Goodness it's been a busy start to the year! Who can believe it's already February? And the middle of its second week at that! I've barely had time to write my blog about the wonderful world of real estate and Century 21, which hopefully you have noticed and sadly missed. But never fear, here I am to talk about the intricacies of being a real estate professional in this day and age.
One thing that came to light recently, unfortunately not a winning lotto ticket, was that some realtors tend to try and sell in locations they don't necessarily know well or understand. Whilst most real estate agents specialize in an area, and with good reason – you want someone who knows the neighbourhood you're selling in or buying into – some stray a little further from home, and the results aren't always great.
I know someone who knows someone (you know how the story goes) who went into the office of a real estate agent who had a property listed in an area they were interested in. However, said area was not the area the agent was based in, and was in fact about an hour away. Now that might not sound like much, but for anyone who has driven around NSW, you know just how much the landscape can change in the space of an hour. And buying a house near the mountains isn't necessarily the same as buying a house on the fringes of the city. So this friend of a friend discovered. This agent knew very little about the suburb outside of their area, and as a result left this potential buyer with the impression they were unable to help them find what they wanted, unless they decided to change which suburb they wanted to live in. Which makes me think, we real estate agents should really stick to what we know. Yes, our whole business model is built on securing property listings, but even further into the core of our business is customer service. I know I preach often about how real estate agents are helping people through one of the biggest decisions they'll ever make, but it's because it's true. The least you can do is have the courtesy of knowing what you're talking about when someone comes to discuss a property with you!
Century 21 agents pride themselves on being local experts, which means we know what's happening in your market, and we know what's happening in your neighbourhood, who paid how much for what and how recently. Every client deserves this level of knowledge and assistance, and if we as real estate agents are not able to provide it, then we need to reassess what we're offering.