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Answers (21)
- Sam Shueh
- Contributions:379
usually based whether the agent concentrates in one area via farming....
His/her knowledge of schools.
It does not take long to find out or quiz the agent knowledge of neighborhood.
Most skilled realtors cover the entire Santa Clara County. If you are
looking for a local realtor you need to different that from one of your neighbors. Typically the one keeps sending you local homes sold info
are local. But many have several local farms.....
His/her knowledge of schools.
It does not take long to find out or quiz the agent knowledge of neighborhood.
Most skilled realtors cover the entire Santa Clara County. If you are
looking for a local realtor you need to different that from one of your neighbors. Typically the one keeps sending you local homes sold info
are local. But many have several local farms.....
- Toby & John T. Williams, "tjplace"
- Contributions:271
Whether buying or selling, here is what is important. Ask the right questions when you interview an agent. How many years have you been in the business. Do you have any other jobs other than real estate? How many properties do you sell a year? How many listings sold, how many buyer sales? Don't bother with Are you full time. An agent who is a teacher/mailman, will tell you they are full time, but how can they be?! If they say sold 12 properties a year, how is 1 a month full time? You want someone who sells 30+ properties a year for several years. WHERE is your office, where are 90% of the properties that you sell? Show me a list! THEY are the ones who are around to answer your questions, have the experience to have the RIGHT answers to your questions and they are the ones who know how to get it done!
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21458
For selling a home, the number of homes an agent sells is irrelevant; it is the average total days on market that are important, plus the percentage taken off the market without selling, and the % reduced from original asking price that they closed at.
I would rather have an agent that does one sale per year but gets it done within 45 days of listing than one that sells 300 homes a year, but doesn't provide individual service and takes 380 days for each of them to close from the time listed.
I would rather have an agent that does one sale per year but gets it done within 45 days of listing than one that sells 300 homes a year, but doesn't provide individual service and takes 380 days for each of them to close from the time listed.
- creative destruction
- Contributions:18
Hi Greg & Ed.
I appreciate your responses and you make some valid points. I take from Ed's response that there is a distinct difference between a "Neighborhood Expert" and an agent who is a professional.
If I am correct, a neighborhood expert is someone who knows the city/town extremely well (maybe grew up there) but may not be a very successful agent. Conversely, a professional may not be a local expert but gets the job done.
So let's talk professional vs. unprofessional. Do you feel that your counterparts from your company or at other companies, who sell very few homes each, year are just as much of a pro as you are having sold 31 homes in three years? Do you feel that selling substantially more homes than the average agent in your area gives you distinct advantages in terms of knowledge and service?
If you were selling your home and all other things being equal, would you choose the agent who sold 100 homes or the agent who sold 5?
I appreciate your responses and you make some valid points. I take from Ed's response that there is a distinct difference between a "Neighborhood Expert" and an agent who is a professional.
If I am correct, a neighborhood expert is someone who knows the city/town extremely well (maybe grew up there) but may not be a very successful agent. Conversely, a professional may not be a local expert but gets the job done.
So let's talk professional vs. unprofessional. Do you feel that your counterparts from your company or at other companies, who sell very few homes each, year are just as much of a pro as you are having sold 31 homes in three years? Do you feel that selling substantially more homes than the average agent in your area gives you distinct advantages in terms of knowledge and service?
If you were selling your home and all other things being equal, would you choose the agent who sold 100 homes or the agent who sold 5?
- Edward Sorensen, "Edward Sorensen"
- Contributions:85
Creative Destruction,
This is a question that might narrow the discussion down to a more specific answer.
Are you talking about the relative value of the real estate agent who claims to be a "neighborhood expert" to someone buying a home or someone selling a home?
Because as a real estate broker who has completed 31 transactions in the past 3 years representing a home owner as the listing agent, I can't see where being a "neighborhood expert" does anything to help or hinder me in and of itself.
Here is another example for you:
I am dropped by parachute into a neighborhood in California town I have never visited before into the lawn of a home owner who has to sell.
It does not matter how great the neighborhood is or how good the school district is or how close to the nearest hospital the property is located.
This seller has to, or at least wants to, sell. Period.
Do I as a real estate professional have a duty to do my due diligence, looking into what I can find out about the property and the surrounding area?
Yes I do.
Using locally available information in the public domain along with some databases available to me as a real estate professional, that should take about 8 hours more than it would take if I were selling a property in my backyard.
But, it's basic research, not brain surgery.
Also, I am never going to be a recognized "expert" in any meaningful sense for many potential issues surrounding the sale of a property regardless of how long I spend studying a particular geographical area.
I am not an attorney, accountant, school administrator, local economist, law enforcement officer, civil engineer...and so on.
The value of my professional opinion, in reality, has a very limited scope related to the process and paperwork necessary to transfer a property from one owner to another.
That's it.
For anything else, I am going to bring in a specialist in that area of expertise.
What do you think?
Edward
Edward Sorensen
This is a question that might narrow the discussion down to a more specific answer.
Are you talking about the relative value of the real estate agent who claims to be a "neighborhood expert" to someone buying a home or someone selling a home?
Because as a real estate broker who has completed 31 transactions in the past 3 years representing a home owner as the listing agent, I can't see where being a "neighborhood expert" does anything to help or hinder me in and of itself.
Here is another example for you:
I am dropped by parachute into a neighborhood in California town I have never visited before into the lawn of a home owner who has to sell.
It does not matter how great the neighborhood is or how good the school district is or how close to the nearest hospital the property is located.
This seller has to, or at least wants to, sell. Period.
Do I as a real estate professional have a duty to do my due diligence, looking into what I can find out about the property and the surrounding area?
Yes I do.
Using locally available information in the public domain along with some databases available to me as a real estate professional, that should take about 8 hours more than it would take if I were selling a property in my backyard.
But, it's basic research, not brain surgery.
Also, I am never going to be a recognized "expert" in any meaningful sense for many potential issues surrounding the sale of a property regardless of how long I spend studying a particular geographical area.
I am not an attorney, accountant, school administrator, local economist, law enforcement officer, civil engineer...and so on.
The value of my professional opinion, in reality, has a very limited scope related to the process and paperwork necessary to transfer a property from one owner to another.
That's it.
For anything else, I am going to bring in a specialist in that area of expertise.
What do you think?
Edward
Edward Sorensen
Broker/Owner
Sorensen And Associates
DRE# 01724671
- Greg Cowart, "Roseville Loan Guy"
- Contributions:448
Creative Destruction,
Right, the MLS is a paid service. You have to be a subscriber to get the info. You can get the info from any agent or title company. I'm sure that either one would provide you the information if you worked with them before or if it meant the possibility of wining your business. As long as it's legal in your state (and not against the rules of the local MLS) I don't see why a title company wouldn't give you the info.
As for if 5 transactions in the last year is enough, I didn't say that is was or wasn't, only that it could be, maybe... But there are a lot of factors that would make it so an agent with only 5 transactions in the last year could still be a local expert...
They could have taken time off for family reasons, a baby, etc, and just got back into the swing of things. Just because they only had 5 last year doesn't mean they haven't done 50 or more in their career.
It also could be a case of their marketing, or they are great Real Estate people but not great sales people. Maybe they had great marketing that was working for years but things changed over the last couple and they couldn't adapt? That would not make them a bad agent or preclude them from being considered an expert, just because their volume went down, it just means the have had a hard time prospecting in this ever changing market. I would much rather work with someone that is a true professional expert in every sense of the word than someone that closed 20 escrows last year because they are a great salesperson but is not a true professional.
The agent that only sold five homes in the last year may very well have sold them quicker and for more than the one that sold 20. In my experience the agents that have been in the business for 20+ years and have 20+ listings give the worse service to their clients. As an example one of my clients is currently trying to short sale their investment property and they chose an agent that has multiple short-sales and closes a lot of volume. Now maybe this agent is good at working with the banks to get short sales approved, I don't know, but I do know this... This agent hasn't even been to the property in person. They sent a runner to the condo to take some (crappy) pictures, threw a sign in the dirt, and put it on the MLS. That's it, they never even saw the place. If I was selling a home I wouldn't want to work with that person. Their previous year's volume notwithstanding.
Greg
- creative destruction
- Contributions:18
Re: Pasadenean.
That's a ton of effort and probably well worth the exercise. I can understand that agents wouldn't talk demographics or schools performance - its actually against Fair Housing Law to do so if you are a licensed agent. Zoning and basic neighborhood info is fair game though and you probably do know more than most agents.
It seems like a ton of research and effort to go through for someone to choose an agent. I think yo may be one of the rare people that do research to that level.
Re: Greg
I don't think any of the tools you suggest are publicly available. I checked your local MLS and they don't offer sales break downs - this is probably a feature licensed agents have access to but not the public.
5 closings hardly seems enough to gain relevant transactional experience - especially if they are going to claim to be expert at anything.
To play with an analogy Realtors love to use, I would never hire a lawyer who has only tried 5 cases or a brain surgeon who has only done 5 surgeries.
That's a ton of effort and probably well worth the exercise. I can understand that agents wouldn't talk demographics or schools performance - its actually against Fair Housing Law to do so if you are a licensed agent. Zoning and basic neighborhood info is fair game though and you probably do know more than most agents.
It seems like a ton of research and effort to go through for someone to choose an agent. I think yo may be one of the rare people that do research to that level.
Re: Greg
I don't think any of the tools you suggest are publicly available. I checked your local MLS and they don't offer sales break downs - this is probably a feature licensed agents have access to but not the public.
5 closings hardly seems enough to gain relevant transactional experience - especially if they are going to claim to be expert at anything.
To play with an analogy Realtors love to use, I would never hire a lawyer who has only tried 5 cases or a brain surgeon who has only done 5 surgeries.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21458
Greg, do title and escrow companies in your area provide free services to the general public? Why would a title company want to give access to someone that is not their client in order for the consumer to screen agents? Isn't the whole reason that the local MLS is not available to anyone but licensed agents or brokers so that the agents can keep a lock on the market and avoid losing sales?
So, are you suggesting I go to your competition so that I can "check out" your qualifications, and then just stick with that competition instead even though they haven't been vetted? What is the point?
So, are you suggesting I go to your competition so that I can "check out" your qualifications, and then just stick with that competition instead even though they haven't been vetted? What is the point?
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21458
"there is no real way to confirm anything they say." -
There are very easy ways to disprove many things they say. For example, if they tell you they sold something in a given neighborhood, and you get the address from them, it is easy to check with a zoning map and a neighborhood map to show that it wasn't the neighborhood they claim at all. That has happened to me multiple times with cold calling REA's. They don't know the neighborhoods nor historic districts. I know both the Zoning map (including the historic districts) and the neighborhood associations map much better than any of them. But then I've had reasons to know them, and reasons to draw them electronically before the city made them available electronically. If the don't even know about city departments, the school district school assignment boundaries, the academic performance index of each of the public schools, all the private schools in the area, the churches in the area, and the zoning, they are not "experts". And worse, most of them don't even know the traffic, nor the issues of specific neighborhoods. The traffic studies are available, but I don't see any agents looking at them nor understanding them.
They also should know some of the Census info for specific blocks or groups of blocks. I have mapped many of those, but most agents don't seem to know.
There are very easy ways to disprove many things they say. For example, if they tell you they sold something in a given neighborhood, and you get the address from them, it is easy to check with a zoning map and a neighborhood map to show that it wasn't the neighborhood they claim at all. That has happened to me multiple times with cold calling REA's. They don't know the neighborhoods nor historic districts. I know both the Zoning map (including the historic districts) and the neighborhood associations map much better than any of them. But then I've had reasons to know them, and reasons to draw them electronically before the city made them available electronically. If the don't even know about city departments, the school district school assignment boundaries, the academic performance index of each of the public schools, all the private schools in the area, the churches in the area, and the zoning, they are not "experts". And worse, most of them don't even know the traffic, nor the issues of specific neighborhoods. The traffic studies are available, but I don't see any agents looking at them nor understanding them.
They also should know some of the Census info for specific blocks or groups of blocks. I have mapped many of those, but most agents don't seem to know.
- Greg Cowart, "Roseville Loan Guy"
- Contributions:448
Hmmm, most of the MLS services I've seen can all break down an agent's sale's history. Did you go to someone that has a membership with your local MLS to check?
Mymta is a subscription service as well. A lot of escrow/title companies are subscribers to services like these as well as the MLS, I'd say the best way to get this information would be to go to them (unless you want to subscribe yourself).
#1. I use the MLS to check on these things all the time. That is the best way to do it where I am. If the local MLS doesn't do it and you can't find anyone with a subscription to a service like the one I mentioned to help you, I'm not exactly sure.
#2. 5 closings isn't that bad. That's more than most agents sell in a year. Does it tell me anything about them being a local expert? Maybe, maybe not. If all the sales were in the same general/local area it might.
- creative destruction
- Contributions:18
Hi Greg.
It doesn't look like just anyone can login to mymta.com and the local MLS doesn't have sales info on agents.
Two questions:
1. How would I corroborate your claim that you sold 1 homes in my area recently?
2. If you sold less than 5 homes in the past year or so would you consider yourself an expert or even relevant in the market?
It doesn't look like just anyone can login to mymta.com and the local MLS doesn't have sales info on agents.
Two questions:
1. How would I corroborate your claim that you sold 1 homes in my area recently?
2. If you sold less than 5 homes in the past year or so would you consider yourself an expert or even relevant in the market?
- Greg Cowart, "Roseville Loan Guy"
- Contributions:448
I just saw your second post...
That one is easy. You can get agent information from the local MLS or something like mymta.com (title companies are usually subscribers to both of these and may be able to help you). If you're really wanting to see things like time on market for their listings that's about the only way I can think of.
Depending on where you are, some information will be available from the local Association Of Realtors. Maybe not in the detail of the MLS or mymta will be but many have some of that information available.
One thing I have to say is, if you're looking to list your home and someone wants to charge you 6% to do it and all they are going to do is stick a sign in the ground, put it on MLS, and maybe put the listing on the template website their company provides (that no one will ever find) and create a Postlets listing for it, it might be a good idea to keep looking. That is exactly what every agent is doing, you want one that is doing what every other agent isn't already doing to market your property.
Sincerely,
Greg
- Greg Cowart, "Roseville Loan Guy"
- Contributions:448
That's a hard question to answer. My first answer is that I think you can tell when someone is truly a professional pretty quickly. Right off the bat that is very important. It doesn't really matter how long they have been in the business, I know plenty of 30 year veteran Realtors that I wouldn't refer a client to for anything, but are they a professional?
After that an easy way to tell if someone is a "local expert" is: do they live and work in the area they claim to be an expert in? That is not going to be a prerequisite but is pretty telling. Someone that has lived in their area of expertise for 20 years and worked in their current field for the last 10 years isn't guaranteed to be an expert in anything, but it's HIGHLY LIKLEY that they will be.
If someone really knows what they are doing and live/work in the area they claim to be an expert in, there's a pretty good chance they are a local expert.
Greg
After that an easy way to tell if someone is a "local expert" is: do they live and work in the area they claim to be an expert in? That is not going to be a prerequisite but is pretty telling. Someone that has lived in their area of expertise for 20 years and worked in their current field for the last 10 years isn't guaranteed to be an expert in anything, but it's HIGHLY LIKLEY that they will be.
If someone really knows what they are doing and live/work in the area they claim to be an expert in, there's a pretty good chance they are a local expert.
Greg
- creative destruction
- Contributions:18
Great answers.
I guess my issue is that, even in interviewing several agents and looking at agents who have been in the business for many years there there is no real way to confirm anything they say.
What resource is out there to confirm how many recent sales an agent has and that they work full time? It seems an agent could say anything they want and never be held accountable.
P.S.: the international and global thing, Bob, is a nice thought. But anyone below age 40 easily knows how to upload their own home on zillow, trulia, postlets, craigslist, and even spend a few hundred bucks to get it on the MLS - and get the same amount of exposure.
Seeing that those sources are free it's hardly worth paying 6% commissions to have an agent input listings in to the MLS an online - and probably take 10x longer to do it because they're 50+. Agents are worth getting commission, don't get me wrong, but the value isn't 6% any more.
I guess my issue is that, even in interviewing several agents and looking at agents who have been in the business for many years there there is no real way to confirm anything they say.
What resource is out there to confirm how many recent sales an agent has and that they work full time? It seems an agent could say anything they want and never be held accountable.
P.S.: the international and global thing, Bob, is a nice thought. But anyone below age 40 easily knows how to upload their own home on zillow, trulia, postlets, craigslist, and even spend a few hundred bucks to get it on the MLS - and get the same amount of exposure.
Seeing that those sources are free it's hardly worth paying 6% commissions to have an agent input listings in to the MLS an online - and probably take 10x longer to do it because they're 50+. Agents are worth getting commission, don't get me wrong, but the value isn't 6% any more.
- Tim Moore, "Kitty_Hawk_NC"
- Contributions:151
We Realtors love our titles and designations. It is a way to say we have more experience than the other 1200 agents in town and a way to make you feel better about trusting us with your business. Most titles mean very little, some do mean something more. Local expert is a meaningless title, I guess it means they know the street names in town so they won't get lost showing you homes.
What you want to find is an agent with experience. Experience comes slowly in our business and someone with 1 year vs someone with 10 years is huge. In my 24 years I have seen it all or close to it. Looking back at what I didn't know in my first 1 to 4 years is considerable. Seek agents with experience. A real estate agent with the title Broker will be a good first step since they often have to have several years experience and they have taken more classes and training.
What you want to find is an agent with experience. Experience comes slowly in our business and someone with 1 year vs someone with 10 years is huge. In my 24 years I have seen it all or close to it. Looking back at what I didn't know in my first 1 to 4 years is considerable. Seek agents with experience. A real estate agent with the title Broker will be a good first step since they often have to have several years experience and they have taken more classes and training.
- Joan Braunschweiger, "Morris County NJ"
- Contributions:1543
That's why interviewing agents is important. I have the Adams Morgan designation and I know nothing about that area. I don't live anywhere near Washington DC.
Personally, I am dealing with this situation now. I have a buyer who is interested in buying in a county that I know little about and have been very honest with him regarding that fact. He knows more about that area than I do and I told him that I have no problem going quite a distance to show him houses but he needs to be aware that I am not familiar with most of the areas that he wants to be in and perhaps finding an agent in that area would be more to his advantage. He appreciated my honesty and stated that he felt I would do right by him as an agent and he had no problem using me, especially because he knew enough about the area to know where to avoid and where he really wanted to be.
I feel that it is in my best interest as an agent to learn about areas I am not familiar with anyway, as long as the buyer realizes that and is okay with it. There are plenty of ways to learn about places- through personal touring, people I know who live there, the internet, that its possible to learn about communities that I previously knew nothing about.
However, I would never pretend to be an expert in an area I know little or nothing about. It would only come back to bite me, deservedly so.
Personally, I am dealing with this situation now. I have a buyer who is interested in buying in a county that I know little about and have been very honest with him regarding that fact. He knows more about that area than I do and I told him that I have no problem going quite a distance to show him houses but he needs to be aware that I am not familiar with most of the areas that he wants to be in and perhaps finding an agent in that area would be more to his advantage. He appreciated my honesty and stated that he felt I would do right by him as an agent and he had no problem using me, especially because he knew enough about the area to know where to avoid and where he really wanted to be.
I feel that it is in my best interest as an agent to learn about areas I am not familiar with anyway, as long as the buyer realizes that and is okay with it. There are plenty of ways to learn about places- through personal touring, people I know who live there, the internet, that its possible to learn about communities that I previously knew nothing about.
However, I would never pretend to be an expert in an area I know little or nothing about. It would only come back to bite me, deservedly so.
- Joan Congilose, "JCONGILOSE"
- Contributions:330
In my opinion a local expert would be a seasoned reale estate agent that works full time, & one that can show you proof of their closed sales in your area. They should also be familiar witht the location & ratings of schools, local & community services, transportation, tax rates & recreation available to would be buyers.
- Pasadenan
- Contributions:21458
Zillow awards that tag for a given contribution level on the discussions... when the questions are about a specific area.
It is a bit arbitrary. The better question is how many of the Zillow "local experts" are actually experts in the area they get the tag? I've been awarded 4; two current, but none of them are really my area of expertise. And I just haven't bothered doing anything about getting the designation where I'm really more knowledgeable, even though I've posted plenty about it; just not in the right time frame, or not on thread designated for that area.
It is a bit arbitrary. The better question is how many of the Zillow "local experts" are actually experts in the area they get the tag? I've been awarded 4; two current, but none of them are really my area of expertise. And I just haven't bothered doing anything about getting the designation where I'm really more knowledgeable, even though I've posted plenty about it; just not in the right time frame, or not on thread designated for that area.
- Bob Tripp, "Portland Maine"
- Contributions:27
Find several real estaet agencies that you feel are reputable and then interview an agent from each one. Give each of them the opportunity to present and then make your decision. I personally work for Coldwell Banker and we are a local office but are connected globally. In todays market you need to be local, natioanal and global. You need a strong electronic and web presence to generate buisness. News paper advertising brings neglegible results and to expensive. Someone who was the very best Broker 10 years ago could be a washed up has been if he didn't stay up to date with what is going on.
- Bob Tripp, "Portland Maine"
- Contributions:27
Find several real estate agencies that you feel are reputable and then interview an agent from each one. Give each of them the opportunity to present and then make your decision. I personally work for Coldwell Banker and we are a local office but are connected globally. In todays market you need to be local, natioanal and global. You need a strong electronic and web presence to generate buisness. News paper advertising brings neglegible results and is to expensive. Someone who was the very best Broker 10 years ago could be a washed up has been if he didn't stay up to date with what is going on.
- Edward Sorensen, "Edward Sorensen"
- Contributions:85
Hello Creative Destruction,
Great screen name!
You bring up an interesting question. I have been thinking about this a lot lately...
I am not sure it matters at all if a real estate agent is a "local expert". In the sense that, it seems to be one of those things that is thrown around a lot lately by real estate agents as being "essential", but you may be on to something with your question.
Let me pose the following question/analogy and please tell me what you think of this:
Assume I am a licensed physician. You come to me complaining of chest pain. I have a standardized procedure for running through all of the possible reasons for why you might be having chest pain. I also am fully capable of running all of the relevant tests on you and interpreting the test results.
While it is true that every person is different, the causes of chest pain can typically be traced to a specific set of possible illnesses or conditions and their corresponding treatments are well known.
My question is:
Will I not be able to treat you effectively for your chest pain because I have not been following you around for the past year while you were hooked up to an EKG machine? I am not a "local expert" on your particular physiology. Does that really matter?
Great screen name!
You bring up an interesting question. I have been thinking about this a lot lately...
I am not sure it matters at all if a real estate agent is a "local expert". In the sense that, it seems to be one of those things that is thrown around a lot lately by real estate agents as being "essential", but you may be on to something with your question.
Let me pose the following question/analogy and please tell me what you think of this:
Assume I am a licensed physician. You come to me complaining of chest pain. I have a standardized procedure for running through all of the possible reasons for why you might be having chest pain. I also am fully capable of running all of the relevant tests on you and interpreting the test results.
While it is true that every person is different, the causes of chest pain can typically be traced to a specific set of possible illnesses or conditions and their corresponding treatments are well known.
My question is:
Will I not be able to treat you effectively for your chest pain because I have not been following you around for the past year while you were hooked up to an EKG machine? I am not a "local expert" on your particular physiology. Does that really matter?
[content removed by moderator]
Full Service At A Reasonable Price
Edward Sorensen
Broker/Owner
Sorensen And Associates
DRE# 01724671
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How many Realtors are local experts?
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