Advantages to being the Local Real Estate Agent
As an agent, we know that our livelihoods depend on the number of houses we sell. It's tempting, then, to search far and wide to find clients and sellers and increase our listings, regardless of where the property is located. More listings mean more sales, right? While that may be true, some listings are simply not worth the cost that you incur when you take the property on. It's worth considering becoming the local real estate agent - someone who specializes in property sales in your area and limits their listings further away. Here are our top 5 reasons to consider localizing your business:
Local properties reduce your costs
We know that selling a property is hard work - and it comes with a cost. Your advertising and business management costs are one thing, but fuel and transport is another important aspect to take into account. With rising fuel prices, staying closer to home simply makes sense. But fuel prices aren't the only consideration: taking on listings that are further away will increase the time you spend driving and the maintenance costs to your car when you have to drive longer distances for viewings.
Building a network is easier
Word-of-mouth is a powerful tool as an estate agent. Building networks of potential buyers and sellers and places to advertise your services is vital to being a successful agent and doing these things is far easier when you focus on your local area. Not only will you already know more people in your area but there are spill-over effects from focusing your efforts: the more people see your face and hear your name, the more others will know to come to you first. Focusing on a smaller area means you are competing against fewer agents to become the go-to agent when someone wants to sell.
Being an expert in your area will make you a better agent
We all want to do our jobs well. Being an expert in your area means that you know the ins and outs of the place - you know which schools are where and which roads are full of traffic on the way to work in the morning. Knowing these small details will help you at every step of the journey, from figuring out the right price for the property to making the sale.
Knowing one thing very well will reduce your workload
Area makes such a big impact on listing price that knowing an area well will immediately reduce the amount of research that you need to do. Being an expert in one area will make it easier for you to gauge asking prices without the ton of research that you would usually need to take on.
You're likely to get higher sales prices
We all know how hard it is to find the right balance when figuring out an asking price for a property: too high and you won't attract buyers, too low and you don't get the best for your client. But knowing your area makes that a whole lot easier and, what's even better, is that you'll know the target market for the property and the best selling points that you can use to get the right price.
All in all, focusing on local sales makes for better business: it will most likely increase your income through higher sales values, as well as reducing your costs and time spent on each sale.
