The internet has transformed almost every single industry on the planet, and real estate is no different. Our clients have more access to property information, data, sales numbers, comparable transactions – you name it – than ever before, and we think that’s a good thing!
Working with a real estate agent, a buyer or seller has access to records at the city or county, assessments, past sales or other searches. We can dump all this information into a cloud-based spreadsheet and share it with the client. And there are hundreds of statistical services that will gladly cook up all that data into some sweet charts and graphs.
Beyond MLS, there’s Zillow and all the other sites that will give you estimates of value. There’s buckets of research from Case Shiller or the NAR. And that’s all before you even Google whatever property you’re looking at to see what kinds of ancillary information might be out there.
Makes you wonder how people bought houses in the past with so little information, doesn’t it??
Easy as 1, 2, 3 … 4, 9, 37, 142, 359 … Wait, this is Hard!
Access to this level of information is truly revolutionary when it comes to the buying and selling of property. But has it made anyone’s job easier?
We don’t think so.
Now, it’s an agent’s job to figure out which data to pay attention to, and how to put it all together into an analysis that will mean something to the client and—most importantly—help them. Yes, as clients, you have access to way more housing information than ever before. But it’s our job to make sure you understand what you’re looking at and how to interpret it.
In our experience, our clients have more information, yet are more confused than ever before.
The proof is in the pudding:
A recent study showed that over the past five years more people are using agents. The role of the agent, and impact, has grown larger with so much data to sort through. The public trusts their transactions to Realtors because they have the experience to clarify things. This is incredibly interesting…and gratifying.
At the end of the day, it’s not enough to simply have more information. You’ve got to know what to do with it. A good agent brings that home and makes this potentially complicated process much simpler.
This is what we do—make sense of it all. We’re here to help you.
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