I received an email today from a large real estate website that I am active on (not this one) informing me there are new blog posts in a market area I am very active in. I have signed up for this service so I can help consumers get accurate information about the markets I know best and who knows, maybe pick up a client or two. It doesn't take a lot of time and it is fun to be able to provide people with advise that will help them, even if I'm not going to be compensated every time.
So I decided I would check out the blog post like I always do...This particular blog update is very basic market statistic graph with days on market and average sales price for the past 12 months. What bother's me is the post was made by an out of town agent who does zero business in this particular area and as far as I can tell doesn't do business within 60 miles of here. Their "advertisement" as I would call it, even says and I quote, "Your neighborhood Realtors" on the bottom, which I'm guessing might be true where they are from, but certainly isn't true in my neck of the woods. Heck, their phone number is from a different area code!
Why on earth would you market yourself 60 miles from you primary market and call yourself the neighborhood Realtor? Why on earth would you present yourself as a neighborhood realtor in this area? Are there buyers and sellers out there that are that gullible they would use an agent who is calling themselves a local expert who doesn't live or work in that area? I won't even represent clients in my own county if I am uncomfortable with the market out of fear that I will make a mistake and cost them some money or allow them to purchase the wrong house.
Buyers and sellers BEWARE!!! Please do yourselves a favor and interview several local realtors before making a decision on who you want to work with on something as important as buying or selling your home. By all means, make sure they truly are experts in the area you are interested in. What ever you do, do not allow someone to blindly lead you into a market they do not know intimately. It could prove to be a very costly mistake, especially in today's challenging market!
Is it just me, or are their other like minded Realtors out there that don't understand this mentality. Chime in!
Mark Bruno
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