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Real Estate is Local by Nature, “Literally”

By
Real Estate Agent with Barnhart & McKay Realty Advisors

It always amazes me when I see listing agents and buyer agents who work from as far as 30 to 50 miles away or more and their trying to list and sell homes in our local market place. It is a true disservice to the consumer and to them selves.

 

Many home sellers and buyers do not realize the importance of local representation until it is too late. For instance a buyer may spend hours looking in the wrong area/community's (such as Flood areas) that a local agent would have pointed out from the start, or after a seller has lost valuable market time and property value due to the lack of listing maintenance (such as pictures, signage, replenishing marketing material, lock box, and most importantly responding quickly to buyer calls.). A local agent should live and work with-in 15 to 20 minutes of any one of their listings, so when a Buyer calls on one of his or her listings they will be able to respond to the buyers needs.

 

As the age old saying goes, "The Early bird get's the worm" well in the real estate industry it is not to far off, the agent that answers and returns calls quickly, responds and addresses their buyer and seller needs, and can jump to action and show a home in a reasonable amount of time, Get's the Sale.

 

Active Rain has been a real eye opener for me, when it comes to connecting real estate professionals and giving and receiving active leads. I will never again spend and hour driving each way to show or list a property ever again. It is to easy to refer a great lead out to a fellow Active Rain Associate and collect a referral fee, than to run all over gods creation and possibly waste a consumers time and my effort. I encourage more agents to take this approach and refer out their long distance business to a qualified Active Rain Associate.

 

Did I mention I Love Referrals! I welcome any referral in Aripeka, Bayonet Point, Elfers, Holiday, Hudson, Port Richey, New Port Richey, Moon Lake, Shady Hills, Spring Hill, Trinity, and Tarpon Springs

Donna Harris
Donna Homes, powered by JPAR - TexasRealEstateMediationServices.com - Austin, TX
Realtor,Mediator,Ombudsman,Property Tax Arbitrator
If I could take listings that were only 15-20 minutes away, I would have an extremely small radium to work within.  That's not realistic in my area, but if your area is that close together, by all means, leave the outer stuff to other agents, but in Dallas, you would get eaten alive not working in a larger radius.
Apr 06, 2008 12:45 PM
Maria Haun
Keller Williams Realty Signature - Rockford, IL
ABR, CNE

I agree, but maybe not with the time.  15-20 min is a bit off for our area, I would say 30-35 is good in our market.  Any agent here works within a 3 county radius and knows these markets well enough to help any buyer or seller.

We are only an 1 1/2 hrs from the Chicago area and sell alot of homes here to people coming in from the suburbs becuase they can get twice the home for much less.  It does bother me when an agent from that area tries to represent them in our market...I have seen their buyer overpay for a property just becuase they "thought" they were getting a good deal.  I would never try to sell or represent a buyer outside of my 3 county area...I always refer them out because they deserve to work with an agent that knows the area more than I do.

Apr 06, 2008 01:01 PM
Roy & Gail Barnhart & McKay
Barnhart & McKay Realty Advisors - Hudson, FL
Barnhart & McKay Home Selling Team

I can see your point Donna, If you work in a rural type area, that you would need to branch out and cover a larger area. But, I live and work in a coastal area that is densely populated. It takes me 45 minutes to an 1 hour to drive 30 miles in any direction from my office with traffic. I think my time is better served referring out work that is out of my area and focusing on servicing my current customers and prospecting for new business.

Apr 06, 2008 01:15 PM