The Value of Working With a Veteran Real Estate Agent
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I recently came across an article in The Wall Street Journal from a couple years ago that I wanted to address today called “The Price of Real Estate Experience: $25,000.”
A professor of finance was intrigued by this topic, so he took a 10,000-home sampling over a 10-year span and researched real estate sales. He broke the sale into three categories; homes sold by rookie agents with two years of experience or less, homes sold by agents with two to 10 years of experience, and homes sold by real estate veterans with more than 10 years of experience.
He found that the veterans sold homes for an average of 12% more money than rookie agents. In our market with an average sale price of $175,000, that equates to about $20,000 more in your pocket by hiring a veteran agent.
The more experience you have, the more insight you have. You also will have the finances and the skills to market better, because you’ve seen it all. Having seen almost every possible version of a real estate transaction is invaluable experience that means more money for a seller. The funds to market properties appropriately comes with a breadth of knowledge and experience to allow an agent to do it over and over and turn their skills into mastery.
In our market, working with a veteran agent could net you an extra $20,000.
The study also found that two-thirds of the listings were sold by veteran agents, while the rookie agents only sold half of their listings. A lot of the listings from rookie agents were expiring. Another benefit to working with a veteran agent is their knowledge of neighborhoods and a larger network of buyers.
If you knew for a fact that your ability to get the most money for your home hinged on hiring an agent or team, would you place more value on that, or on appeasing a friend who just got their real estate license? I ask because we see it all too often. Our market has attracted so many agents because the barrier to entry is so low; you can get a license for $100. This leads to many agents making transactions without much experience in marketing or negotiation.
Hopefully you found this information helpful! If you have any questions about buying or selling homes in the Grand Rapids market, give me a call or send me an email. I’d be happy to help you.