When I first started in this business, the belief was that in order to represent a seller your office needed to be within shouting distance of the home. It blows my mind that some twenty years later there is still that mentality among some of the, shall we say, seasoned agents -- at least in my community. Take Merrick for example, there is an almost palpable Mason Dixon line drawn right down the center of Merrick Road. With many higher priced properties located south, near the water, local Realtors(R) perpetuate the theory that they can only be serviced by an office with a physical presence right there. If you're four blocks away, they contend it's not your market.
I don't think these people get that our business has become macro in scope over the past ten years (at least). The only logical reasoning for their contentions many years ago, was that buyers would wander into offices. How many people wander into your office today to look at homes. Not too many in mine. We make appointments and schedule time for savvy consumers who know almost as much as we do about available inventory. My own market covers a wide swath of Long Island and its four counties. Frankly, I'd be bored to death after twenty years to be working in a half mile radius.
There's been a saying in town that many brokers would get a nosebleed if they went north of Sunrise Highway. A sad commentary. Some of these people have to be brought, more likely than not kicking and screaming, into the twenty first century.
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