Continuing on my series of common misconceptions of, about and regarding real estate and the real estate industry, let’s talk about real estate agents…

I hear this one a LOT. 

It is a common misconception that all real estate agents are effectively the same.  And it couldn’t be further from the truth.  Let’s start with some very basic differences:

• Residential specialists
  • Sales specialists
  • Lease specialists
• Commercial specialists
  • Sales
  • Lease
• Land specialists
• Farm specialists

You get the idea, there are a lot of ways to break that up… and then there are agents that defy the different classifications and specialties.  But then, just in residential real estate sales, there are agents that specialize in:

• Buyers
• Listings/Sellers
• New Developments/Builder Services

But there is something more…

There are full-time, part-time and “just looking for a bonus” agents.  And even more importantly, there are agents that toss their listings in the MLS and then forget about them until the phone rings. And there are agents that do everything in their power to make their listings sell!

I have been spending a lot of time lately talking with sellers whose listings have expired.  And as I get ready to talk to someone, I look for the property they are selling.  I try to see how much marketing has been done.  And I find something all too much… the property doesn’t really exist on the internet.  It doesn’t have a website.  The listing isn’t tweaked on Realtor.com.  It hasn’t been fully leveraged on Zillow or Trulia.  Often, it isn’t even listed on Craigslist.

Maybe the agent made a flyer to put outside of the house… possibly even a newspaper ad.  But… in 2009, that is NOT marketing a property.  And that is what agents are supposed to do… market the property efficiently and effectively.

The reasons that agents don’t fully market a property, as well as what fully marketing a property is all about are subjects for other posts… but think involved website, wide net cast for online leads, search engine marketing… you get the idea.  84% of buyers are starting their search on the internet.  Let the weak agents fight over the 16% (and shrinking) that aren’t.

I am an agent that isn’t the same.  Feel free to give me a call.  I only take selected listings, because it is actual work to get them ready for market, and to work towards getting them sold.  Your property can be one of those that sells.

from LilburnDwellings.com

Don’t hesitate to shoot Lane a message if you have any questions, or need any help. And check out the new links for FREE Property Searching, FREE Comparative Market Analysis and FREE Market Reports. They are near the top of the page…