I love the world we live in. The world wide web, google, wikipedia, social media and everything else (to name just a few) means the game has changed, we now have access to more information than ever before.
When it comes to real estate information, home buyers and sellers now have data at their finger tips that was a guarded secret only a decade ago. Sales price data, neighbourhood information, school rankings, the list goes on and on. With all that information you’d think that there would be no place for real estate agents any more.
Except for the fact that now more than ever people are using real estate agents to help buy and sell homes. In the most recent survey by the National Association of Realtors, the 2013 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that 88% of home buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent, up from 69% in 2001. It’s the same story on the selling side, with 88% of home sellers using the assistance of a realtor to sell their home.
So if there is more information available, why aren’t the statistics showing a different result? I think it comes down to information overload. Companies and websites are pumping data out like no tomorrow but I will argue that putting the information in context is what makes it valuable.
Context means taking data and translating it into something that is meaningful to you and your situation. In terms of the real estate industry, context means having neighbourhood expertise, seeing hundreds of homes, knowing the features that add value or how a neigbourhood really is like live in– just to name a few. All things you can’t tell by looking at an MLS listing or a list of sold prices. A good real estate agent with years of experience will always bring context to a situation that you just can’t get from a website.
“Information is cheap, but context is Priceless”
No longer is lack of information or data the challenge for the home buyer or seller. The problem is that there isn’t enough context, because context takes time, effort and experience.
