Are you a Generalist or a Specialist?Red Doors? Brick Doors? Or Yellow Doors?

Endre - While I do respect and admire you immensely and would have no problem referring someone to you, knowing full well that you would take care of them in the manner that was expected of you, I do understand where the buyers were coming.  I've heard this same rationale and actually do agree with it. 

While the proximity of the westside and the valley is acceptable, I'm sure you would agree that just being a Generalist in LA county would not be acceptable for all areas.  Yes, you could have helped them but in the end, it comes down to what the buyers want, providing it's not completely unreasonable or crazy, which in this case it wasn't.

For those who do not know LA county, it is absolutely massive - humungous!  Stretching from the shores of Long Beach to the mountains of Castaic, encompassing South Bay, Downtown LA, the westside, the eastside, San Fernando valley, Santa Clarita valley, Antelope valley, San Gabriel valley and Conejo valley.  Once again, massive. 

There are some areas that would be better served by a Specialist in the area.  While the westside and the valley are not two of those areas, it's not unreasonable for a buyer to want to work with someone in the valley.  Personally, I think they made a mistake but what do I know and who am I to say, I'm just an LA county MLO who works with buyers.  JMHO

Great post...As a professional, I think it's important to know what you know and know what you don't know. As an avid reader of AR featured posts...it is very apparent to me that the task of educating the public from a Realtor stand point will be a never ending task. I am grateful that we have real pros out their that represent our industry and at the the end of the day I'll take 25% of something vs. nothing any day of the week. In the bigger picture what goes around comes around.

We have to wear many hats in this business so if we excell too well in one area, the consumer may think it is the only hat we wear.  For example, I sold a home to someone in a community about 30 miles away from my home.  When their brother moved to Idaho, they wanted to know if I new someone that could help him?  They never realized I would help anywhere in the valley.  Lesson learned, we need to educate our clients.

Endre,

I have a very large area myself, and I'd like to narrow it by choice.

It's surprising that some consumers focus on the specialty of the locality. There are a lot of tghings wrong with that model.

It doesn't work for doctors or lawyers, so I don't know why the expect that it has to work with realtors.

Brian

As a lender I also run into the same scenario.  Having specialized in manufacture housing lending, I have had past clients call to ask for a referral to a "house lender".   It just points out that we all know our business very well, but we don't always do a good job at defining it to our clients.  I am going to do my best to try to remember to make them aware of all of the skills and areas of expertice I have.  Great post thanks for the reminder.

When I lived in IL, agents covered a specific geographic area. Not usually bigger than a couple of towns. In Nashville, agents cover all 13 counties surrounding the metro area. That's a lot of cities. I think that is crazy. I am a specialist. I know my city and county very well. That's where I want to work. Can I sell a house in Hendersonville TN? Yes, do I want to travel an hour to show property there? No. So I refer out and view that as an additional income stream.

Endre --- interesting point and I certainly can understand the out-of-town buyers' rationale.  To me, it's about the commitment and trust level on both sides of the transaction.  I prefer to "work" my geographic area but have ventured beyond that area for past clients or referrals from them on a limited basis.   With someone unknown to me, I would probably look for a qualified agent in that particular area based on a conversation on the needs of the client.   Congratulations on the feature.

Hi Endre Honestly I know you would have given them the best representation. It not about just the area but also your consummate knowlegde of people and negotiating skills

Endre, How disappointing that these buyers did not understand that you would have been able to represent them and do it well.  what is really disappointing is that after spending a few days with you looking at homes, they seemed to doubt it when you told them that you knew the valley well also..  They are the ones that lost out on this one.

Endre, I do like to work a specific area, but as I stretch the boundaries I learn much more of the surrounding area and become more valuable to my clients...at least thats my opinion.

Endre - I like open doors.....the kind that people let me in so that I can talk with them about THEIR needs.  But, to answer your question, I am a generalist and a specialist.  Go figure.