The Local Realtor Advantage

*Trigger warning*

The market can be risky whatever you decide to do.  Let’s say you buy today ().  The risk that you’ve taken is that the market will stop its historic bull run & begin trending down. Many people say they aren’t willing to take this risk and so they want to wait.

The common statement I hear is “I’m just going to wait for the market to crash”. This has risks too. Let’s say you decide to wait. 1… 2… 3 years go by. You could be in a position where the houses you were waiting for are now 15%+ higher than they were when you started.

This might not seem like a lot but you could be in a situation where you no longer can qualify for a mortgage at this new price point or your down payment may have been in an investment vehicle that hasn’t increased in value at the same rate as real estate and now you need more money to beef up your down payment. Either decision has risk involved.

The Local Realtor Advantage

So how can you mitigate these risks? Simple. Use a local agent that you trust. Here’s the local realtor advantage:
1) A local agent will have way more information about the local market.
2) a comparable property that you’re looking at is an outlier or it is actually the new market price for a neighbourhood.

If you’re using an agent who isn’t familiar with the local market, and specifically the neighbourhood you’re buying in, you could be unintentionally overpaying. When using a local agent you increase your chances of knowing what is going on in a community at a grassroots level.

Local agents know future by-law & zoning changes that could positively/negatively affect your desired neighbourhood. Local agents live there. They are neighbours with city planners, they coach local teams and talk with people who live in the community on a regular basis. Lastly, they know their local market inside and out. Because of this, I think the best way to mitigate the risk is to use a local agent!

Thanks for reading!

Written by Joe MacDowell, Sales Representative