They call this the Age of Information. But living in it, day in and day out, means navigating a crush of news, media, opinions and content that seems to be coming at us from every angle. That’s true across the board, and it’s true within respective industries. In real estate, which touches everyone in one way or another, we’re seeing more reports, more data, more news, more opinions, louder voices, more “experts,” more videos, more social media posts, more imagery, more, more, more, more…. It’s exhausting. Who hasn’t been sucked into a meta or micro data analysis when you’re looking to buy, sell or make a move of any sort? I’ve certainly gone down that rabbit hole when I’ve looked to buy in a location where I’m not the expert and trying to navigate it on my own is completely exhausting.

A Great Agent – Your Personal Curator

This is a world that lives and dies by the information we can access with our fingertips. Whether that information is relevant or even true seems almost beside the point. I’ve seen many, oh so many reports, that while factually true are anything but on-the-ground reality.  As a buyer and seller, you may be thinking all of that content means you have everything you need to buy or sell on your own. But for the busiest, smartest people — the ones who understand that real estate is a complex, fast-paced industry where today’s headline is yesterday’s story — an agent’s ability to curate and cut through all of the nonsense to deliver only the information that matters for your particular situation can be invaluable. Choosing an agent who has the ability to curate timely data, handpicked for relevance but unbiased to outcome, is the critical element in saving you both time and money. There’s no website, app or software that can currently replace it, but they’re definitely working on it. 

Being inundated with data has the opposite effect of educating, no matter who you are. But for the professional real estate agent in particular, it creates an opportunity to do what we do best — cut through the BS to find what’s meaningful with the singular goal of helping our clients navigate real estate where inventory is scarce and decision making has to be swift and carries great consequences, both for acting and not acting. Even when you’re selling a prized property (aka the shortfall of existing inventory), there are many pitfalls to navigate. An overpriced property in any market will sit, lingering on the market collecting the dreaded “Days on Market,” but what is overpriced and what sales strategy is currently seeing the best outcomes? That is a shifting landscape that often rotates and great agents are constantly scanning the horizon to see what is coming and adjust accordingly. 

The Takeaway 

Sifting through the clutter of multiple data points and opinions to find what matters is an art, truly. It comes from experience and is quickly lost when you’re not working it daily, because what is timeless, a fad, out of fashion, or trending changes as quickly as our world has been recently. Being able to curate what is relevant to your particular situation is what separates great agents from the mediocre. 

When all is said and done, time is truly our greatest luxury. A great agent saves you both time and money by helping you avoid assumptions that may not be applicable or never really were.  Find yourself a great agent, one that has your best interests at heart and in mind. There are several of us out there! And if you need a great recommendation in your area, please ask me.