It's not enough to have a real estate license. Without the expertise to prove our worth we'll quickly be flashing deer in the headlight looks when a prospective buyer or seller says something about the area that we SHOULD know, but don't.
We might be able to get away without knowing where THE very best pizza is served, but if a buyer or seller is asking details about home sales, trends, and the various forms of real estate data that come our way, we'd better be able to answer or they may be quickly on their way to hiring another agent to take care of their needs.
You'll get questions like:
"Am I being unrealistic thinking I can get X in a home for Y price?"
"Where are the new construction homes? How much do they cost?"
"What builder is the best?"
"What are the taxes for homes in X?"
"How long will it take me to sell my home?"
These are all questions that a buyer or seller might expect you to know.
Now we're not saying you HAVE to write market reports, visit builder model homes and get to know the reps, or drive through the subdivisions in your market to get a feel for which ones are well kept and which ones feature five cars up on cinderblocks, but it's certainly not going to hurt.
Frankly one of the reasons (besides it being natural as an engineer) that I like to do market reports is that it tunes me in to FACTS and not perceptions about the market. At least once a month I'm going to be very calibrated to how many homes are selling, how many are NOT under contract, how quickly they sell and all the fun stuff that comes with it. And you know how handy it is to be able to be talking to a potential Mason condo buyer and let them know that their are ONLY 38 condos not under contract and only two communities that feature condos that fit their needs? That's real estate gold! You just demonstrated your professionalism on the fly, without needing to look up a single thing!
Once you get in the habit, it's pretty routine to stay current.
And sometimes you need to dig a little deeper to find out what's fact or fiction.
Q: "Do buyers who go straight to the listing agent in Mason Ohio get a better deal?"
A. In 2015 buyers who had their own agent paid 95.07% of original list price. Buyers who used the listing agent or another agent from the listing team? They paid 95.48%! So buyers paid more and got less dedicated representation. Don't think this won't come in handy the next time a buyer calls me and wants to go straight to the listing agent :)
Knowing you market is critical, and making it clear to area buyers and seller that YOU know your market? Priceless!
Until next Tuesday, just Ask An Ambassador if you need help!
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
Comments(29)