Why You Want The Best Sellers Agent Possible – And How To Find Them
After reading the DANGER REPORT any prudent buyer or seller would naturally feel good if they could weed out and just blow past the bottom 80% of marginal agents – and get to the remaining top 20% – but settling for an agent in the top 20% is still not enough! Why? The top 20% are not the best and most experienced and qualified agents – they are actually a base minimum standard, and you can do much better! Saying you’re in the top 20% of an industry group that most of us in the industry who know agents better than anyone else, have long felt the marginal 80% should have been run out of business – so the top 20% is not really saying much! This 20% of competent agents is really the minimum standard that all agents should meet, and if the industry really wanted to protect the public, that is how things would be and they would comprise 100% of a competent agent pool! Unfortunately the industry is about dollars not quality -the focus is on recruiting a high volume of members, rather than high quality of members in order to protect income from membership fees.
The fact is – of the 20% of agents who represent the competent, experienced, dedicated, full-time agents who actually make a steady living in real estate, fully 95% of this top group of agents are at best only generalists! That is not to say they bring no value – they certainly do. The top 20% who represent the competent, full-time agents with at least 8-10 years of continuous real estate experience and who do at least 8-10 transactions a year are way better than no agent at all – they know way more about buying and selling real estate than the general buying and selling public ever will! I much prefer having competent agents across the table when representing a buyer or seller than the bottom 80% – things go much smoother and there is less work for me.
But – the vast majority of the top 20% have no special added value propositions or advantages – no *specialized training and qualifications that allow them to offer real and tangible benefits over any other competent agent/generalists. *The usual alphabet soup of agent designations such as CRS, ABR, GRI, etc, are of little benefit to clients – and does not equal the specialized training and qualifications required to elevate an agent from being a generalist to that of an Expert Adviser, and Advocate.
The usual alphabet soup of agent designations such as CRS, ABR, GRI, etc, are of little benefit to clients – and does not equal the specialized training and qualifications required to elevate an agent from being a generalist to that of an Expert Adviser, and Advocate.
Agents who can offer elite level value and services often do so through added experience, professional training, education, and qualifications gained through employment in previous but related fields that strongly compliment real estate and can greatly benefit buyer and seller clients – these are agents who use their extra skills and qualifications to transcend the role as merely a real estate salesperson and can actually serve as true Expert Advisers and an even smaller number are qualified to advocate with authority on behalf of their clients should the need arise – they are in the extreme minority. This rarefied group are agents who have added experience that allows them to provide demonstrable and significant benefits over all other agents while representing their buyer and seller clients in real estate transactions. Some examples that allow agents to become Expert Advisers are: Licensed (SRA) Appraisers, Licensed (ICC Certified) Building Inspectors, Licensed Home Builders or (Code Certified) New Construction Experts, who have at least 10-15 years experience in those related additional fields PLUS 10-15 years continuous full-time real estate experience, are working in real estate full time (not concurrently working in the other fields and real estate), and who have at least 50-100 closed transactions under their belt.
Robert Whitfield’s personal clientele can rest assured that he meets the most elite standards in the industry and is both an Expert Adviser and Expert Advocate. As a full time Licensed GA Broker/Owner, former Inspection Firm Owner, ICC Certified Building Inspector, and Code Certified New Home Construction Expert, he not only aspires to put every clients best interests first, and to provide a superior client experience, with outstanding insights, protections, and results – he has the tools and combined 36 years experience to actually realize those aspirations – the raw experience and extra qualifications very few in our industry can match.
Questions? Need an Expert Adviser? Contact me – Robert Whitfield – 678-585-9691
[si-contact-form form=’1′]