timing, and a check of the parcel’s village, school district and tax facts in County records.
2. A pricing review built from closed sales near your home, with the addresses shown.
3. The State disclosure form, then a listing agreement with the listing option, term, cancellation terms and commission in writing.
4. Preparation: what to fix, stage or leave alone, with Compass Concierge if you choose it.
5. Launch through the listing option you chose.
6. Showings, and offers presented to you as the agreement provides.
7. After an accepted offer, coordination with your attorney through contract and closing.
8. Regular updates on showings and feedback from first meeting to closing.

Read more in the profiles of Liza Bendett and Melanie Cogan. Melanie Cogan’s direct line is (516) 319-1623 (melanie.cogan@compass.com); Liza Bendett’s email is liza.bendett@compass.com.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hiring a Listing Agent in Roslyn, NY

This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm the details for your own property with a New York real estate attorney, a tax professional or the relevant government office. Facts were checked against the sources above in October 2026.

The Scout Residential Team at Compass  |  69 Roslyn Road, Roslyn, NY 11577  |  (516) 200-1098  |  info@scoutresidential.com. The Scout Residential Team is a team of licensed real estate agents affiliated with Compass, a licensed real estate broker, and abides by all applicable Equal Housing Opportunity laws.