A real estate salesperson is more than just a "sales person." They act on your behalf as your agent, providing you with advice and guidance and doing a job - helping you buy or sell a home. While it is true they get paid for what they do, so do other professions that provide advice, guidance, and have a service to sell --such as Certified Public Accountants and Attorneys.
The Internet has opened up a world of information that wasn't previously available to homebuyers and seller. The data on listings available for sale is almost current - but not quite. There are times when you need the most current information about what has sold or is for sale, and the only way to get that is with an agent.
If you're selling a home, you gain access to the most buyers by being listed in the Multiple Listing Service. Only a licensed real estate agent who is a member of your local MLS can get you listed there - which then gets you automatically listed on some of the major real estate web sites. If you're buying or selling a home, the MLS is your agent's best tool.
However, the role of an agent has changed in the last couple of years. In the past, agents were the only way home buyers and sellers could access information. Now agents are evolving. Because today's home buyers and sellers are so much better informed than in the past, expertise and ability are becoming more important.
The real estate agent is becoming more of a "guide" than a "salesperson" -- your personal representative in buying or selling a home.
That's one of those things agents do that you don't know about. They go out on their own, by themselves or with other agents, and look at property after property after property. They know what models are located where, how long they've been on the market, which ones have listing agents that are easy to work with, and more. They know all kinds of things that you don't know they know.
So what you're really hiring in an agent is knowledge - and not just knowledge of inventory. Knowledge of lots of things that you don't even know you don't know. They make it seem easy, but that's because they want it to seem easy. If agents told you how hard it was, you would be even more nervous about shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars.
After all, it is only the most expensive purchase you've ever made in your life.
Which, isn't really the point. The point was that you hire an agent because of training, knowledge, experience, problem-solving ability, connections, their ability to communicate...and lots of other neat stuff.
And that is why you hire people that will cover the blanks you know about, as well as the ones you don't. That is where you find the true value of a real estate agent.
FOR QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS REGARDING REAL ESTATE, PLEASE CALL CARY EMERSON - 403-580-6204 -