If you owned a home in Miami, would you call an agent from Atlanta to list it for sale? If you answered yes to this question, you can stop reading this and go to the classifieds or something. If you’re still reading I assume you would not hire an agent from Atlanta to list a home in Florida. Why would you? They probably are no smarter, they probably can’t speak Spanish, which may be important in that area, and they probably don’t know the local market. Right?
Now let’s say you own a home in Talking Rock, and you decide to sell it. Would you call an agent in Miami to list your most important asset? Of course not! All the things they offer sellers in Miami have no bearing on the Pickens County market.
So, why would you hire an agent from Atlanta?
Are they smarter than the local agents? Chances are no. Do they know the local market in Pickens? I would venture to say they have been paying more attention to the metro area, what do you think? Can they sell your home? Can a blind pig find an ear of corn? Perhaps. We all rely on the internet for exposure, and most of us have some form of website, either good or bad.
You would probably hire them because they will “drive” buyers out of Atlanta to buy your place. Am I right? Nobody drives anybody anywhere they don’t already want to go. Agents don’t “sell” real estate; we market real estate to find prospective buyers. No one ever bought a home from me because I told them to; they bought it because they wanted it. Would you hire me to find you a home in Atlanta? I doubt it, because even though I know about Atlanta, I am not familiar enough to know the intimate details of neighborhoods.
When we attend real estate school, we all learn the same stuff, which is mainly focused on how to avoid going to litigation (or jail) because of doing something stupid. There is not one moment devoted to teaching any of us how to sell real estate. That is something we have to learn, and even though you may know how to sell broom handles like a superstar, you will be on a real estate learning curve that never ends, because real estate is different and the market never stops changing. Furthermore, the local market functions within the overall market, and it is impossible to know every little detail about every local market within a hundred miles. I seriously doubt there is a single agent in the metro area that jumps out of bed every day and rushes to the computer to do research on the real estate market in Hinton. Some of the agents with listings in this county would never have heard of Talking Rock until someone gave them a listing there!
I am not saying you should list with me. I do like to eat too, but there are many qualified Realtors® Pickens County.
On that subject, make sure the person you hire is qualified to help you. Don’t hire your second cousin Bubbles just because she recently gave up that promising job down at the venetian blind factory to get rich selling real estate. Some new agents are very capable, and enthusiastic, and some “experienced” agents couldn’t find an elephant in their own bathtub. When in doubt, favor knowledge over enthusiasm.
The market is definitely on the rebound, so if you need to sell, now might be the time!
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