Is it better to be a “buyer specialist/buyer’s agent” or a “listing specialist/seller’s agent” at this point in your real estate career?
Many real estate agents join a team when they first start out in order to learn more about real estate and benefit from large scale advertising and lead generation systems. This makes sense. Almost all real estate consumers start their search on the internet and many ultimately end up hiring a real estate agent that they found online.
If you want to brand yourself as only a Listing Agent, or only a Buyer’s Agent, then prepare your answers to the questions that potential clients will ask:
“I see you are a Listing Specialist do you ever take buyers out to look at homes?”
“I see you are a Buyer Specialist do you ever list homes and meet sellers?”
If you specialize in today’s real estate market, then how will you understand the buyer’s and seller’s unique perspectives? Rarely do these overlap.
Perhaps you should aspire to be a general practitioner working with both buyers and sellers. The combination of meeting with sellers for listings and taking buyers on home buying tours invites a unique perspective on the whole marketplace, not just a segment.
If you don’t take buyers to see houses, how do you know how houses compare to each other in your local market? Likewise, if you don’t counsel sellers on pre-marketing strategies, how do you know the best way to position their house in the market compared to other houses you have taken buyers to see? The short answer is – you don’t! You don’t know how houses compare in your local market place unless you are all over the market in terms of buyers and sellers.
Instead of a “specialist” think of yourself as a general real estate practitioner. Much like a family doctor who sees a wide range of maladies, your general real estate practice deals with the whole market, buyers and sellers.
Need advice or tips on working with both buyers and sellers? Consider my one-on-one coaching programs that are personalized to your individual needs. There is no long-term commitment - hop in and out of coaching as you need it!