With the world transitioning to less and less physical interaction and more computer-based programming, the question often comes up, “Which is better: cloud-based home search or a real estate agent?” Perhaps I am biased, but let me tell you a few reasons why working with a real estate agent here in Rhode Island has its advantages. Customized experience and accuracy of listings are just a few of the many reasons that you should stop using cloud-based systems and call a realtor instead.
Customized Home Buying Experience
For starters, I customize everything to you and your needs. Whether you are buying or selling your home I ensure that the process is unique to you. I find that having personal connections with clients makes everything run much smoother. I will not put you in a random email sequence that sends you hundreds of emails with irrelevant information or gets crowded with advertisements. Real estate agents match homes with your specific requirements and without bias. The listings you see are based on what I show you from what you told me you want in a home. They are not just listings that were paid to be in front of you by some random company that does not match your needs. Since timing is everything in real estate, we also will have immediate access to homes when they hit the market. Allowing us to be first in line to see new listings instead of waiting the standard 2-5 days that most cloud-based systems take to update.
Accurate Listings
Accuracy is important especially in the market we have been in recently. Which makes it extremely important to have listings up to date. It is no secret that cloud-based systems take some time to update and even present inaccurate information. For example, I had a client whose home was listed on one of those systems as foreclosure after buying it a week before. They called the company and complained because they had multiple people stopping outside their homes and taking pictures, which inevitably caused some unease. Even after calling it still took the company over a week to take that information down. This is a prime example of how their record-keeping is not efficient, which means you could be missing out on homes that are not uploaded yet or getting your hopes up on homes that have already been sold. In addition to the tons of incorrect listings, cloud-based systems have big holes in their listing database. The fact that they don’t have all of the listings, means that their infamous “Home Value Estimators” are usually woefully inaccurate for property values. Whereas a Home Value Estimate you will get from a realtor will provide you accurate and helpful information.
If this market shows you anything it is the power of having a real estate agent by your side. From allowing you to have a customized home buying or selling experience, being able to get you immediate access to new homes, or their accuracy in record keeping. I say bigger is not always better and if you are looking to buy or sell you should pick up a phone and call Holly Bellucci.
