Important Lessons I Learned From Realtors® Near Me
Realtors® near me all swear the number one rule is to; Know your local market and know it well as it changes frequently and by neighborhood – this is a Realtor®’s job, to be in the niches and details you don’t have time to be into!
Just living in a neighborhood does not make you an expert. Oh, you might have inside gossip about the Tuscaloosa Twins making beer runs at the Circle K and you might have heard that George lost his last paycheck on the Rangers’ Game last Saturday.
Hey, you might even have read on Zillow that it’s a seller’s market in some areas and a buyer’s market in others. But living in an area does not make you an expert on pricing and selling. The expert is the person who has participated in hundreds of these transactions. The expert is a “Realtor® Near Me.”
Realtors® have access to resources you do not
California is a disclosure state, meaning that transaction sales prices are available to the public. (Twelve states are non-disclosure: Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.) And Heaven knows there is no shortage of data available on public access real estate portals, including Zillow, Trulia, Realtor®.com, foreclosure.com, and Homes for Heroes. But unless you are a Realtor® yourself, what you do not have access to is something called Multi Listing Service, or MLS.
Knowledge of the neighborhood is key. In fact, it is so key that a keyword analysis of the top words or phrases consumers seek in relation to real estate shows that “neighborhood” invariably lands within the top three searches.
Realtors® are expert guides for those moving to the vast San Francisco Bay Area
So what if the buyer is new to the Bay Area? Is that consumer an expert on Walnut Creek, San Jose, Pleasanton?
Does he or she have piercing insights into the markets of Orinda, Palo Alto, or Fremont? Does the vacation the buyer took four years ago actually make him or her a qualified expert on the neighborhoods within Lafayette, Concord or Dublin?
Are Berkeley, Danville and Livermore offering better value to home buyers than, for instance, Oakland, San Ramon, or Moraga? What is the current price to listing ratio in Alamo, Brentwood and Benicia?
Realtors® are educated and certified in negotiation
And, of course, Realtors® (near you) are trained at the art of negotiating. The Realtor® knows how to use affirmative language, how to set the tone with facial expressions and body language, how to arm the process with extensive research, how to develop a back-up plan, and how to say “No.” to the seller’s agent.
On the subject of negotiating, flexibility on a seller’s pricing may be required, though disappointing sometimes–your Realtor® will not only let you know a fair market value and what you can possibly get for your home, he or she will also let you know when you are overpriced and what you will need to update/renovate to get the price you’re seeking.
That begs the question: Should you fix up your house or sell it as is? In a seller’s market like we have in the Bay Area, you can usually get away with fewer fix-ups than you might elsewhere. But even in a hot seller’s market, a home that needs fixing up will garner a lower price than a comparable home that needs no repairs.
To that end, your Realtor® will offer you a CMA, which stands for competitive market analysis, that is, an overview of recently sold homes in your neighborhood, giving you a sense of whether your home offers more or less than similar homes.
You should also keep in mind that most of the people who say they are interested in buying fixer-uppers are actually saying that they hope a coat of paint and some tile cleaner will take care of everything.
The vast majority of people who are interested in buying a home that needs substantial work either do not qualify to buy a more expensive home or hope to make a fast buck fixing the place up themselves. As your Realtor® will tell you, some repairs have a much higher return on investment than others. Repairing and shining kitchens and baths have the highest overall ROI. Other good uses of your money include replacing siding with vinyl or fiber-cement, replacing windows, adding a deck, and swapping in a steel front door.
How Can Your Realtor® Help You Find the Right Neighborhood for You?
Your dream home is likely somewhat dependent on your dream neighborhood. When you key the words “Realtors® Near Me” into Google, the person you ultimately select should know the neighborhood in question inside and out.
You can check some things out for yourself, of course. And it’s a good idea to be prepared for the conversation you ultimately have with your Realtor®. For instance, bring up NeighborhoodScout.com on your computer and key in an address or neighborhood and you will be rewarded with all kinds of useful information, including the median real estate price for the neighborhood and how that compares to home values in the rest of the state or region. You can also get useful information about crime, schools, commutes and more.
But outside these realms, you need a Realtor®. This professional can tell you what an evening stroll is like in that neighborhood. What do people there do for fun? How does this neighborhood compare to the one you are leaving? And how are the schools? Homes located in a good school district tend to hold their value.
Realtors® dish the hard truths. . .
And on the subject of your dream home, your Realtor® ought to be able to disabuse you of certain unfortunate delusions. That honesty and clarity can save you tremendous heartache and wallet-throbbing in the very near future.
For instance, you may not get your dream home right on budget, just as your dream home may not look exactly like the houses you see on Instagram. Your dream home may even need repairs and those repairs may not be cheap, easy or fast.
Even so, the “Realtor® Near Me” that you select will supply you with what you do need to know and will work with you to analyze and operationalize the data it takes to get you the best value for your money and time.