Selling Your Home? Does Your Realtor Know The Market Area

I wrote a blog on this a few days ago. At that time I was more concnerned about Realtors who go out of their market area to sell homes. In essence; if you are not listing and selling in an area you do not know the area; you are not serving the best interests of your clients.

However; what about the friend of ours or relative we have in the business....You want to sell your home and feel obliged to list the home with them. You know they really do not know the area that well. But, it does not really matter they are only listing my home for sale. Well it may make a difference.

I had a few days ago a client looking for a home in an area and neighborhood I was very familiar with. I had sold a couple homes in there recently. The day we are going to look at a few homes in the neighborhood I checked the system and found a new listing come on the market. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I looked at the asking price. Found out it was not a error and advised my client to go and look at the house immediately. Needless to say 2 hours later we offered and had immediately accepted a full price offer on the home. Why? becasue the home was priced 28% LESS than everything else in the neighborhood that was comparable in year and style.

Doing a little research and talking with the listing agent after the offer had been accepted; she informed me that the sellers were her cousins and she listed the home for them out of a courtsey and really did not knwo that part of Charlotte at all. In fact, she had confided afterwards that she had three other calls for that property and they wanted to put an offer in. I told her the reason whay her home was getting so much activity in a short time. She said, I did not know.....

If your agent who is going to sell your home for you is not familiar with the area it could cost you money and time. Just as this agent under priced the house for the market; she could have easily gone in the opposite direction and over priced the home. Then the house would get no activity and not sell.

Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com

Does Your Realtor Know The Market Area?

For most people we tend to use an agent that was referred to us or soemone we know. But does the agent we are using know the market area you are looking for a home in? Generally speaking Realtors are comfortable in certain areas of town. They tend to know the areas well. They list homes there and they tend to sell homes in that area. When a good deal comes along they are quick to realize it. It is known as their market area.

So, you have a friend who is a Realtor and you want to look at a home in a market area they are not that familair with. Do you ask them to refer you to someone who does or do you let them help you out becuase we all have access to the same information? Generally they are going to help you out if you do not ask. But are they really helping you out? How do you know if the home they are showing you is a good deal, under priced for the area or over priced for the area? Without doing some extensive research they probably will not know.

For example, a fellow agent in my office knew I was very familiar with a certain area of Charlotte. He was not. He asked me to help him out and find homes that fit the criteria of what his buyers were looking for in a home. I gave him a list of neighborhoods and homes that fit the criteria of what they wanted in regards to amneties, schools, and type of home without even hesitating. But, more importantly, I was able to inform him of "material facts" of the area that he was not aware of. Those factors influenced the descsion for the buyers in regards to the home they eventually decided to make an offer on.

Yes, I can show you homes anywhere in Charlotte and the surrounding communities. However; am I doing you justice by not knowing of material facts of that area or neighborhoods that may influence your descsion to make an offer on a home or not? The answer to that is an easy NO. There is no excuse for not knowing material facts about an area; even if we do not market that area on a regular basis.

As a Realtor, we can be held liable for not informing our buyer of a material fact of a certain area that would affected them either purchasing the home or not purchasing the home. How can we tell them to make a reasonable offer if we do nto know the whole situation of the area? So, looking for a home; make sure your Realtor knows the area you are looking in...it can only benefit both of you.

Dave diCecco
Realtor/Broker
www.davedicecco.com