As a local small business owner and prominent member of a neighborhood business association, you will often hear my soapbox speech impressing the importance of supporting local small businesses. I make it an effort to support small business owners whenever and wherever I can. They are our neighbors, our friends, our advocates, and we directly impact their livelihoods rather than feeding the large corporate entities such as Amazon or Cheesecake Factory. Their small businesses create the fabric of our quaint commercial districts we often refer to as “villages.”
While the above will always be true for me, today I want to discuss the importance of working with a local real estate consultant to represent you in a sale or purchase of real property.
As the climate in the world of real estate sales continues to fluctuate from month to month, I believe the consumer is looking for options to get a “better deal.” For them, perhaps this deal is offered by a real estate agent who is from a different geographic location. Perhaps they will charge a lesser fee for the opportunity to work with them. As an area specialist, I can guarantee you that I would not venture outside of San Diego County to attempt to sell real estate to a client. There are so many nuances to every geographic region that I could not begin to help my client interpret the inspections and reports, and I definitely would not be in position to prepare them for what to expect throughout the course of their sale or purchase. In addition to lacking general knowledge about geographic conditions (soils in certain areas, flood plains, areas prone to landslide, sewer drain line issues, local foliage to be aware of, to name a few), there is also a professional protocol between real estate agents that seems to be different from area to area.
I recently came across a seemingly vacant listing in San Diego that was represented by an agent from Los Angeles. Because the agent was not a member of our local MLS, the listing was only visible on a few sites online. As a result, many agents and their clients did not know it was for sale. This minimized exposure of the home for the sellers and likely reduced the evident interest in the property. Hoping to show it to my clients (lucky I stumbled upon it through a 3rd party site), I attempted to set up a showing with the agent. He replied to my texts and phone calls the following day (an eternity in real estate time zones), and when he did, he never answered me about getting access, but rather just indicated it would be held open that following weekend. Keeping in mind that the home was vacant, it should have been easy to show, and could only benefit the sellers with potentially attracting more interested buyers. With clients not available over the weekend, I once again attempted to gain access to show the property. These requests were never responded to.
I met another agent from the bay area who recently helped her family member purchase a home here in San Diego. This agent had no prior awareness or experience in San Diego. Unfortunately for the family member, they were not made aware of the impending construction in the community that would impact them, nor were they given the guidance regarding common inspections often conducted here in San Diego that are not conducted in the bay area.
This is just a small window into the myriad of scenarios that take place when one works with an agent who comes from outside the area, and professional protocols, which tends to vary from region to region. From communication styles and expectations, to just plain common sense and experience with what to expect when buying or selling a home in America’s Finest City, I urge you to work with a local agent. You will be glad you did!