Yesterday my phone rang and I couldn't pick up or check the voice message for a few minutes. It happens. I'm with another client, at church, already on the phone or in the middle of watching the Army-Navy football game, I'm can't be available ALL the time!
But I returned the call within about 10 minutes. And it was already too late. They'd already spoken to another agent.
Now that tells me a couple of things.
1. My work on the Internet did its job, they found me.
2. While they found me, they didn't see a particular need to wait any length of time for me to respond.
3. The first agent that answered was all they needed. Whatever their real estate need was for the day, real estate agents were just a commodity service for them.
Now admittedly there are times a real estate agent may SEEM like a commodity service to you.
Already got an agent but they're out of town and YOU JUST HAVE TO SEE A HOUSE RIGHT NOW? Now your agent SHOULD have arranged for someone to cover their absence, but maybe you don't want to "bother" them so you just started calling agents and fib when they ask "Do you have an agent?". Yep, you just want a commodity door opener because that fill-in agent is NEVER going to be the one paid because you're not going to allow them to write the offer if you love the home.
Or maybe you figure you know more than enough to sell your home without a listing agent's help, so you call up one of the MLS entry only firms. You pay the fee for entry and after that you're flying solo. It's risky business flying solo against agents that sell dozens of homes every year. You've got to beat the listing agents selling your competition AND the buyers' agents who are likely to bring your buyer. So maybe in this case, you might want to reconsider whether agents are really JUST a commodity.
And there are other times agents are far, far from being anything remotely close to a commodity service. Many agents are specialists and it pays for consumers to hire that specific expertise.
Short sale? Frankly that a serious specialty gig and hiring just ANY agent can make the process really painful. And even if the agent DOES know what they're doing, it can still be really painful. My last short sale? I swore it would be the last one I ever did after getting our sellers through closing.
Like to invest in real estate? You need an agent that understands the playing field of CAP rates and 1031s and all the other fun stuff that goes with it (hint, that's NOT what I specialize in).
Want a horse farm? I MIGHT be able to help you to a certain degree, but I last rode a horse in 1984 and I don't expect that status to change anytime soon! And I don't carry boots in my car for walking through field muck and stables.
Low maintenance housing? If you just want a condo, you might be able to get through it with a general agent. But chances are you might need to know the ENTIRE spectrum of low maintenance living to make sure you get the best possible home for your needs: 55+ communities, patio homes, condos, landominiums and a host of other options. Now this field I DO specialize in and IMO at a minimum you should be talking to me before deciding which agent to hire to help you. About half my business each year is solely related to this specialty.
So need help finding the right match for low maintenance housing? Give me a call at 513-520-5305 or email Liz@LizSpear.com and we can discuss whether we can help you with your Cincinnati area low maintenance home search.
Need a specialist for other specialty housing types? We can help point you in the right direction, but chances are we're NOT the agents you're looking for
Serving the Cincinnati patio home market,
Bill of Liz and Bill aka BLiz
P.S. Need help selling your home? We don't just help home buyers, we also help home sellers of all types of housing, not just patio homes.
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