Once upon a time, Realtors were important. At least we thought we were! One of the big reasons we thought we were so important is because we had a virtual corner on the market of real estate related information. Anything that was useful when determining the value of a property or to simply help you make an offer to a seller had to be acquired via a realtor. We held public record data close to our hearts, we alone knew where the homes for sale were located and we could show them to you in those phone book looking things we all carried around with us in the days before the internet. If there were questions you could rely on us to get the answers for you.

Things have changed! The truth is, we’re really not Real Estate Agents in the sense we used to be…we’re Real Estate Consultants. I’m constantly impressed with how knowledgeable my clients are. I met a young lady in front of a house I was showing her for the second time a few weeks ago and she had a print out of every owner of every house in the cul-de-sac. Most of my clients easily find out who the owners are of the homes they like, they also find out how much money those sellers paid for their homes and exactly how long ago they have lived there. I’ve seen clients find info about permitted (or not permitted as the case may be) additions. I’ve even had clients find out on their own details about registered sex offenders in their neighborhoods. Our culture is a whole lot more transparent than it used to be! Obviously, folks find listings abundantly on the internet and request showings on their own every day.

So, what’s the value of a realtor anymore? If we’re not holding all of the cards like we used to, then what good are we? Good realtors are consultants and I don’t think there’s any shame in that.  A good realtor can help you navigate, with a whole lot less stress, though a foundation problem. A good consultant knows how to read a property and pest inspection to know what’s important on them. A good consultant knows a good neighborhood from a crappy one…or even a marginal one. Sometimes they occur very near to one another too. Good realtor consultants know good lender consultants. Good consultants know how the market “feels” at any given moment and that often could mean the difference between getting a house or not. Perhaps most importantly, good consultants know most of the other good consultants and in this business relationships are incredibly important..sometimes critical. You can learn all kinds of things researching online…but you can’t develop trust with the people who are actually selling the homes you want.