Your Neighborhood Broker

It’s incredibly difficult and confusing being a home buyer today. Not because prices are historically high and homes have been selling faster (nationally), but because it’s not easy to identify a local real estate expert. Unless you have past experience and a relationship with an agent or you get a reliable referral, it’s a challenge to find an agent you can truly trust and who knows the neighborhood.

Twenty years ago, most cities were peppered with corner real estate offices filled with agents who specialized in a specific zone. Often, these agents lived in the neighborhood. They were embedded in the area and were “local”. They knew where the closest supermarket was, the exact hour the loud garbage truck made its rounds, how many schools were in walking distance, and exactly where the neighbors spent their weekends. They knew every house, building, apartment, and sale. They had the inside track. You could easily walk into one of these offices and find an expert.

But now, there are less authentic local experts. Most of the local brokers have been bought out by national larger conglomerates. The name on the door represents either a public company or a franchise trying to survive. The founder who grew the brand and cultivated the company culture is largely gone. The current CEO has probably never sold a home.

A large number of retail brokerage offices sit empty. The storefronts are used predominantly as a billboard for the mothership; not a byproduct of Covid, but a sign of the times.?If you’re in the Hamptons, there are more “Main Street” real estate sales office storefronts than other retailers. This is the same in Beverly Hills. Their windows are filled with photos of real estate porn and brand messages. Sellers love seeing their listings in the window, but trust me, this isn’t the mechanism the good agent uses to sell their home. There aren’t many top agents who sit in the office waiting for a walk-in client. Not anymore.

To find a buyer’s specialist online is even more challenging. If an agent pays enough money, she can be a featured agent and “expert” even if she’s never sold a home in the area. Buyer beware!

It’s time well spent to research who you hire to find you a home. A buyer should spend as much time interviewing their agent representative as a seller does interviewing theirs.

Let’s do this! Shaun