The fallacy of the agent as ‘neighborhood expert’

Experienced agents with a solid grasp of real estate data can advise clients across a wide geographic area

Just as walking through a kitchen doesn’t make you a chef, living in a neighborhood doesn’t make an agent a “neighborhood expert.”

The information age is firmly ensconced in the real estate word. Long gone are the days when agents were the gatekeepers of the data.

The days of multiple listing service books printed quarterly and carried around like bags of gold, only to be viewed by those with “access,” are a bad memory.

For the most part, the public has as much or more information available for use as Joe Agent. And that is a very good thing.

The real estate industry excels at public relations. Was there ever a time when any real estate organization, now or in the past, didn’t trumpet that “it’s a great time to buy”?

Even during the crash and years of bottom scraping, that shrill message remained.

The “recovering” market of the last year has launched new ads, rallying calls, and, of course, brought back “local” agents who represent themselves as “neighborhood experts.”

Can't any agent, or anyone, collect demographic data on the community?"

All of which is nonsense, because … see the first sentence.

An expert is defined as “a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field.”

Using this definition, it’s reasonable to assume that an “expert” agent would have many years of experience, and a fairly comprehensive body of work.

Every definition of “expert” focuses on a skill — not “how long they have lived and worked in Anytown, USA.”

Experience and knowledge seem to play a larger role than where someone lives.

But what does the “neighborhood expert” tell buyers and sellers?

“I live here and know this community cold … My kids went to that school … Homes here sell so fast … They’re building a new mall in the area that will make this area even more desirable … We’re recovered and are back on the increase.”

Buyers and sellers should ask themselves:

Can’t any agent, or anyone, collect demographic data on the community?Can’t any agent, or anyone, collect school data on the community?Has anyone, anywhere, been able to guarantee anything when it comes to development? How did that work during the boom? With guaranteed appreciation?The market has “recovered”? Real estate works at the micromarket level. The last five years have forever changed the business. Washington now controls things, and Washington has a track record.

“This is a very unique area, you need local expertise.”

Perhaps. But consider:

Is the “neighborhood agent” that expert? Why? No other agent can put the home in the MLS?What’s unique about the area? What impact will it have on the big picture?Is the “neighborhood expert” so focused that they don’t have a larger perspective? What about competing areas, and how they impact the process?What about potential appraisal issues? If “unique” is taken literally, does the “neighborhood expert” understand the appraisal process? Are they the only ones to speak about it?

“I have sold homes in this community for years.”

OK, but:

How many and how recently?Full time or opportunity agent?References? Source of business? Overall volume? Reputation in the industry?Competing markets? Will the seller or buyer miss other opportunities due to a myopic “neighborhood agent” view? Will the home seller have unrealistic expectations planted?

“I have buyers just waiting for homes to buy right here.”

Sure you do:

Listings that don’t require agents to move around much are always welcomed by the “neighborhood agent.”A variation of the “we need homes” nonsense is basic marketing and something that’s drilled into every agent’s head. The objective is to get a sign in the yard.Is it reasonable to assume that when the home hits the MLS that all buyers in that and similar neighborhoods will be interested?

“This area/house/lot is worth … because I KNOW this market.”

This is perhaps the single most damaging claim the “neighborhood expert” will make, because:

Agents “know” nothing, the market knows everything. The buyers are the market and they talk — “neighborhood expert” may not want to listen.Without recent data suitable for use in an appraisal, this is highly irresponsible to say but routinely done.This approach — opinion before data — is especially common with custom homes and second homes. “Neighborhood expert” won’t hesitate to manipulate or dismiss data that doesn’t fit their opinion.

Here’s a rather common scenario:

The “neighborhood expert” wants to remain noticed in their circles, and takes a listing and prices it to please the owner and others in the circle. Offers continue to come in below list, but the offers can be supported by market data.

The “neighborhood expert” becomes indignant with buyer’s agents presenting offers, and continues to ignore data in favor of their opinion. The neighborhood expert representing the seller continues to respond with, “Yeah, but …”  and “The owner has X dollars into it. …”

The home languishes, eventually either expiring or selling where the market dictates.

The “neighborhood expert” assigns blame, saying something like, “The buyers just don’t recognize the value … the market this and that,” and convinces the client that the agent is not at fault.

The “neighborhood agent” can argue that they didn’t accept a “lowball” offer, and can continue to solicit business and say that they “know the real value” of the community.

To be clear, agents shouldn’t work outside of areas that they have experience in.

But even though areas like Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles and New York encompass large geographical areas, experienced full-time agents with a solid grasp of real estate data can effectively research trends and advise clients across these areas.

That’s assuming that:

Agents self-regulate in terms of time, distance and skill. Assistance should be solicited if required, or the file referred to another agent if needed.Adequate and appropriate data exists to formulate sound opinions.Recommendations to the client are based on data, not baseless opinions.The client understands the data and the opinions of the agent.The client is aware of the agent’s credentials and is satisfied with them.

Transparency is very much alive in the current real estate environment. Homebuyers and sellers have the ability to access every bit as much information as any agent does.

The proper application of that information is the key. Walking into a fully stocked kitchen does not make a chef. Having data is important, but applying it properly to the situation is the key to real estate success.

The single most important aspect of a successful real estate transaction begins with the client ensuring that a qualified, experienced real estate agent is selected. In the meantime, the more the public demands of the real estate industry, the better things will be.

Hank Miller is an associate broker and certified appraiser in Atlanta, Ga. The lead agent for HMT Atlanta, he’s known for his candid opinions and real estate expertise.

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New agent matchmaking network serves deaf homebuyers and sellers

New York City-based agent Jackie Roth, who has been deaf since birth, wants to be a beacon for deaf and hard-of-hearing real estate consumers looking to buy or sell a home.

A top producer with Douglas Elliman since 2005, Roth says deaf consumers are often underserved in real estate, an assessment that inspired her to begin building a nationwide network of agents she has screened and determined are capable of serving deaf clients.

Roth, who learned to speak English when she was 5, estimates that just 10 to 15 agents in the U.S. are fluent in sign language, the visual-based language that is the primary form of communication for the approximately 0.3 percent of Americans the National Institutes of Health estimates are born deaf or hard of hearing.

Roth says she wants to continue working as an agent in New York City where almost all of her clients are not deaf or hard of hearing and with whom she communicates with the help of hearing aids. Some clients, she said, never realize she’s deaf.

But she hopes the network she’s building will ensure that deaf consumers across the U.S. are able to connect with agents who will give them top-notch service.

Before becoming an agent, Roth’s work as an actor and producer made her a national figure. She toured with the Broadway play “Children of a Lesser God” in the ’80s, starred in a widely released TV ad for the pharmaceutical company Bayer, and produced the 2001 Academy Award-nominated documentary film “Sound and Fury.”

“I’ve constantly been in the spotlight,” Roth said.

Roth says she wants to her use her notoriety to help deaf consumers in all 50 states and every major U.S. city connect with an agent who is able and willing to serve them.

The idea to build an agent referral network for deaf consumers first hit Roth in 2009 when a broker in Long Island, N.Y., referred two separate deaf clients to her.

“Then I had conversations with deaf and hard-of-hearing people who are homeowners and they shared their frustrations about working with brokers, and that’s when I became active at referring clients to my network,” Roth said.

So far, she’s referred 15 deaf consumers to agents in the fledgling network of nine agents, resulting in seven closed deals and three pending sales.

Other agents have built successful referral networks that serve niche clienteles.

Jeff Hammerberg, an agent who founded a referral network for gay consumers in 1993, grew it to a network of 875 regional sites in 2010, quitting his work as an agent in the process to focus on the network.

The Pet Realty Network promises it can help help consumers find “pet-friendly agents.”

Although Spanish-speaking Americans and U.S. residents are hardly a niche clientele, a referral network started by the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and First American Corp. in 2005 to connect Spanish-speaking homebuyers with real estate professionals appears to be defunct. A similar effort launched in 2004, the Real Estate Latino Network, continues to recruit agents online.

Building the network

Roth has a two-pronged approach to building her network, which currently includes agents in Charlotte, N.C.; Boston; the San Francisco Bay Area; Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Austin, Texas; and Albuquerque, N.M. Seven of those referrals have resulted in closed deals, and three others are still pending, Roth said.

To build up the agent side of the network, Roth personally reaches out to agents across the country with phone calls and emails to gauge their interest and whether she feels they would be good agents for deaf clients.

In the screening process, she inquires about communication styles, asking agents if they’d be willing to make the extra effort to work with a deaf person, to slow down and make sure they understand everything.

She also assesses their attitude and manner.

“I can feel people out so well,” Roth said. “I know when someone would be good.”

Agents working with deaf and hard-of-hearing clients have to be willing to go the extra mile, Roth said.

To work successfully with deaf or hard-of-hearing clients, agents need to face them squarely so they can lip read; slow down and make sure they understand every step of the process, writing things down if necessary; and, overall, have an ability and willingness to accommodate them, Roth said.

Screen shot of Jackie Roth signing in an unreleased demo video aimed at deaf consumers.

To build awareness in the deaf community for her role as real estate matchmaker, Roth is producing a short video that spells out, through sign language, her role as connector.

“It will explain that even though I am unable to close a deal outside of New York, I can be of assistance,” Roth said.

She’ll distribute the video through Facebook, her profile page on Douglas Elliman’s website and YouTube, Roth said.

Roth said she will also work to build her brand in the deaf community in other ways, including reaching out to influential players in the community.

Roth says providing a needed service to the deaf community is her main motivation for building the network, but she also collects a referral fee of 25 percent when agents she sends business to close deals. She splits that fee with Douglas Elliman and gives 5 percent to a charity of the client’s choice.

“I want to be successful, I want to be a producer, but I also want to better the odds for people like me,” she told the New York Daily News in a November article profiling her advocacy for deaf real estate consumers.

Nancy Bloch, a longtime acquaintance of Roth’s and former CEO of the National Association of the Deaf, turned to Roth recently for help. She and her husband, both deaf, were looking for an agent to sell their Annapolis, Md., condominium.

“Jackie knew our personalities, the type of broker we wanted, and once she found the person she ultimately recommended, she worked with and prepared that broker for our first session to ensure that the broker would not only meet our real estate sales needs but also work with and communicate effectively with us,” Bloch said.

Another approach

Mark Tauscher, a deaf agent who works primarily in Phoenix and Kansas City and whose clients are primarily deaf or hard of hearing, agrees that deaf real estate consumers are underserved in the industry.

Tauscher plans to produce a series of videos aimed at deaf and hard-of-hearing clients that use sign language to explain important elements of a real estate transaction. The video series is slated to come out later this year, Tauscher said.

Licensed in Arizona, Kansas and Missouri, Tauscher says he focuses his business on his core operating area, specifically the Phoenix and Kansas City metro areas, but he has referred deaf clients to agents in other states.

Tauscher brands himself as a deaf agent, exemplified through his website’s URL, deafagent.com. To market himself, Tauscher says he is active in the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities in his two primary markets and advertises with organizations serving them.

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