It is not the first time I see on agents’ business cards that they serve 3 or 4 counties. It is like a wide net to catch as many customers that you can get.
I understand that market has changed and the way we work has also changed. With everything on the net, we can afford doing things we could not imagine before. We can immediately check county records, check court records and receive a lot of other information we did not have previously access to.
But even with all that, does it change the basics of Real Estate, and the fact that it is local. And it is local to the elements. One subdivision against another one, one community vs. another one, one neighborhood and how it is different from another one.
With serving 4 counties, would it be fair to say that the level of localism shifts to the municipality level. It is good when you at least know which towns and 
cities are in this municipality; and forget about neighborhoods, communities and streets or buildings if we are dealing with condos.
I recently wrote about a call I received from a fellow agent from Orlando. She had a client looking for an oceanfront condo, and the problem in Orlando is that they do not have ocean. She did not tell her client that she does not know the properties on the Ocean, and was trying to locate a suitable one of Realtor.com.
I have very difficult time believing in it. I mean I can sell in all 66 or how many counties are out there in Florida, but it does not mean that I know the market there. All it means that same laws and procedures govern Real Estate. And to do a good job we need to not only know the market at a community and neighborhood and even street level, but know it intimately, if you will.
I understand that houses are just houses, and having sold a few, you have an idea of the process. But then we could be selling anywhere n the nation and in the world. What the heck is the difference between the house in Alaska and in US Virgin Island? It is still the floor, walls and roof. But as a professional, will you really help your clients to make it a home.
When we show 3-4 counties on our cards, do we deceive the buyer that we really know that? I remember RainCamp in Orlando and the presenter told us how he had key URLs in different areas, and even different States and when people would call him thinking that this was his core competency area, he would immediately set them with some agent and get a referral. Sounded like a smart way of doing business, but it is only until you start thinking about the buyer, that is kept under the impression that he is talking to the agent who is a guru in the area he advertises. And I do not even want to dwell of referring to other agents, who you do not know, as this is the topic of another post.
As for that trick taught at Orlando RainCamp, I still feel like we were showed the bad example of disregard for a client. Professionalism is not only about getting leads. It is also about providing excellent service. Of course, excellent is always in the eyes of the beholder, but I doubt someone out there would convince me that this was the example of stellar service.
I thought that it went against the basic rule: real estate is local. You either know the area, or you don’t. And if you “serve” many counties, aren’t you too thin? And if you even cover states, do you exist and have your own footprint, or you are pulverized in such thin layer, that there is no longer a footprint?
Do you know when you are too thin?
* Image courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey via Flickr.com
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