By Danny Margagliano
Real estate can be a very confusing topic for many people. With tens of thousands of websites and nearly 2,000 realtors between Inlet Beach and Fort Walton Beach, where do you go to start your new home search and/or to find the right realtor to sell your home?
Unfortunately, the real estate profession sometimes gets looked down upon. After all, it only takes a 63 hour class, about $500 and you are ready to go out and sell real estate. This is the problem that our profession faces. Everyone has a neighbor, friend, cousin, sisters– boyfriends – moms yoga instructor that is a real estate agent. Who do you trust to help you? Where do you go to look for homes online? There is a fairly simple answer for this two-part question.
When looking for a real estate agent to help you buy or sell a home it is important for you to find someone that works full-time. Against popular belief, selling real estate is a career and it is full-time. A real estate professional is someone that has been and still is immersed into the local and national real estate markets. A professional needs to know the trends, neighborhoods and inventory. This agent should always have additional training much past the basic real estate license. This shows you that someone is taking selling real estate seriously. Look for lots of good high-quality testimonials. Some agents will even have past clients that you can call and talk to. Ask your agent about his or her past track record on selling homes. Have they sold many homes, do they get top dollar for the listings, do they sell all or most of the listings that they take?
The next question is where to search when looking for a home online. Many people are familiar with the national websites like Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com to name a few. These websites do serve their purpose but they are not tuned into each market like a Local is. Many of the top real estate agents will have a high quality website that is geared toward searching the local real estate market. In today’s market over 90% of people start their real estate search online. So it is very important that when you do this you go to the right place and get the right information. The only national website that truly has accurate information that is up-to-date is realtor.com. The best option is using a local realtors website like www.30aPropertyExpert.com or www.30aCondoHunt.com. The information is pulled directly from the local MLS. When you have a question you will have A Local qualified agent that can answer your emails, text messages or phone calls and give you the correct information.
If anyone can’t find the right property here in South Walton Beach, Michael Jackson’s former home, Neverland Ranch is back on the real estate market with a new price tag of $67 million. After reading that last sentence any price that you hear on a property in our area now will seem low.
I will try to leave you in closing with a little bit of humor. Stupidity is when you have a Land Rover + Land Cruiser and still have a landlord….. Wise up!!! Until next time stay calm, you have me as your Local Realtor.
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