I am sure I am not alone in this one so feel free to chime in.  Don't you feel that in order to call yourself a "Neighborhood Specialist" you should in fact know more than the average person about that neighborhood?  If you have a sign rider that says "Area Expert", than you should know home much the tax base is in that area, what the schools are, how the other available homes compare to your listing etc?  I am tired of self appointed "Neighborhood Specialist."  One could argue that you may not have needed to necessarily sell a home in a particular neighborhood in order to earn this title, but you do need to have done some research or work to not be flat out lying to people about your knowledge.

So with that in mind... This would be just another rant if I did not offer at least one practical solution to this situation, so here you go.

Start by seeing every single available home on the market in your area.  What?  Every single home?  YES.  All of them.  That is a start and it is called doing research.  Then take it to the next level.  As you see these homes, take notes as if you were the listing agent there on a listing appointment.  Write down anything and everything that you know will be a selling point or deterrent about the home.  Even write down what price you would list this home for.  Once you have this wonderful set of data that you have done hours of work to accumulate, make a rating system to put them in order of "best deals" - "Over Priced."   Now you have something here....

I can not begin to tell you how many expired listings have called me to find out what price I was writing on my notes when I was at there house that day.  Sellers will follow you around the house peeking over your shoulder trying to see what you are writing about their home.  Some will be forward enough to ask, and you need to be careful not to talk to them in a way that would be considered solicitation their business.  Nevertheless you will be very memorable to those Sellers.  How many other agents just flew through their home in 2 min taking a sec in each room and just saying "ok..ok...ok?" 

Then there are the advantages to the buyer side of things.  Now that you are truly the expert, (at least on inventory knowledge) anytime you get a buyer call on one of your listings you can not only tell them about that property, but also give them all of the detailed information about the top 5 best deals available on the market.  Now that knowledge is powerful.

The startup takes some time, but the maintenance is easy.  Once you have seen everything make sure to still hit all the new listings within a day or two of them coming up.  This will keep you current.  Note price changes and what when into escrow when.  Guess what?  Now you will be a "Neighborhood Specialist".  And you will have earned it.

I know there are others out there that have some other amazing ideas on home to become the "Area Expert."  Give us your best ones so that we can compile the most comprehensive list on AR for this concept.  -Cheers Aaron S. Mills