[quote=bearishgurl]I want to chime in here to drive home the neighborhood agent concept a little more and give credit where credit is due to longtime resident buyers shopping on their “home turf.”
Now, you’re probably all falling over yourselves laughing over this “dirty dish on the down low” but all of this is “real” and its everywhere, from $200K areas to $2M+ areas. In defense of drboom, this is how “homie” buyers think. It’s NOT NECESSARILY about getting the rock-bottom lowest price or overthinking the “timing” the RE market. UR and sdr are NOT going to “see” any of this on their “stats” or even on a “preview.” Ya gotta give credit to what this type of buyer and/or their neighborhood agent already knows. It’s about getting an acceptable property in a very, very specific location when they are ready to buy. Numbers aren’t everything and they don’t tell the whole story. My biz is “fleshing out the story” and getting the job done.[/quote]
This was a very good post, BG, and right on the money. I think this is what some of us are trying to say. Some buyers are much more knowledgable about their particular area than most agents are. That’s not a slam against agents, it just means that not all buyers are less informed than the agents in some cases.
BTW, I’m not claiming “native” knowledge myself and would never claim to know as much as a native resident or long-time established agent who has the local knowledge you’ve brought up. These established agents can indeed provide very valuable information, and most buyers — especially those who do not follow the housing market closely, or who don’t have the local knowledge — would be well advised to use their services.
