While on vacation last week in Florida, my wife and I decided to go out for a nice steak dinner. 
We went to the front desk on our way out to ask the desk clerk about where we could go for dinner. I was very surprised when the clerk told me that she really didn't know of any nice places we could go for dinner. I was thinking to myself, "How could this person not have any idea about the restaurants around this hotel? She must get asked that question enough to have some kind of clue." I would think that a desk clerk should be pretty close to an expert in this area. If I was running a hotel, I would want my staff to be prepared to answer such questions because this would be a much better reflection on my hotel. This definitely wasn't the case here.
That started me thinking about how I, as a Realtor, must be able to present myself as an expert in my area. I need to be able to answer the questions that arise and provide some logical suggestions about the area I'm working in as well as the process that takes place.
I remember a while back going to a listing appointment in a neighborhood that I really wasn't familiar with. The seller was a friend of mine and, although I really didn't have much experience in listing houses, I was fully prepared to handle the sale of his house. My friend was interviewing me and a couple other agents, so I did make sure to do my homework. I ran a CMA and had the other listings in the neighborhood printed out. I measured the house and, with my information in hand, came up with a price that I thought the house should sell for. While I was discussing this with my friend, he told me that the first agent had come up with the same price range and that he was a bit disappointed because he was sure he could get more. He wanted to talk to the last agent, but assured me that I would have the listing if he didn't hear anything different.
He did hear something different from the third agent. That agent was prolific in the area the house was in. He was a neighborhood expert, you might say. His price was a good $15K over my price (a big difference when talking about a $100K house), which I immediately dismissed as an attempt to get the listing then sell the house in the range I was talking about. He got the listing. I was upset at first. 17 days later, he sold the house for almost full price and a full $10K higher than I would have listed the house for. I realized then that I would have done a great disservice to my friend and that I had some work to do.
Since then, I have tried to make sure that I stay in the areas I am familiar with until I can make myself more knowledgable about the other areas. My area is the Greater Wilkes-Barre, PA area. While I am not an expert in the purest sense of the word yet, I can certainly tell my clients about the area they want to move to. I watch the trends in the areas, know the houses that are on the market, know what's sold and for how much and I can tell a client whether the price they are wanting to sell for or are wanting to buy for is a good one or not. I know where the schools, the churches, the grocery stores and the parks are. On top of all of that, I can definitely tell you where to go for a great steak dinner.
I used to wonder why some Realtors in my area would get upset when an Estate is local. agent from out of the area came in to sell a house. Now I can understand better. If you are looking to buy or sell a home, you should look for a neighborhood expert to guide you in your search. Why? Because Real Estate is local. Nobody knows better than your local neighborhood expert.
If you are looking for a neighborhood expert in the Greater Wilkes-Barre area, give me a call or visit my website at www.wilkesbarrehomesales.com. I'm sure that I can help you. Thanks for your time reading this blog.
Until next time...
It's all about the Greater Wilkes-Barre Area and fulfilling people's needs to find or sell their home. You'll find helpful hints, good advice and an occasional rant or two. Hey...it's the W-B!
Check out my website at www.wilkesbarrehomesales.com
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I guesses it,, you have a Point2 website... I do too,, and I totally agree with you.
**Hits on my website are wayyyy up since I optimized it for neighborhoods. ..