You’ll get different opinions about the importance of “local” agents in a property purchase, and the current market certainly has moved many agents to work beyond their traditional areas. But the type of property can sometimes be just as important a factor in your decision…for example, buying a vacation home (or historic homes, or land, or other unique real estate) with an agent who does not specialize in those subsets of the primary and vacation real estate markets. In any case, feeling comfortable and connected with your agent is certainly a solid and critical base for any buyer.
As more buyers consider non-traditional options and areas, often because of evolving lifestyle needs (multi-generational living, pre-retirement investment or vacation homes/land, etc.), they will often decide to work with an agent with whom they’ve had a longstanding relationship. But at times that agent might not be familiar with the new areas of communities their client is considering. In that case, perhaps a referral can be made to a “local” agent, with both agents then sharing the process as well as relationships with the buyer…so the buyer is comfortable in various ways, and agents can provide individual knowledge as well as care and service.
By the way, all Realtors are real estate agents, but not all real estate agents are Realtors (the latter being a copyright for the National Association of Realtors.
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