Dead or alive. Just kidding.
How many excellent agents are there in your area? Well, first let’s define “excellent” so that it meets my purposes. There are successful agents who were born in the right family and have “excellent” connections. There are sucessful agents who are excellent in the old way of doing things and they will die successful doing the same things — I’ll exclude them from “excellent” because I am developing my definition of excellent as I look forward. There are agents who are successful because they tapped into a big local builder and will be successful as long the builder is building — maybe beyond if they can transfer what they have going on. But how many agents are excellent at providing service, wired to web 2.0, good salespeople (great at marketing listings), proficient at information management, have excellent verbal skills, have comprehensive knowledge of real estate, have comprehensive knowledge of the area, have great people skills, have the energy to incubate prospects and follow up, have the willingness to work with and represent buyers and have the experience to be called an expert? How many are excellent in these ways?
I don’t know, but I can’t think of many. (Of course, I fit all these requirements for excellence, but modesty prevents me from broadcasting it).
The consensus when talking to the public about agents is that so many are inexperienced, don’t follow up, are pushy salespeople, etc. — but then they go on to say that there ARE good agents and they are useful, helpful, worth their weight in gold, on and on with different levels of kudos or positive evaluation. Except for the diehard agent-haters, I think most people would say a good agent adds value to the process. (While here I’m talking about agents, in regards to the real estate process, please keep in mind all types of professionals providing RE services such as lawyers, inspectors, lenders and mortgage brokers.)
This morning in my mind’s eye a vision formed out of disparate bits of thoughts that had been floating around in my brain for about a year. A group of brave souls Read more