Wednesday, April 7, 2010

"Long Distance" Agents

I saw a snippet of a newspaper article recently that was typical for these times -- written by someone outside the real estate industry, giving advice to home buyers and sellers without acknowledging that our industry is evolving and changing every day. Can you tell I was a little bothered by it?
Anyway, the article was advising home sellers that if their agent's "home base" was more than 15 miles from the location of their home, then they needed to pick another listing agent. The reasoning was that agents further than that could not be as responsive to buyers and buyer agents as one whose home base was closer.
WOW. I have an office on Stratford Road in Winston-Salem where I make copies, store files of old clients, etc. Most importantly, if the Real Estate Commission needs to contact me, they use that address. But my "real" office, where 99% of my negotiations, communications, etc, take place is wherever I am with my iPhone! Most of my active files stay in the backseat of my car, and I log tremendous miles every day driving from Pinnacle to Lexington to Greensboro to Elkin. I have the capability to fax, email, text, phone, etc. from anywhere. In fact, my office on Stratford is 45 minutes away from my very own home -- does that mean I am not qualified to sell my own house? No!
I am licensed to conduct business in the State of NC. I do not go beyond certain areas because I simply do not have the firsthand market knowledge to service customers in those areas. If you live outside of my comfort zone, I will let you know (as will most professional agents) and will help you find someone within your area to help. But please understand, just because I don't live in your neighborhood does NOT mean I can't represent you professionally and competently in a transaction.
Ok, thank you for indulging my tirade...

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