Who’s the neighborhood real estate agent?
For years you have heard people talk about the neighborhood real estate agent. He or she knows everything and has sold everything in the neighborhood and therefore they are the neighborhood expert. Some of this still occurs in certain parts of the country this for all intents and purposes this is a dead practice in Denver and here is why.
The idea today of needing a neighborhood expert is very old school thinking. Once upon a time, there was very little sales information for the public as well as agents to digest. Living in a neighborhood, selling in that neighborhood, knowing what sold in that neighborhood, who sold it and for how much was once a common practice in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. In the late 70’s the real estate industry had made great strides by publishing a book each week of active and sold listing. Real estate agents used to wait eagerly by the door for this book to arrive to see what was new to the market so they could help their clients find a home. While this published book put a dent in the neighborhood expert role, it didn’t completely wipe it away.
How’d the idea die?
The advent of the internet in the 90’s picked up where the published book left off and completely wiped out the need for a neighborhood expert. No longer was it difficult to find homes for sale anywhere in the city. It was now easy to see what homes sold for, how long they took to sell, what people paid and so many other statistics.
By the 2000’s transparency in the real estate industry was the name of the game. Internet websites like Zillow giving their Zestimate and the introduction of listing syndication made the neighborhood expert officially dead. Instantly hundred if not thousands of websites could give people anywhere in the country more information about real estate than ever before. Then came huge advances in presentation, again at everyone’s fingertips. At the same time came technology advancements such as Google Maps, the ability to see satellite and street views and even peer into peoples windows via the internet. 1080p high definition videos gave people the ability to walk through your entire home from the convenience of their computer 2000 miles away. 3D technology now allows people to place themselves in your living room and then move around your home. Today someone can stop outside a home, open up an app, see what the home is worth, whether or not it’s for sale, pictures of it, an entire history of the home since it was built (including every sales price) and if they don’t like it the app will geotarget their locations and find all the homes just like it nearby. Holograms are next, and the innovation won’t stop. So, remind me again what is the role of the neighborhood expert?
In Part two we’ll ask the question, “if the neighborhood expert is dead then what about the agent that sells so many homes in my particular neighborhood? Aren’t they the neighborhood expert?
Dan Polimino is a Broker/Owner with The Hawaii Team, Keller Williams Realty Maui. Contact The Hawaii Team at 808-913-0899, team@thehawaiiteam.com, coloradodreamhouse.com
All reported sales were not necessarily listed or sold by the broker and are intended only to show trends in the area or shall separately identify the broker’s own sales activity.
