It's always funny to go on a listing appointment and have a seller ask you, "Can you sell my home being an agent who is out of the area?"
For starters, that's not the seller talking. That's a local agent or "Area Specialist" putting words in the seller's mouth, words they probably don't understand. Unless the seller is or was an active real estate agent, it's not likely they know what they're asking, at least, not to the degree that the question implies.
I would stipulate that, in general, there are huge advantages for agents who live in a particular community over ones that don't, especially if there is an association involved. For example, if I live in the "ACME WATERFRONT" community, I know all about the association rules, information from board meetings, details about the homes and maybe even about the builder that would never be common knowledge to another Realtor. That being the case, I'm starting out with a MASSIVE advantage.
However, I only keep that advantage if a competing Realtor is unwilling or unable to gather that information for themselves. If they gather that same information, I could lose my advantage.
Realistically, most Realtors are not willing to do that much leg work. They're not going to call the association and request copies of minutes, and if they were licensed or simply not present while the developement was under construction, they simply won't have the knowledge that an agent living in the community has... period.
However, there are some agents, myself included, that will absolutely go after that information the second they find out they have a listing appointment. I'll scour closed sales just to gain a fact or two that teaches me about the community in question. Again, most agents won't do this much leg work for a listing that they may or may not get. But if they do, can they level the playing field with an "Area Specialist?
I would say, without any doubt, YES.
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