RISMEDIA, August 29, 2007-“If you want to separate yourself from the competition, you need to be providing the hidden gems and real facts about your neighborhood,” says Allen Wright, of the Neighborhood Specialist Council. “Knowing the MLS statistics are not enough any more as most of today’s consumers already know what is and what isn’t selling in their neighborhood.”
The explosion of real estate information has empowered consumers but overwhelmed the agents. The amount of information that is now available to the consumer concerning their neighborhood on the Internet is enormous. This information can be found in the public domain from a variety of reliable sources, such as the Census Bureau, HUD, and of course, the local MLS.
And this is where the Neighborhood Specialist Council, which manages the Certified Neighborhood Specialist course and CNS designation, comes in by helping agents navigate through the maze of available information. The one-day course enables agents to not only learn where to get the information, but how to use the data for their benefit as well as that of the clients they serve.
In a free report published by the Council this week, titled the “Seven Strategies to Position Yourself as the Neighborhood Expert,” they touch on a number of very important aspects every agent should know about the areas in which they work. For example:
#5 Know about Future Building Projects that Impact your Neighborhood:
• Why: There are lawsuits every year as a result of a failure on the part of the agent to provide the consumer information concerning potential building projects.
• How: Learn how to research potential building projects and to convey this information to your consumer.
• What To Do: Research and learn about potential building projects and be able to relay this information to your consumer. For example, a new airport is being built that will re-route air-traffic away from your neighborhood. This may positively impact your neighborhood with a noise reduction. On the other hand a negative impact could be the possibility that the home values were inflated due to the proximity to the airport and now those values may decrease if the airport moves.
#6 Know the Demographics of your Neighborhood:
• Why: All consumers are looking for a neighborhood and a community in which they feel comfortable and safe.
• How: Learn where to find meaningful and powerful information about your neighborhood.
• What To Do: You have researched the demographic information of a neighborhood and determine that it is composed of primarily older families with children in high school or college; with almost none under the age of 10. Your customers are a young couple that like a home in your area but specifically want to live in a neighborhood with families and children in the same age group as their own. You show your client the information so they can the best decision on purchasing a home in your neighborhood.
To download a copy of this free report, visit www.CNSDesignation.com and for more information about how the course visit www.CertifiedNeighborhoodSpecialist.com.
